United States Census Slave Schedule for St. Louis County, 1850

The Three-Fifths clause of the United States Constitution stipulated that the nation's enslaved population was to be counted as part of the United States Census. Once the enslaved population was counted, the total number would be divided by three-fifths. This calcuation was then applied so that 60% percent of the total enslaved population would be counted and added to the nation's total population for the purposes of establishing purpotional representation in Congress. As slavery gradually faded away in the Northern states, the Three-Fifths clause gave a representational boost in Congress to the slave states of the South.

As part of the 1850 and 1860 censuses, a comprehensive "Slave Schedule" was published as an addendum to the main census count. These slave schedules listed the names of individual enslavers and enumerated the enslaved people they claimed ownership of. By leaving the names of enslaved people off these records, the slave schedules essentially reduced enslaved people to property that was liable to be bought, sold, and taxed under state laws.

What follows below is a complete transcription of the 1850 Slave Schedule for St. Louis County. Many prominent and familiar names in St. Louis history emerge in these records, including Ulysses S. Grant's father-in-law, Colonel Frederick F. Dent. Colonel Dent is listed as enslaving seventeen people at the White Haven estate and thirteen people at his city home in the Second Ward of St. Louis. This Slave Schedule has been translated word for word and includes nine different categories that were included as part of the record-taking: Location, Name of Slave Owners, Number of Slaves, Age, Sex, Color ("B" for Black and "M" for Mulatto/Mixed Race), Fugitive from the State, Number Manumitted (Freed), and Deaf & Dumb, Blind, Insane, or Idiotic.

This spreadsheet is searchable and downloadable. To download this spreadsheet, click on the "Download This Dataset" link underneath the timeline.

The work of transcribing the original 1850 Slave Schedule for St. Louis County was completed in February 2024 by Railey Crews, Interpretation Intern at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.

Download This Dataset

Part of a series of articles titled
The History of Slavery in St. Louis.

Previous:
Transcription of "The Code Noir" (The Black Code)

Next:
United States Census Slave Schedule for St. Louis County, 1860

Where this belongs

• Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

Where this page came from

This page was imported from National Park Service. Produced by the U.S. National Park Service and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.