History

Maps

Distribution of Slaves in 1860

In 1861, in an attempt to raise money for sick and wounded soldiers, the Census Office produced and sold a map that showed the population distribution of slaves in the southern United States. Based on data from the 1860 census, this map was the Census Office's first attempt to map population density. It is a precursor to population density maps that have been produced since the 1870 census and especially forshadowed the work published in the Statistical Atlas of the United States by Francis Walker in 1874.

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Distribution of the slave population in the South, based
on 1860 census results. Originally published in 1861.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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Francis Bicknell Carpenter's 1864 painting, "First Reading
of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln,"
depicts the 1860 Slave Distribution Map in the right corner.

For more information:

• Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century," [PDF 121KB] courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Coast Survey.