‘Money begets money’ is an old adage, as valid today as ever. A new study published in PLOS One, Slaveholder ancestry and current net worth of members of the United States Congress, shows the correlation.
After adjustment for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, legislators whose ancestors enslaved 16 or more individuals had a $3.93 million (95% confidence interval 2.39–5.46) higher net worth than legislators whose ancestors were not slave owners.
It should go without saying that members of Congress do not bear personal responsibility for the actions of their ancestors,
Many of our Canadian ancestors owned slaves as well. My 6G grandparent was a “Panisse” (American Indian slave) who was baptized at age 7 in Montreal. She was owned by the Campeau family who were fur trade merchants. Slavery in New France is well documented by Marcel Trudel’s excellent book, Canada’s Forgotten Slaves – Two Hundred Years of Bondage. Thankfully, slavery was ended in 1793 in Upper Canada by John Graves Simcoe and then in 1833 in the entire British empire.
recently Natasha Henry, Ontario Black History president and York U prof spoke to our St. Catharine local history group on the large number of slave holders in South Western Ontario. There is more than many knew of, all recorded.
I think this information is coming out more often, as it should.