I am doing some research for a book on American Law, and came across some statistics that show the slave population of America in 1860 to be triple the population in 1810, in spite of the ban on importation legislated in 1808. Can someone tell me how this is possible, to triple a population in 2 generations? Was the importation ban ineffective? Was the 1810 census simply deficient? (I know an attempt at precision was made in the 1850 and 1860 censuses) And, can you tell me if slave populations in territories were only counted as they became states, and would that have an effect on the counts?

Thanks muchly,

==JJS==