At least eight of our 44 presidents were slave owners. Note that John Adams (2) is missing. Adams is actually famous for being against slavery when it was a mainstay institution of the American economy.
1. Washington: 316 slaves
3. Jefferson: 187 slaves
4. Madison: 106 slaves
7. Jackson: 160 slaves
10. Tyler: 70 slaves
11. Polk: unspecified number of slaves
12. Taylor: 100 slaves
18. Grant: at least 1 slave
source: U.S. Slave
As for some of the other early presidents, I speculate that they were simply not rich enough to be able to afford slaves.
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