The Economics of American Slavery

Nithellen Ravi

U.S. History I Honors

Mr.Parkin

5/5/17
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Slavery had a positive impact on the American economy, and therefore the economy

profited from it. Many countries were dependant on America, making it a major trading point.

Multiple cities in America profited from slavery, and they would have many businesses and be as

densely populated. Many plantation owners still depended on slavery to make a profit, and

defended and tried to justify it. Slavery, despite being immoral, had a positive effect on the

American economy as slaves were easier to maintain and cheaper to obtain than hired white

laborers.

Without slave picked cotton, New York would not have become a major trading center

with numerous thriving businesses. “Slave grown cotton is, in large part, the root of New York's

wealth”1. Slave grown cotton was sent to New York, and then shipped away. New York’s main

profits came from exporting cotton, and an increase in the need for cotton brought a direct need

for the increase of slaves as the cotton was slave picked. Most businesses in New York were

impacted by cotton. That includes banking, insurance, shipping, and manufacturing. Therefore,

the majority of ordinary workers were directly impacted and were in favor of the proposed idea

of seceding to join the confederation. “Although many in the city’s intelligentsia rolled their

eyes, ... Wood’s proposal made a certain kind of sense.”2 Fernando Wood suggested seceding at

the same time as the southern states were deciding to do the same thing. This plan, though, was

not met entirely with support. The highest class of people thought it was a bad idea, though the

support of the ordinary workers were with him.

1
​Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank. ​Complicity: how the North promoted, prolonged, and profited from
slavery​. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.
2
​Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank. ​Complicity: how the North promoted, prolonged, and profited from
slavery​. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.
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Many nations depended on America’s King Cotton from slave labor, resulting in more

cotton being picked for international textiles and ultimately a greater demand for slavery. “By

then, the Industrial Revolution had spread throughout Europe.”3 There were many countries

directly depending on America. Their textile companies were fed by the slave picked King

Cotton of America. This brought a greater demand for slaves, as he more slaves picking cotton

there were, the more bales of cotton would be exported. The countries that depended on america

included Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Russia, Spain, Italy,

and Belgium. “Britain, the most powerful nation in the world, relied on slave-produced

American cotton for over 80 per cent of its essential industrial raw material.”4 Britain at the time

was one of the greatest powers in the world, and even they depended on King Cotton for most of

its raw materials. Slave picked cotton was important globally, and without slavery, the amount of

cotton shipped around the world would have been significantly less, and the profits America

made as well.

Slaves were cheaper to use than free laborers, as they were not required be treated well,

and were more effective than free laborers. “The typical slave field hand was not lazy, inept, and

unproductive. On average he was harder-working and more efficient than his white counterpart.”
5
The plantation owner had a choice of hiring free laborers, or to buy slaves. The free laborers

were not required to work as they were allowed to refuse to do a certain type of work and not be

punished. They could go on on strike, or quit, as these were all rights they had. However, if a

slave refused to do some work, the owner would likely punish him. He was forced to do all kinds

3
Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank. ​Complicity: how the North promoted, prolonged, and profited from
slavery​. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.
4
​"The Role Cotton Played in the 1800s Economy." PBS. September 19, 2013. Accessed May 05, 2017.
5
​"Economics of Slavery." Economics of Slavery. Accessed May 05, 2017.
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of work, and could not quit. There was also the cost of free laborers. “The cost of free labor ...

totaled about $355 per annum, including supervision. The annual average maintenance cost per

industrial slave was … less than one-third the annual cost of wages and supervision of free

common labors.”6 The free laborers had to housed, fed well, and supervised. The slaves were not

treated well, and therefore cheaper to maintain. The plantation owners had to spend three times

as much on free laborers, making slavery the ideal option for plantation owners. The slaves were

forced to work hard for a long time every day. “Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from

sunrise until sunset. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work

hours.”7 They were forced to work hard that whole time, and were punished for working even a

little less than the owner’s expectations. These long hours were enforced daily, with a few

exceptions, such as on some holidays like Christmas, or the Fourth of July, and Sundays in the

master allowed it. The children were from pregnant slaves, and that made women slaves

valuable, as all children of a slave were also property of the master. The children would be taken

from their mothers and given to a slave too old to work until the child was old enough to start

work.

Slavery may have been immoral, but at the time it was justified and the economy would

not have been as positively affected without it. Slavery in the long run brought in a profit for

America. It gave America a standing in a global economy, and a high one. They were depended

on by multiple nations, and made numerous exports, with high profits. Slavery was the basis on

which the American economy operated at the time.

6
​"The Economic Impact of Slavery in the South," Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America, , accessed May
08, 2017
7
​"3.1 The life of a slave," The life of a slave - North Carolina Digital History, , accessed May 08, 2017
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Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank. ​Complicity: how the North promoted, prolonged,

and profited from slavery​. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.

Lesinski, Jeanne M. "The Economic Impact of Slavery in the South." ​Gale Library of

Daily Life​: ​Slavery in America​, edited by Orville Vernon Burton, vol. 1, Gale, 2008, pp.

28-32. ​U.S. History in Context​,

libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3057200027/U

HIC?u=mlin_n_burlhs&xid=dc3f60a5.​ Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

Sochan, George. "Impact of Slavery on the Northern Economy." ​Gale Library of Daily

Life​: ​Slavery in America​, edited by Orville Vernon Burton, vol. 1, Gale, 2008, pp. 32-36.

U.S. History in Context​,

libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3057200028/U

HIC?u=mlin_n_burlhs&xid=4398a807.​ Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

"Did slavery make economic sense?" The Economist. September 27, 2013. Accessed

April 13, 2017.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/09/economic-history-2​.’
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’"The Economic Impact of Slavery in the South." ​Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery

in America​. ’. ​Encyclopedia.com.​ (April 13, 2017).

http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/econo

mic-impact-slavery-south

"The Role Cotton Played in the 1800s Economy." PBS. September 19, 2013. Accessed May 05,

2017.​http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/why-was-

cotton-king/.

"3.1 The life of a slave." The life of a slave - North Carolina Digital History. Accessed May 08,

2017. ​http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-antebellum/5602​.