Spatial Patterns of Slaveholding and the Demographic Characteristics of Slaveholders on the Eve of the American Civil War: Evidence from New IPUMS Census Datasets

J. David Hacker, University of Minnesota
Brayden Rothe, University of Minnesota

We rely on a new IPUMS linked dataset of slaves and slaveholders to evaluate spatial patterns of slaveholding and the demographic characteristics of slaveholders on the eve of the American Civil War. We compare our individual-level results to published total of slaveholders at the county level, which indicate that about 90% of slaveholders in most counties were linked. We model the linked population and use the results to impute the remaining unlinked slaveholders using probabilistic methods. We then used the combined data to construct new estimates of slaveholding by age, ethnicity, gender, occupation, and local market crops. Among other findings, our life cycle analysis indicates that a much larger percentage of southern white men could anticipate owning slaves at some time in their lives than the estimate of southern slaveholding households that is commonly cited in the literature. These results have implications for a better understanding of secession and the widespread support for the Confederacy, even among the large majority of southern households that did not own slaves.

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 Presented in Session 121. Power Dynamics: Patriarchy, Slaveholding, and Class Struggles