in the United States in Fifty Years. 



17 



except Massachusetts, contained slaves. But, as in several States 

 the number was lew, and slavery was there subsequently abolished, 

 in tracing the progress of the slave population, it has been thought 

 best to confine our views to those in which slavery still exists, and 

 where it constitutes a large, or at least not an inconsiderable part 

 of the population. 



The proportion of the white, the free coloured, and the slave 

 population may be seen in the following table : 



It thus appeared that in these States, then constituting nearly 

 one-half the Union, the number of slaves was a little more than a 

 third of the population, and that the whites were nearly two-thirds. 



