Matthew 22:36-40 (36) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 6:14-15
(14) For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
(15) But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Rom 13:1-8
(1) Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
(2) Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
(3) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
(4) For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
(5) Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
(6) For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
(7) Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
(8) Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
The United Census of 1860 provides the best information on slavery statistics. However, that data is probably not precise and the statistical margin of error is unknown. However, it is the best evidence we have and all we can rightfully use as a measurement.
The Census data for 1860 shows a total USA population of 31,443,321 with 3,953,760 of that being slaves. This means slaves were 12.6% of the national population.
PolitFact and Snopes responded to a claim that said “At the PEAK of slavery in 1860, only 1.4% of Americans owned slaves. What your history books doesn’t tell you is that 3,000 blacks owned a total of 20,000 slaves the same year.”
PolitiFact website says a book by Glatthaar reports calculation using Census data shows 4.9 percent of people in the slaveholding states owned slaves, that 19.9 percent of family units in those states owned slaves, and that 24.9 percent of households in those states owned slaves. (Households are a broader category than families.)
PolitiFact says that statistical data shows that 7.4% of all families across the USA owned slaves for 1860.
Snopes provides the following table for 1860:
| 1860 Census | |
| Total Population | 31,183,582 |
| Total No. of Slaves | 3,950,528 |
| No. of Families | 5,155,608 |
| Total Free Population | 27,233,198 |
| Total No. of Slaveholders | 393,975 |
| Slaves as a Percent of the Population | 13% |
Snopes says “The number 1.4% is likely derived by taking the number of “slaveholders” (393,975) as a fraction of the “total free population” (27,233,198), which yields 1.4%.”
Snopes goes on to talk about how that number downplays the number of whites who were “involved and who benefited directly from slavery” and falsely assumes “non-slaveholding whites had no role in supporting or benefiting from the institution of slavery in the 1860s”.
Snopes notes that percentage of slave holding families rather than slave owning families is a better measurement as there were slave masters who were not slave owners.
Also “Many non-slaveholding whites in the South rented slaves from wealthier slaveholders … so it was very common for a white Southerner to be a ‘slave master’ but not technically a ‘slave owner.'”
Also I observe that even if one worked for a slave holder one benefited from the slavery institution.
Both PolitFact and Snopes report that calculations show the percentage of all American families that owned slaves was 7.4% in 1860.
Another reference entitled “Selected Statistics on Slavery in the United States” is worth reading.
References:
PolitiFact | Viral post gets it wrong about extent of slavery in 1860
Source: Joseph T. Glatthaar, Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia: A Statistical Portrait of the Troops Who Served under Robert E. Lee
Did Only 1.4 Percent of White Americans Own Slaves in 1860? | Snopes.com
Percentage of Families Owning Slaves in 1860 By Area
