The legacy of slavery and the wealth it brought to a select few continue to echo over time into present-day politics, as a new study found that about one out of every five members of Congress were descendants of slaveholders, and many are far richer than colleagues whose ancestors did not enslave people. Researchers found that even when accounting for factors such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, members of Congress whose families enslaved 16 or more people had a current net worth that was five times greater than lawmakers with no family history of slaveholders.