But they tended to have wives and children. In some states close to 50% of all families had slaves. That's a better statistic to judge just how important it was.
Now, examining the working conditions of early factories in the North...
Those factory workers didn't have to worry about waking some morning and finding their wives and children sold out from under them.
Were the 600,000 lives lost a worthwhile sacrifice so that we could reach the circumstances we are in now, with the Obamination as President?