Slave Concentrations in the United States

[W. Gray]

This is not exactly the Good Old Days for many people but here is a map of the concentration of slaves in the U.S. at some point before the Civil War. This is not a perfect copy but one can see the largest areas with slaves and the concentration in the state of Missouri.

The area along the Missouri River from St. Louis to Kansas City was known as "Little Dixie." Harry Truman's home town of Independence in Jackson County near Kansas City did not have as many slaves as some of the counties on the river but was still the site of many slave markets and several thousand slaves working in the county.

One freed slave, Hiram Young, in Independence was reputed to be the biggest wagon maker in the state, if not the nation. He sold wagons for the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trail business and also contracted with the US government to provide freighters. He managed his manufacturing business by buying slaves and putting them to work as slaves--but eventually freeing them when he had recouped his expense. He could neither read or write but knew how to build wagons. He went into partnership with one of the white town leaders who kept books for him, managed his finances, and signed his contracts.

[redcliffsw]

Now the Fed's are in control - their socialist thinking has taken us further away from liberty.