He first recorded his slaveholding in 1774, when he counted 41 enslaved people.[367] Over his lifetime he owned about 600 slaves; he inherited about 175 people while most of the remainder were people born on his plantations.[368] Jefferson purchased some slaves in order to reunite their families. He sold approximately 110 people for economic reasons, primarily slaves from his outlying farms.[368][369] In 1784 when the number of slaves he owned likely was approximately 200, he began to divest himself of many slaves, and by 1794 he had divested himself of 161 individuals.[370][q]
Approximately 100 slaves lived at Monticello at any given time. In 1817, the plantation recorded its largest slave population of 140 individuals.[371]
Jefferson once said, "My first wish is that the labourers may be well treated".[368] Jefferson did not work his slaves on Sundays and Christmas and he allowed them more personal time during the winter months.[372] Some scholars doubt Jefferson's benevolence,[373] however, noting cases of excessive slave whippings in his absence. His nail factory was staffed only by enslaved children. Many of the enslaved boys became tradesmen. 