The Barbarism of Slavery

8 But thia difference becomes still more narkable, if we confine our inquiries to the /hite population, which, at this period, was only 6,184,477 in the Slave States, while it was 13,238,670 in the Free States, showing a difference of more than 7,054,193 in favor of Freedom, and showing that the white population of the Free States had not only doubled but commenced to triple that of the Slave States, although occupying a smaller territory. The comparative sparseness of the two populations furnishes another illustration. In the Slave States the average number of inhabitants to a square mile was 11.28, while in the Free States it was 21.93, or almost two to one in favor of Freedom. These results are general; but if we take any particular Slave State, and compare it with a Free State, we shall find the same constant evidence for Freedom. Take Virginia, with a territory of 61,352 miles, and New York, with a territory of 47,-000, or over 14,000 square miles less than her sister State. New York has one sea-port, Virginia some three or four; New York has one noble river, Virginia has several; New York for 400 miles runs along the frozen line of Canada; Virginia basks in a climate of constant felicity. But Freedom is better than climate, rivers, or sea-port! In 1790 the population of Virginia was 748,308, and in 1850 it was 1,421,661. In 1790, the population of New York was 340,120, and in 1850 it was 3,097,394; that of Virginia had not doubled in sixty years, while that of New York had multiplied more than nine-fold. A similar comparison may be made between Kentucky, with 37,680 square miles, admitted into the Union as long ago as 1790, and Ohio, with 39,964 square miles, admitted into the Union in 1802. In 1850, the Slave State had a population of only 982,405, while Ohio had a population of 1,980,329, showing a difference of nearly a million in favor of Freedom. As in population, so also in the value of\ property, real and personal, do the Free States excel the Slave States. According to the census of 1850, the value of property in the Free States was $4,107,162,198, while in the Slave States it was $2,936,090,737; or, if we deduct the asserted property in human flesh, only $1,655,945,137—showing an enormous difference of billions in favor of Freedom. In the Free States the valuation per acre was $10.47, in the Slave States only $3.04. This disproportion was still greater in 1855, according to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, when the valuation of the Free States was $5,770,194,680; dr $14.72 per acre; and of the Slave States, $3,977,353,946, or, if we deduct the asserted property in human flesh, $2,505,186,346, or $4.59 per acre. Thus, in five years from 1850, the valuation of property in the Free States received an increase of more than the whole accumulated valuation of the Slave States at that time’. Looking at details, we find the same disproportions. Arkansas and Michigan, equal in territory, were admitted into the Union in the same year; and yet, in 1855, the whole valuation of Arkansas, including its asserted property in human flesh, was only $64,240,726, while that of Michigan, without a single slave, was $116,593,580. The whole accumulated valuation of all the Slave States, deducting the asserted property in human flesh, in 1850, was only $1,655,945,137 ; but the valuation of New York alone, in 1855, reached the nearly equal sum of $1,401,285,279. The valuation of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, all together, in 1850, deducting human flesh, was $573,332,860, or simply $1.81 per acre—being less than that of Massachusetts alone, which was $573,342,286, or $114.85 per acre. The Slave States boast of agriculture; but here again, notwithstanding their superior natural advantages, they must yield to the free States at every point, in the number of farms and plantations, in the number of acres of improved lands, in the cash value of farms, in the average value per acre, and in- the value of farming implements and machinery. Here is a short table: Free States. — Number of farms, 877,736; acres of improved land, 57,688,040; cash value of farms, $2,143,344,437 ; average value per acre, $19.83; value of farming implements, $85,736,658. Slave States.—Number of farms, 564,203 ; acres of improved land, 54,970,427; cash value of farms, $1,117,649,649; average value per acre, $6.18; value of farming implements, $65,345,625. Such is the mighty contrast. But it does not stop here. Careful tables place the agricultural products of the Free States, for the year ending Juue, 1850, at $858,634,334, while those of the Slave States were $631,277,417; the product per acre in the Free States at $7.94, and the product per acre in the Slave States at $3.49; and the average product of each agriculturist in the Free States at $342, and in the Slave States at $171. Thus the Free States, with a smaller population engaged in agriculture than the Slave States, with smaller territory, show an annual sum total of agricultural products surpassing those of the Slave States by two hundred and twenty-seven millions of dollars, while twice as much is produced on an acre, and more than twice as much is produced by each agriculturist. The monopoly of cotton, rice, and cane sugar, with a climate granting two and sometimes three crops in a year, are thus impotent in the competition with Freedom. In manufactures, the failure of* the Slave States is greater still. It appears at all points, in the capital employed, in the value of the raw material, in the annual wages, and in the annual product. A short table will show the contrast:

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