University of Virginia Library

VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, PER HEAD, IN 1850.

No enumeration was made in 1850 of the whole number of
persons engaged in agriculture, as was done in 1840, and the
returns for the latter year must therefore be the basis of our
calculation for 1850, as to the number, and the consequent
value, of the products per head in the two sections of our
country. Assuming, then, that in the North the proportion of
the whole population of those engaged in agriculture was the
same in 1850 as in 1840, and that in the South the proportion
of the free population thus engaged was no larger than in the
North, we have the following result, viz:

FREE STATES.

     

Whole number engaged in agriculture in 1850,	2,509,126
Value of agricultural products,	$858,634,334
Value per head,	$342

SLAVE STATES.

         

Number of free population engaged in agriculture in 1850,	1,197,649
Number of slaves engaged in agriculture in 1850,	2,500,000
Total,	3,697,649
Value of agricultural products,	$631,277,417
Value per head,	$171

De Bow says of the slave population of 1850 (Census Compendium,
p. 94), there are "about 2,500,000 slaves directly
employed in agriculture." This is a small estimate, and the
number given above (1,197,649) of the 6,412,605 free population
of the South engaged in agriculture is very small. With
the little manufactures and commerce of the South, what are
the people of that region engaged in? But, under protest, we
adopt the above conclusions. This, then, is the grand result in
the department of agriculture, the peculiar province of the
South:

The North, with half as much land under cultivation, and
two-thirds as many persons engaged in farming, produces two
hundred and twenty-seven millions of dollars worth of agricultural
products in a year more than the South; twice as much on an
acre, and more than double the value per head for every person
engaged in farming.

And this, while the South, paying nothing for its labor,
has better land, a monopoly of cotton, rice, cane sugar, and
nearly so of tobacco and hemp, and a climate granting two and
sometimes three crops in a year. Nor does a comparison of the
products of 1850 with those of 1840 afford any ground for
hope for the South. A recurrence to Table XI. will show
that, excluding wheat, sugar, and molasses from the aggregate,
the production of the South for 1840 was nearly equal that of
the North. Perhaps in 1830 it was greater.

Table XIII. gives the population, white and slave, number of
acres of land, value of farms, value of land per acre, number
of students and scholars in public and private schools, and the
number of whites over twenty unable to read and write, in the
counties in the several States on the dividing line between the
Free and Slave States, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
The statistics are from De Bow's Compendium of the Census
of 1850. The table is an important one, and deserves a more
extended consideration than can be given it in this work.

TABLE XIII.
A Statement of Population, White and Slave, Number of acres of Land, Value of Farms, Value of Farms per acre, Number
of Students and Scholars in Public and Private Schools, and the Number of Whites over 20 years of age unable to read
and write, in the Counties on the dividing line between the Free and the Slave States, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
with the like Statistics of the Remaining Counties of the respective States.

                                                 

Border Counties and Remaining Counties of their several States.	White Population in 1850.	Slaves in 1850.	Acres of Improved and Unimproved Land in 1850.	Value of Improved and Unimproved Land in 1850.	Value of Farms per Acre.	Pupils in Colleges, Academies, and Private Schools.	White Scholars in Public Schools during the year.	No. of Whites over 5 and under 20 years old.	No. of Whites over 20 unable to read & write.
Counties of Delaware adjacent to New Jersey	50,849	741	501,667	$15,848,760	$31.59	2,075	10,596	18,707	6,292
The remaining County of Delaware	20,320	1,549	454,667	3,541,550	7.79	80	3,620	7,902	3,485
Counties of New Jersey adjacent to Delaware	47,486		386,720	14,553,731	37.63	185	10,642	17,628	1,120
Remaining Counties of New Jersey	418,023		2,366,226	105,683,781	44.66	10,129	78,633	148,253	11,667
County of Pennsylvania adjoining Delaware	23,122		105,569	9,067,082	85.89	303	5,142	8,320	422
Counties of Maryland adjoining Pennsylvania	315,282	17,430	1,615,227	47,851,615	29.63	10,386	42,885	105,229	19,268
Remaining Counties of Maryland	102,661	72,938	3,019,123	41,790,373	13.84	1,528	17,562	42,488	19,158
Counties of Pennsylvania adjoining Maryland	330,688		2,799,532	105,136,277	37.56	3,245	77,376	123,613	11,473
Counties of Virginia adjoining Pennsylvania	64,540	527	732,913	9,512,647	12.98	867	10,505	24,368	4,001
Remaining Counties of Virginia	830,260	472,001	25,419,398	213,910,668	8.42	9,544	99,206	320,897	83,382
Counties of Pennsylvania adjoining Virginia	128,927		1,373,119	32,985,617	24.74	1,330	31,283	49,350	3,708
Remaining Counties of Pennsylvania	2,129,233		13,545,228	374,890,482	27.68	25,941	466,828	775,320	47,575
Counties of Virginia adjacent to Ohio	38,251	1,689	980,219	5,543,346	5.65	150	5,677	15,614	3,845
Counties of Ohio adjacent to Virginia	97,963		843,545	9,354,429	11.09	762	22,374	38,463	4,998
Remaining Counties of Ohio	1,858,087		17,153,948	349,404,174	20.37	17,911	489,904	719,170	51,960
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Ohio	81,749	9,672	926,151	66,923,351	18.27	942	12,327	30,944	4,422
Counties of Ohio adjacent to Kentucky	261,724		1,069,308	34,577,488	32.34	5,994	48,102	91,906	8,334
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Indiana	106,473	28,731	1,653,014	17,250,889	10.44	2,764	16,267	39,303	5,252
Remaining Counties of Kentucky	654,940	182,251	15,296,746	142,839,410	9.34	11,721	114,650	263,596	62,107
Counties of Indiana adjacent to Kentucky	134,509		1,276,989	14,480,233	11.34	1,114	26,665	45,657	7,075
Remaining Counties of Indiana	842,645		11,516,433	121,904,940	10.59	6,140	193,369	353,635	62,370
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Illinois	27,443	5,908	627,218	2,918,419	4.65	338	5,235	11,085	2,700
Counties of Illinois adjacent to Kentucky	18,101		235,716	1,093,685	4.54	none.	2,307	7,384	1,861
Remaining Counties of Illinois	828,933		11,801,696	95,039,604	8.05	4,686	179,662	328,079	33,575

