Economics of Slavery

Economics of Slavery

The outstanding economic characteristics of Southern states' agriculture in the pre-civil war period was the direct result of its reliance on slave labor force, an economic reality which would remain unparalleled not only in the history of the South, but in that of the United States. The efficiency of slave economy could be defined as "a comparison of the return from the use of this form of capital-Negro slaves-with the returns being earned on other capital assets at the time" (Conrad, Meyer: 96). Slaves were recruited as an inexpensive source of labor but they also became important capital in the American economy because slave transactions were taxed which was an invaluable source of tax revenue for local and state governments. Enslaved Africans were legally a form of property and had, like any other commodity, owners. Individually and collectively, they were frequently used as collateral in all kinds of transactions such as securing loans or purchasing additional slaves and/or land. Also, the value of slaves was used by their owners to pay off debts, and was included in the value of an estate when sold (Dodson). As the cotton plantation economy expanded throughout the southern region, banks and financial houses in New York supplied the loan capital and/or investment capital to purchase land and slaves (Dodson). During the colonial period in the United States, tobacco was the dominant slave-produced commodity which greatly relied on enslaved Africans brought into the U.S. In the period prior to the American Revolution (Dodson). As a result of the American Revolution Virginia and Maryland lost their main European tobacco markets; moreover, the global future of slavery in America was threatened as most of the northern states abolished it, and even Virginia debated abolition in the Virginia Assembly (Dodson). The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 meant a revival of slavery in the U.S. And determined a geographical shift of the slave economy from the upper to the lower South. The year 1850 saw 1.8 million of the 2.5 million enslaved Africans employed in American agriculture working on cotton plantations (Dodson). The economic structure of each plantation was part of a larger national and even international political economy. For example, the cotton plantation economy is frequently regarded as a significant part of Southern economy. Nevertheless, cotton was not only the economic foundation of antebellum South, but also that of the United States, a country that was competing for economic leadership in the global political economy. The profitability of slave economy led to its perpetuation. Indeed, history has shown that an economically profitable situation can often be unfair unjust or immoral, and can only be ended by drastic political measures. In the case of the South, it was the abolition of slavery. The Dred Scott case originated in the state courts of Missouri in 1846 as a slave's attempt to gain his independence from his mistress, Mrs. Irene Emerson, widow of Dr. John Emerson who had purchased Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet from a family in St. Louis. Dred Scott was unsuccessful because the court claimed that because he did not own property he had no right to sue his owner. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of the Supreme Court announced his decision in 1857, 11 years after the case was sparked. Moreover, this case gave rise to controversies regarding its legitimacy and authenticity in the sense that there were many voices that claimed it was an artificial construction meant to raise questions regarding the issue of slavery (Ehrlich: 257). Indeed, this decision of the Supreme Court would play a significant role in bringing about the Civil War (Ehrlich: 265).