What percentage of the southern population owned slaves during the antebellum period?

During the antebellum period in the United States, approximately 25% of the Southern population were slave owners. This figure reflects a society that was heavily influenced by the institution of slavery, particularly in the agricultural economy of the South, where plantation owners and farmers relied extensively on enslaved labor for the cultivation of cash crops like cotton and tobacco.

It is important to note that while a substantial percentage of Southern families did not own slaves, those who did often held multiple slaves, concentrating the labor force in the hands of a relatively small number of wealthy planters. This significant ownership among a portion of the population shaped social structures, economic practices, and cultural attitudes in the South and played a crucial role in the dynamics leading up to the Civil War.