I've always imagined slave ownership to be a pretty ubiquitous thing back in those days. But a random youtube comment made me think otherwise, that it was just the ultra-wealthy. Did the common man own slaves back then or was it just the upper-class people, i.e. the Elon Musks and Warren Buffets of the old days?
These are two of the previous discussions of the question:
'How financially privileged was slave ownership in America? Could a "middle class" American own slaves, or was this only reserved for the very elite? Do we have knowledge of what percentage of Americans owned one or more slaves?' by /u/sowser . This I mention for basic points and the dollars.
"How many Americans and Southerners owned slaves prior to the civil war?" by /u/jschooltiger . This I mention for basic points, an analogy that clarifies a point (the car analogy), and links to further pages for those interested. In particular, I was struck by the last paragraph, which mentions "slaveholding families" and gives a census link for the per-state data.
This is not to discourage discussion. Further questions, data, and debate are welcome.