I've no idea.
Not many I think. There were 22 slaves in New Mexico in 1860. The climate was seen as not being conducive to slave based economies.
Walt
As soon as the effect of the discovery of gold began to be felt, when citizens of all ranks became diggers for the yellow metal, the introduction of slaves would have been even more vigorously opposed, and in truth, would have been plainly intolerable. The editor of the Alta California, February 22, 1849, thus states the case:“The majority—four-fifths, we believe—of the inhabitants of California are opposed to slavery. They believe it to be an evil and a wrong * * and while they would rigidly and faithfully protect the vested rights of the South, they deem it a high moral duty to prevent its extension and aid its extinction by every honorable means.” Walter Colton had a clear perception of the exact situation when, in the Constitutional Convention at Monterey, he affirmed:
“The causes which exclude slavery from California lie within a nutshell. All there are diggers, and free white diggers won’t dig with slaves. They know they must dig themselves; they have come out here for that purpose, and they won’t degrade their calling by associating it with slave labor. Self-preservation is the first law of nature. They have nothing to do with slavery in the abstract or as it exists in other communities * * they must themselves swing the pick, and they won’t swing it by the side of negro slaves. That is the upshot of the whole business.”
Alexander Buchner, in his Le Conquerant de la Californie, without hesitation affirms: “It was the gold of California that gave the fatal blow to the institution of slavery in the United States.”
(Like the article I posted above, this is from the Website of the Museum of San Francisco)
slavery was declared illegal in the 1849 state constitution and there was no provision for enumerating slaves on the census forms. [snip]*RUDOLPH M. LAPP, who is currently doing a general study of the Negro in California from 1849 to 1875, is a member of the staff of the College of San Mateo. Professor Lapp received his Ph.D. degree in U.S. Southern History from the University of California at Berkeley.. It soon became apparent that slave owners who were tarrying too long in California were in danger of losing their property.
This is just Gov. Davis trolling for more votes. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Davis will do anything, say anything, and allege anything, in his search for votes. I would not be surprised to find him offering BJs before this campaign is over.
Well, there were the Indian slaves the Spanish priests kept...
And now we begin to suspect why.