A new study suggests links between ancestors’ slave holdings and higher net worth for members of Congress, like U.S. Sen. Angus King.
That study was published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
The study’s authors examined the reported financial holdings of members of Congress minus their liabilities and undisclosed income like federal retirement accounts. That was then compared with slaveholder ancestry information compiled by the news agency Reuters in a 2023 investigation that looked at members of 117th Congress, presidents, governors and Supreme Court justices.
They found even when accounting for other factors like age, education, ethnicity, race and sex that an ancestor’s slave holdings were associated with a fivefold higher net worth than those members of Congress with no family history of slave holding.
The median net worth for the 535 members of the 117th Congress was $1.28 million, while it was $3.9 million for those with an ancestor who held 16 or more slaves.
“Our results, over 150 years after emancipation, provide further evidence for the durability of wealth across generations. It is worth emphasizing that wealth from any source (whether slavery is involved or not) generally creates intergenerational benefits. Wealthy individuals accrue political power which they use to further enhance their wealth in a positive feedback loop,” the study’s author wrote.
King, I-Maine, is among just four sitting members of Congress from New England whose ancestors had slaves, according to a Boston Globe analysis of that study focusing on federal elected officials from New England.
That includes U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, all Democrats.
Of them, King’s ancestor, identified as David Watkins in the Reuters report and from whom he is four generations removed, held the fewest slaves (nine), while King had the highest net worth ($11.6 million), according to the Globe.
A spokesperson for King said in a Thursday afternoon statement that the senator is “mindful of America’s history with slavery and the racial imbalance that still exists today.”
“While he cannot change the decisions of his ancestors (of which he was entirely unaware until the Reuters report), he is and has always been committed to improving the economic prospects and quality of life for all Americans – no matter their skin color or zip code,” the spokesperson said.
The study’s authors caution that the results have limitations because members of Congress tend to be wealthier than the general population, that the ancestry data only accounts for slave holdings after 1776 and legislators’ financial disclosures don’t account for all sources of wealth.
The authors note that the findings don’t represent a causal link but a relational link of the impact of slave holdings on legislators’ wealth today.
William Darity, a professor of public policy and African and African American studies at Duke University, told the Globe that a major takeaway from the study is that a “significant number of members of Congress” should be advocates for reparations.
