American Negro Slavery

In Studying American Negro Slavery there are a variety of themes that will be used to explain or justify the institution. Some examples for instance are influences of religion or the effects of racism, and sometimes the politics of slavery. But one issue seems to be relevant in most works on American Slavery. In reading U.B. Phillips book American Negro Slavery and Kenneth Stampp’s the Peculiar Institution it becomes apparent that understanding the economics of slavery helps strengthened an argument on the subject. It is in those concrete figures and state where a lot of the conclusions will be drawn. Whether or not slavery was effective depends upon the information available to the person drawing the conclusion. With this being stated, economics becomes a vital part of evaluating the institution of slavery in North America.

During the 19th and 20th centuries there were numerous works contributed on American Negro slavery. Most of the books on the subject include in one form or another a section on economics. In the early 19th Century a historian named William Chambers wrote his book Slavery and Colour. In this, Chambers examines the economic view of slavery in a single chapter. Using statistics from slave trading between the states and census reports he is able to identify slave-producing states versus slave consuming states. Chambers noted the real profit from slavery was not I the Deep South but in those states that were selling slaves such as Maryland, Delaware, and Virgins 147. Because of those facts Chambers believes that slavery was no only prolonged by those large plantation owners in the South but also by the slave breeders in the North. Chambers believes this practice was a stain on the American image. Chamber’s book, which was originally published in 1857, would be one of the many testaments to the inefficiency of the American slave system in the 19th century. Chamber’s view was a portrait of what was to come only eight years later. The rift in the country was also present in his book as he often referred to the North as the Union. With the change of politics came a change of theories and the 20th century would bring many changes.

A late 19th century historian known as Albert Bushnell Hart published Slavery and Abolition in 1960. Hart devoted the first three chapters of this book on economic and social aspects of American Negro slavery. Hart was a Harvard professor. He was a well-known historian and published numerous works on slavery during his time. When examining the economics of slavery, Hart’s evidence revealed that “out of 9,000,000 whites in 1860, certainly not more than 500,000 persons made a substantial profit out of slave-keeping; within that privileged number a body of about ten thousand was the ruling families in the South”68. Certainly this fact was a testament of the profitability of slavery. He also notes that in slave holding communities only one out of thirty theses actually owned slaves. 67. This factor brings Hart to conclude that slavery was desirable to the poor whites because of the “social and political prestige of the slave holder” 66. When witnessing how historians correlate economics to understand the past it shows how important the facts are in finding an explanation. Hart like many other Historians of this era drew similar conclusions based upon