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A few thoughts: 1) I would imagine the black population is still undercounted. 2) Although it perhaps was overestimated by the fearful in power, like Dunmore. 3) 60--40 is not far from 66--33. 4) "In South Carolina in 1720, about 65% of the population consisted of slaves", according to Wikipedia, "Slavery in the United States". I'm confident it increased up to the Revolution. Of course, SC is not VA. 5) Three-fifths (as in the Constitution) of a free (mainly white) population that was 60% of the total would be 36% of the total population, not far from either 33% or 40%. (I trust I'm not misunderstanding the Constitution!) Joel Berson At 11/27/2013 12:41 PM, John Saillant wrote: > Jon, Thank you for the transcription. > > But I am struck by Dunmore's assertion that the "the Negroes are double the number of white people in this Colony." Most of my sources place the percentage of enslaved people around 40%. Does anyone have an idea where the governor might have arrived at this figure? > > David Kiracofe --
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