Which member of Congress owned the most slaves?

Believe it or not, it's a difficult question.
*Correction- now we know that at least 1800 members of Congress owned slaves

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12 of the first 18 American presidents owned slaves. Thomas Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves throughout his life.

But people forget just how many members of Congress owned slaves, 1700 of them did…and many of them were from northern states. For the first 30 years of the existence of the United States, more than half of Congress owned slaves.

When Senator Daniel Webster delivered his famous Seventh of March Speech that helped lead to the passing of the Compromise of 1850, THESE 40 of the 106 members of Congress present still owned slaves. Long after slavery was abolished, former slave owners continued to serve in Congress into the 20th century, with the last one holding office in 1922.

But which member of Congress owned the most slaves? Well, we actually don’t know the answer to that question. Researchers, believe it or not, are still trying to figure that out.

#ushistory #slavery #americanhistory

[iammrbeat]

The number of members of Congress who owned slaves has now surpassed 1800 apparently. It's crazy that we're just now getting around to finding this stuff out!

[fordandk]

I'd love to see a whole video on Rebecca Latimer Felton. "First female Senator" and "last member of congress to own slaves" are two titles I wouldn't imagine the same person holding.

[iamjohnfarlow]

Say what you will about John Adams but unlike many of his peers and fellow founding fathers, when he said he was against slavery, he ACTUALLY was against slavery.

[bridgecross]

Even better; of our first 12 presidents, only two didn't own slaves. And they were both named Adams. The Adams' get short shrift in the public estimation. But they had an open distaste of slavery.

[Johnrich]

It’s criminal to list Grant as a slave owner! He received a slave as a wedding present and freed the man as soon as possible!

[Liam-Carlson]

Highlighting all the senators who owned slaves in that picture must have took a while

[nasis]

The whole concept of "owning" other people is just f'ed up.

[TheRealRMG]

I know it's factually accurate, but it's ridiculous to list U.S. Grant as a slave holder with no context. He owned one slave very briefly that was a gift from his father, before freeing him. He should not be listed on the same graphic as Washington or Jefferson.

[Blaqjaqshellaq]

Q: Who was the last POTUS to be born into a slave-owning family? A: Woodrow Wilson!

[bosniandrunkard]

As usual, the Adams' are who I look up to. They're the real deal 🔥🔥

[MayorofHopeville]

Hard to get rid of a system when the rulers benefit from it.

[regalcartoon]

Craziest part is that slavery still exists. It just goes under less evil sounding names. Like how in China there is overt child labor, forced labor, and things of the like. Over 5 million people were estimated to be subject to modern slavery in China on any given day in 2021, for example. Meanwhile over in North Korea, they have even fewer rights. They are owned by the government and don’t have any rights. Russia’s civil rights situation is infinitely better than NK or China, but it still pales in comparison to a lot of western countries.

Only 1.7 million people were estimated to be in Modern Slavery in the Middle East in 2021. However, when you account for population (as in compare the number of modern slaves to the number of total people) you will find that the percentage of enslaved people is much higher compared to other regions. Let’s not forget that in the Middle East women don’t have many rights. Particularly in countries like Afghanistan where, since the Taliban took over, civil rights for both men and women went from already being horrible to being rock bottom.

Slavery still exists here in the US with hundreds of thousands of slaves. Furthermore, Slavery is commonly a punishment for crimes. We just call it community service or prison work. Sure some prisons will pay prisoners an extremely low amount of money for working a prison job (none is given for community service as it is a punishment usually given in court). However many states have no compensation law. Meaning that prisons in these states are legally allowed to not pay you for your labor. Furthermore, most if not all states require you to do work while in prison. Whether it’s license plate making or cleaning, you’re required to something and usually don’t get much of a choice over what you do. So in other words, everyone who commits a crime and is sent to prison (even if it is a non-horrible crime) is forced to work without guarantee of any sort of compensation. Sound familiar? Granted it is used as punishment for law breakers, not just everyday law abiding citizens, but still.

So yeah. Slavery still exists. And given the much higher population…there are probably more slaves now than there ever have been at any point in human history.

[itsmealex]

I think this helps highlight why tensions over slavery really seemed to intensify after the 1830s. The northern representatives and senators were slowly transitioning from slave owners or members who grew up with slavery in the north to a younger generation that had little or no experience growing up with slavery in their states, making it kuch easier to get on board with limiting or abolishing slaveru

[mikeoyler]

I think it depends on how you count it. Just like you said about Jefferson. He owned a total of 600 slaves throughout his life time but had around 140 at the height of his ownership. Although George Mason was not a congressman, he had over 300 at any given time. The total must have been quite high by the time he died.

[nprnilk]

Didn’t James Buchanan also own slaves? In which he made them his “servants” for housekeeping?

[SovurnScholar]

John Adams was truely the greatest and most paramount Founding Father to our Revolution.

[aurvaroy]

Is it just me or do I really love the way Mr. Beat sings "Compromise of 1850"? Like it sounds so good

[dejiadeleye]

From what I briefly learned about Ulysses S Grant, I’d use the number 12 loosely. Grant wasn’t necessarily a slave owning person, he had one slave for a short time before setting him free.

[FayeWalker-ofiy]

So interesting. Very enlightening! Keep up the good work.

[greg]

Whoa I saw Dianne Feinstein in there. To think she is still in Congress to this day.