Cockburn on slavery

Michael Perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Tue Nov 10 15:51:19 PST 1998


Tom Lehman wrote:


> Don't forget that westward expansion meant that more people could get
> in on slavery.
>

Yes, the continual expansion was necessary for the profitability.


> Another thing that people like to forget about is that the southern
> states were rapidly industrializing in the 20 years prior to the civil
> war.

Not true. There were some factories, but ...


> These were industries that relied primarily on slave labor, even in
> skilled positions

They were not particularly profitable. There was also some serious contradictions by having slaves run capital intensive equipment and expecting free labor to work alongside slaves. .


> There are a couple of interesting studies of the iron and steel
> industry in the ante-bellum south that come to mind.

there are others that contradict these studies that you are reading. --

Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901



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