Did Slavery Drive the US Economy? – James Oakes

Historian James Oakes critiques the 1619 Project’s assertion that Southern slavery fueled Northern prosperity and turned the US into a “financial colossus” and discusses how we can better understand the relationship between slavery and American capitalism.

For the Record is a Jacobin channel miniseries dedicated to debunking historical myths and distortions through conversations with scholars on the left.

Read Oakes’ article in Catalyst:

Subscribe to the channel and hit the like button!

[AbdulSattar-mpde]

Howard Zinn wrote, "There could not have been any industrialization in north America and Europe if there were no plantation. And if there were no slavery and there could not have been any plantation

[bootstraphan]

Also, why not look at the use of *wage slavery* and the exploitation of labor, especially marginalized groups like so called recently "emancipated" former slaves that were forced to take on, undesirable, extremely low paying, often dangerous jobs or face starvation?

[kahunab]

There is a lot missing here. To even start the industrialization, money was required. The ships that sailed out of Boston made a fortune from selling slavery-made products, not just cotton, but sugar and rum and whiskey as well.

Also, when the workers in the north have slave produced clothes, they pay less for it, so that reduces the opportunity costs for their labour.

This is a very incomplete look at the topic and could have greatly benefitted from an economist on the team.

[thadmayfield]

Truly an oversimplification. 1) It ignores labor value and asset leverage. 2) It assumes industrialization occurred in a vacuum independent of and unrelated to the exiting economy. It's like concluding that Amazon's growth and market valuation is unrelated to obsolete technology it no longer uses.

[drakekoefoed]

capitalism needed worker exploitation, not just slavery. also, cotton as an export crop has a significance outside the 5% of gdp. it was needed to bring industrial tools into the country.

[browk]

good to see jacobin is back to making videos

[Bizagro]

Slavery doesn’t expand the consumer base. A growing consumer population is what exponentially kicks capitalism into higher gears.

[AbdulSattar-mpde]

James Medison bought a slave for 11 or 12 dollar selling him for 257 dollar. Calculate the profit margin

[danielcary]

All Americans did not benefit from slavery in the 1800’s but 3/5 is in the constitution, 14 amendments allow for involuntary servitude, tobacco was used to finance the war of independence to France.

[treeztop]

Slavery stimulated the economy, but not like industrialization & when we compare the two it's clear to see why slavery lost out. That said, idk if anyone every disagreed with that notion. National GDP is also only one way to look at it. slavery allowed the southern states to keep a strategic advantage when selling cotton.

[Baman]

There was great wealth in the South, but it was primarily tied up in the slave economy. In 1860, the economic value of slaves in the United States exceeded the invested value of all of the nation's railroads, factories, and banks combined

[alexross]

Welcome back, Jen! You're a sight for sore eyes. I look forward to seeing more episodes of For the Record...

[todrichards]

Thank you Jen! And I agree with the sentiment that the eradication of slavery has had a far greater positive historical impact on our society than the negative impact wrought by slavery.

[charaznable]

Great to see you guys back and please bring back nando vila

[shaughnessyneal]

Slavery, sometimes called "communism, " is where you get paid whatever the rulers decide that you should get paid.

[lamartruth]

Is this a conservative or liberal channel???

[allangardiner]

vital ideas presented digestibly and lucidly - and so few people get to hear them.

[Anti-CornLawLeague]

But the US had such high protectionist tariffs after the Civil War and only free trade is capitalism. Protectionism is mercantilism.

[EricaEteson]

It the Jacobin pod back? May it be so!

[williamfortune]

Great material I think it is more common to recognize the original sin being genocide of Natives. Also Slavery was the only thing that made the Americas as we know it possible. That included the indentured servants from Europe before the introduction of chattel slavery to the US. So the argument that slavery was not the foundation or the engine for America can only be true if it is true that the Americas would be the same as we know it without slavery existing. No one makes that argument.