Across the Great Divide

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GEORGIA 462,198 (43.7%)

FLORIDA 61,745 (44.0%)

ALABAMA 435,080 (45.1%)

MISSISSIPPI 436,631 (55.2%)

Highest concentration of slaves: 92.5% In Issaquena County, Miss., 115 owners held 7,244 slaves

LOUISIANA 331,726 (46.9%)

TEXAS 182,566 (30.2%)

SLAVE TRADE

Less than 5% of slaves taken from Africa came to North America. The U.S. outlawed the importation of slaves in 1808

Transatlantic slave imports, 1450-1870 -- Number of slaves

1 Brazil ................................................4 million

2 Spanish Empire .................................2.5 million

3 British West Indies .............................2 million

4 French West Indies ............................1.6 million

5 British North America and U.S. .............500,000

6 Dutch West Indies ...............................500,000

7 Danish West Indies ................................28,000

8 Europe ................................................200,000

Sources: Census Bureau, Population of the United States in 1860; Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920, by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide; Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research; University of Virginia; estimates on slave imports from The Slave Trade, by Hugh Thomas, 1997 (Simon & Schuster)

Stauffer teaches American literature and history at Harvard and is the prize-winning author of The Black Hearts of Men

For David Blight's story on Douglass's July 5, 1852, speech, see time.com/lincoln