In 1840 there were more intelligent blacks in the South than in the North but not so after 1850, despite the vigorous execution of the Fugitive Slave Law in some parts of the North.
While the free Negro population of the slave States increased only 23,736 from 1850 to 1860, that of the free States increased 29,839.

In the South, only Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina showed a noticeable increase in the number of free persons of color during the decade immediately preceding the Civil War.

This element of the population had only slightly increased in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina and the District of Columbia.

The number of free Negroes of Florida remained constant.

Those of Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas diminished.