Economic factors of slavery

Black Studies

The Economics of Slavery

The economics that led to slavery in the U.S. were complex, but the South had certain things that did not exist in the North that were the perfect breeding ground for slavery. Slavery had a huge impact on the nation, as history shows.

First and foremost, the South's economy was primarily based in agriculture, and extremely labor-intensive agriculture at that. The crops that were most successful in the South, such as tobacco and cotton, required extensive labor in the fields to plant, nurture, and harvest the crops. The importation of cheap, abundant labor was the only economically viable way to make these crops and their growers successful, and so, slavery made sense to the plantation owners who wanted to make a living in the South.

Second, the South's transportation system was extremely weak compared to the North's. Thus, they had a bigger problem getting their crops to market and competing with northern goods. The South had to rely on more primitive transportation, and so, they had to rely on only a few crops, such as cotton and tobacco, that were economically viable on a very large scale. Getting these crops to market was more difficult, and so they had to grow and distribute more to make money, and the more the slaves they owned, the more they could grow and eventually distribute.

Third, the South relied almost entirely on agriculture as their base for their economy because their cities were smaller than those in the North, and never really became thriving economic centers like cities such as New York and Boston in the North. Southern cities were smaller because most people still lived in the country, and so, they never really grew to encompass manufacturing and other, less labor intensive forms of commerce. They did not develop much international trade, either, and that also was a big problem in creating a more diverse and healthy Southern economy. Their major overseas export was cotton to the cotton mills of Great Britain - again, a reliance on agriculture as the main form of trade.

Finally, the educational level was far lower in the South than in the North. In fact, by 1850, studies show that about 20% of adult white southerners could not read or write, which was far more than the national figure of 8% (Mintz). Thus, there was less impetus and need for change and growth in the South. There were more undereducated people who only knew how to farm for a living, and there were fewer opportunities for these people to better themselves in thriving economic centers. The economy of the South was rooted in slavery, and there was little else for Southerners who wanted change to do to better themselves and their economy.

Clearly, slavery had a huge and lasting impact on the nation. From the first, slavery was contentious. It was even debated during the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and even then, the North and the South were sharply divided on this issue. The North developed a more viable economy that did not need to rely on slave labor, while the South did not. The country became even more divided as more states entered the Union and had to choose sides - free or slave state. By the time of the breakout of the Civil War, the country was even more divided, and each side was assured of their own moral superiority and justification of their cause. Thus, the impact on the country was the eventual fighting of the Civil War, but it was much more than that, too.