By the time of the American Revolution there were just under 2.5 million.
However, Obama's white ancestry runs all the way back to the early 1600s (actually 1598 in Bar Harbor Maine), and there were at most a few hundred Europeans roaming around in that territory at that time.
I would suppose that by 1619 most of them owned one or more black slaves, that having become the fashionable thing to do hereabouts.
It's really, really difficult to have early American ancestry and not to have a slave-owner in the line, or, as it turns out, a slave as well. It's fairly easy to find an Indian or two, and this one Jewish woman the authorities didn't think was fit to be landed in Manhattan, so they ran her all the way up to Shodak Island. She's pretty much the mother of her country.
I'm not judging those people and I expect you people to not do so either!
Your statement is patently false on several accouts. First, there were no white Europeans in Maine in 1598. The first Europeans didn't arrive in Maine until 1604. Second, it wasn't 'fashionable' to own African slaves in 1619 Maine, considering that the very first African slaves arrived in August of that year in Virginia. And lastly, I wasn't commenting on the slave-owning history of his mother's family. I was commenting on the slave-selling history of his father's family.
When it comes to reparations for slavery, Obama will be on the paying end - not the receiving end.
Could you clarify that? I'm intrigued.