In that letter it was shown
by the official American Census of 1860, that the product that year,
_per capita_, of Massachusetts was $235; _per capita_, Maryland $96; and
of South Carolina $56. Massachusetts had no slaves; Maryland, 87,189;
and South Carolina, 402,406. Thus we see the annual value of the
products of labor decreased in proportion to the number of slaves. In
further proof of the position assumed in that letter, that the progress
of wealth, of population, and education in the United States, was most
injuriously affected by slavery, I now present other official facts from
our Census of 1860. My first comparison will be that of the Free State
of New York with slaveholding Virginia.
By the Census, the population of Virginia in 1790 was 748,308, and in
1860, 1,596,318, making the ratio of increase 113.32 per cent. In 1790
New York numbered 340,120, and in 1860, 3,880,735, the ratio of increase
being 1,040.99. (Table 1, Prelim. Census Rep., p. 132.) Thus, the rate
of increase in New York exceeded that of Virginia more than nine to one.
In 1790, the population of Virginia was largely more than double that of
New York. In 1860, the population of New York was very largely more than
double that of Virginia. In 1790, Virginia, in population, ranked first
of all the States, and New York the fifth.
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