In proportion to the white population, these border counties
of the Slave States contain the following per cent of slaves, viz:

       

Delaware,	1 per cent.
Maryland,	5 "
Virginia,	2 "
Kentucky,	21 "

The remaining counties of the same States give the following,
viz:

       

Delaware,	8 per cent.
Maryland,	71 "
Virginia,	59 "
Kentucky,	31 "

The value of lands per acre will be seen by an examination
of the table; and it will be noticed, that, with the exception of
the broken region of Virginia, which lies adjacent to Ohio, and
that of Kentucky, which lies adjacent to Illinois, the value of
lands per acre in the counties of the Slave States adjoining the
Free is greater than that of the remaining counties of their
respective States. The opposite is true, generally, of the
border counties of the Free States. Thus, the effects of
freedom and slavery on the value of the adjacent lands is
reciprocal. The neighborhood of slavery lessens their value in
the Free States; the neighborhood of freedom increases it in
the Slave States. To such an extent is this true, that, in Virginia,
for example, the lands in counties naturally poor, are, by
the proximity of freedom, rendered more valuable than those
unequalled lands in the better portions of the State. Indeed,
this table shows the fact that the lands in the border
counties of the Slave States are worth more per acre than the
remaining lands in the same States, with the addition of the
value of the whole number of their slaves at $400 per head.
And this, be it remembered, while the value of lands in the
balance of the counties of the border Slave States is double
that of the lands in the Slave States not adjacent to the Free.
It is for the interest of the Slave States to be hedged in by a

circle of Free States. If Tennessee had been a Free State,
her lands would have been worth as much as those of Ohio,—
$19.99 per acre, instead of $5.16 as now,—and who cannot
see that, in that event, the lands of North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia would have been worth more per acre
than the sums of $3.24, $1.40, $4.19, respectively. Not only
could Tennessee afford to sacrifice the whole value of her slaves
for the sake of freedom, but even North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia could afford to sacrifice the whole value of
their own slaves, and pay for all of the slaves in Tennessee for
the sake of having a free neighbor. The increased value of
lands would more than compensate for the sacrifice. The
figures prove this.

                 

Tennessee has 18,984,022 acres of land under cultivation, worth $5.16 per acre. Multiply this number of acres by $14.83 (the difference between the value of lands in Tennessee and Ohio), and the amount is,	$281,533,046
Tennessee has 239,459 slaves; value, at $400 each,	95,783,600
This leaves the respectable margin of	185,749,446
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia have 60,891,774 acres of land, worth $3.08 per acre. Multiply this number of acres by $15.73 (the difference in value between the lands in these States and the border Slave State of Maryland), and the amount is	$957,827,605
Number of slaves in these States,	1,055,214
Value at $400 each,	$422,085,600
Value of slaves in Tennessee, as above,	95,783,600
Total,	$517,869,200
Deducting this from the increased value of lands, and the balance in favor of free neighbors is the sum of	$439,958,405

Thus, the figures show that Tennessee could afford, for the
sake of freedom, to sacrifice the whole value of her quarter of
a million of slaves, and pay in addition the sum of $185,749,446.
For the sake of a free neighbor, and to bring up their lands to
the value of those of Maryland, the States of North and South
Carolina, and Georgia, could afford to sacrifice the whole of
their own slaves, pay for those of Tennessee, and make
$439,958,405 by the bargain, which sum is considerably more
than twice the present value of all their lands. Nay, these
States could afford to send off, singly, every slave within their
limits, in a coach with two horses, and provisions for a year, if
they could but bring up the value of their lands to that of the
land in northern Maryland. Indignation, and patriotism, and
dissolution of the Union, indeed, if a fugitive now and then be
not reclaimed! South Carolina could afford to pay every year
more money than she spent in the whole Revolutionary war,
to make her whole number of slaves fugitives; and then make
money enough by the transaction to fence in the whole State
with a picket fence, to prevent their return.