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According to the 1800 US Census, 17% of the US population back then were slaves. This seems rather hard to square with a graph claiming that more than 80% of th
by microtherion 16y ago
According to the 1800 US Census, 17% of the US population back then were slaves. This seems rather hard to square with a graph claiming that more than 80% of the labor force were "free agents".
- vgr 16y agoI think Morgan's figures may have excluded slaves. They weren't paid a paycheck either, so they fall in neither category.
- microtherion 16y agoYes, I was suspecting that the underlying data excluded slaves. Not sure I buy the "paycheck" argument --- presumably in the less tamed regions of the US, there were plenty of other people who hardly ever handled money.