Personally, most of my ancestors were still in Europe during the heyday of the slave trade, and once here were more likely to invest any capital they had in more midwestern farmland and a new plow. But I'm not going to argue that a good part of the shipping interests of New England were up to their necks in the slave trade. Obviously they were. I'm arguing 4CJ's claim that "millions" of yankees invested capital in the trade, a claim he refuses to back up.
Ok. I see your point. It was a question of the number of actual traders. I misunderstood.