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Increase of the Slave Population in the United States.- The following statements will show the progressive increase of the slave population of the United States since 1790. The enumerations are official.

Total number of Slaves,
 
In 1790
697,697.
In 1800
896,849.
In 1810
1,191,364.
In 1820
1,538,064.
In 1830
2,010,436.

Thus the increase since the first census up to the time the last was taken, has been 1,312,739! Slavery may well be called a great and growing evil, both morally and politically speaking.- It is an anomaly in our institutions- a thorn in the side of our republic- a foul blot on its otherwise fair escutcheon. The patriot & philanthropist shudder while thinking of its evils. Every year, nearly fifty thousand are added to the number of those held in bondage. Every year the demand for emancipation becomes more and more urgent, yet we see not how this is to be effected. The christian & the patriot must earnestly wish for its accomplishment; but can the consistent christian to attain this object, lend his aid to efforts, which in their operation, engender a spirit utterly opposed to the benign spirit of the Gospel? Can the patriot, however ardently he may desire the removal of the curse from among us- can he moot measures, which if pushed, threaten to dissolve a glorious union, and breed strife among brethren. Must he on the other hand remain idle, and use no exertion to remove the evil. These are the questions of deep import. The path of duty is not entirely plain- the propriety of action or inaction being alike debatable with us of the North. Moderate action may perhaps be pointed out as the true course. But the abolition of slavery can be effected only by the South. When and how they will see fit to do this is more than man knoweth, yet we have great confidence that the time is not far distant, when something will be done by them. They know the bitterness of the curse, & will set about devising measures for its removal. The rapid increase of their slave population will force them to this. Their situation is every day becoming more critical, and self preservation will lead them ere long to take hold of the subject.

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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This pro-abolition article enumerates the growth in the slave population in the United States from 1790 to 1830. This growth was due in part to the wide use of the plantation system throughout the southern states and the invention of the cotton gin, which was patented in 1794. The cotton gin increased the amount of cotton that could be processed in a day by tenfold. This made cotton a profitable crop and the South quickly became the world's leading supplier of cotton fiber. Much of this cotton was brought north to the textile mills that were producing cotton cloth. In 1835, the three largest mills in Lowell, Massachusetts used twelve million, two hundred fifty-six thousand, four hundred pounds of cotton. By 1848, Lowell mills produced fifty thousand miles of cotton cloth per year--enough to circle the world twice. The Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from June 26, 1827 to June 27, 1837. It changed its name to the Gazette & Mercury.

 

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"Increase in the Slave Population in the United States" article from the Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald newspaper

publisher   Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald
date   Nov 10, 1835
location   Greenfield, Massachusetts
width   4.0"
height   11.75"
process/materials   printed paper, ink
item type   Periodicals/Newspaper
accession #   #L05.104


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See Also...

Letter to Aaron Fuller from son George re: slave market

"Negro Slavery in Massachusetts"

"A Practical System of Modern Geography: or View of the Present State of the World."


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