Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments / Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on this Important Subject - Unknown

There are five parishes, or counties, found in the report of the auditor of public accounts, in which the white population exceeds the negro slaves three to one. Let these parishes be compared with five others in which the slave population exceeds the white seven to one.

Table I, represents the first class of parishes, and Table II, the second. Thus:

TABLE I.

	Total acres of land owned.	Population
	Total acres of land owned.	Whites.	Slaves.	Free Negroes.
Calcasieu,	35,486	2,367	947	280
Livingston,	60,885	3,998	1,297	7
Sabine,	85,446 [275]	3,585	1,409	—
Vermillion,	73,654	3,260	1,378	19
Winn,	43,406	4,314	1,007	38
	298,877	17,524	6,038	343
			17,524
Total whites and slaves,			23,562
			343
Aggregate population,			23,905

TABLE II.

	Total acres of land owned.	Population
	Total acres of land owned.	Whites.	Slaves.	Free Negroes.
Carroll,	246,582	2,409	9,529	—
Concordia,	318,395	1,384	11,908	11
Madison,	304,494	1,293	9,863	—
Tensas,	323,797	1,255	13,285	328
W. Feliciana,	230,966	1,985	10,450	68
	1,224,234	8,326	55,035	407
			8,326
Total whites and slaves,			63,361
			407
Aggregate population,			63,768

It will be seen from the above, that the white population of the parishes in table I exceeds the slaves nearly three to one; while, in the parishes in table II, the slaves exceed the whites nearly seven to one.

If the land were divided equally among the aggregate population, each inhabitant of the parishes in table I would have 12 acres, and each inhabitant of the parishes in table II would have 22 acres. Here lesson 1 ends, by proving that there is not as great a demand for land, by nearly one half, where the population consists of one white man and seven negroes. By referring to a map of Louisiana, it will be seen that the territorial extent of the parishes in table I is much greater than those in table II. Hence it is not for the want of territory, that a population consisting of three whites to one negro, owns less land by nearly one half, than a population consisting of seven negroes to one white man.

Lesson No. 2.—Lesson No. I requires the value of the land per acre, in tables I and II, to be ascertained and compared, with a view of solving the important problem: "Which gives the most value to land, a dense white population with a few negroes, or a dense slave population with a few white people?"