U.S. Slave Population in 1860: A Dark History Unveiled

How many enslaved individuals were there in the U.S. by 1860?

a. 1 million
b. 2 million
c. 3 million
d. 4 million

Final answer:

By 1860, there were approximately 4 million enslaved individuals in the U.S., a figure that had escalated due to the large-scale forceful migrations of the domestic slave trade.

By 1860, the approximate U.S. slave population was close to 4 million. This figure originates from the historical record; the U.S. census of 1860, in fact, reported the population of African Americans to be 4.4 million, of which 3.95 million were enslaved. This significant number of enslaved individuals was primarily the result of the domestic slave trade, which involved forced internal migrations that saw about 200,000 people sold and relocated each decade between 1820 and 1860.