1800 Census — Enslaved Population Nearly One Million

The 1800 census counted 893,602 enslaved people in the United States, up from 697,681 in 1790. The increase reflected both natural population growth and continued slave imports. Virginia held the largest enslaved population (346,671), but the fastest growth was in South Carolina and Georgia. The numbers made clear that the Revolution's rhetoric of liberty had produced no meaningful contraction of slavery — only its geographic expansion.