Figure 1.--This is a scene at a Georgia cotton plantation, about four decades after the Civil War. Source: Li bray of Congress. There is an effort by Marxist professors to link slavery with capitalism. The historical record does not support this. In the case of the United States, it was Northern capitalism that powered industrial development that helped destroy slavery. .

Slavery was an evil system. It is probably not fully understood just how evil, but there is no doubt that it was a terrible system and an enormous violation of basic human rights and other principles upon which America was founded. We notice that the evils of slavery are used as an indictment of capitalism in some quarters. A problem here is that we find capitalism is defined by some as any economic system that is not socialist. Of course this is nonsense. Slavery has existed since time memorial--millennia before capitalism existed. And slavery became a major part of all socialist regimes--the Gulag of the Soviet Union and similar slave labor systems in other socialist economies like China. Even the Atlantic slave trade began several centuries before capitalism developed and the United States even came into existence. The Atlantic slave trade began at a time that the dominant system was mercantilism and the countries engaged in the slave trade (Portugal and Spain) had mercantilist economies. Of course there was still no socialist state in the 19th century, but there were a handful of capitalist states. The United States became the largest capitalist state (19th century), but the South was not dominated by a capitalist economy. The Southern economy was primarily agrarian. Most Americans lived in rural areas until the 1920s, but the South was much more agrarian than the rest of the country. One historian maintains that slavery laid the foundation for and 'drove the evolution and modernization of the United States.' 【Baptist】 Now we believe that the ante-bellum Southern cotton boom did help finance the launch of American capitalism and industrial revolution, but Baptist is saying much more. Another author provides a telling criticism of the relationship between American capitalism and slavery. "If the slave trade were capitalist then, for example, the slave abductors of Africa were capitalist entrepreneurs. Nonsense. At best the slave-cotton-shipping triangle was the addition of agrarian commerce to a colonial mercantilist trade led by the British shippers who had as strong a role in Parliament as the slave owners had in the governments of the southern states. Plantation slavery was the essence of a government-sanctioned aristocratic-agrarian economy that was nearly the opposite of market capitalism. Great accumulation of wealth, contrary to the thinking of Mr. Baptist and others, doesn’t make an economy capitalist. Rome wasn’t capitalist, neither was medieval feudalism. Karl Marx missed the fact that his wage slaves refused to revolt, preferring to become consumers especially in the West where we realized that along with production there must be consumption. As with Marx long ago, Mr. Baptist doesn't seem able to envision a capitalism that actually prefers a society of free consumers to a society of minimally productive slaves." 【Teevan】

Evil

Slavery was an evil system. It is probably not fully understood just how evil, but there is no doubt that it was a terrible system and an enormous violation of basic human rights and other principles upon which America was founded. We notice that the evils of slavery are used as an indictment of capitalism in some quarters.

Capitalism

A problem here is that we find capitalism is defined by some as any economic system that is not socialist. Of course this is nonsense. European mercantilism evolved into what we now call capitalism. Capitalism is founded on the same economic impulse as mercantilism the drive for profit. Both the mercantilist and the capitalist seeks to acquiring desirable goods for lower prices than they can be sold. The difference between the two is profit. And profit is at the heart of the system. Socialists have criticized the profit motive as a cold, dark unemotional heart. The only problem for socialists is that it actually generates wealth. And socialism with empathy and humanitarian social concerns does not. Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations describes the mechanism that drives capitalism. The profit motive was essentially a hidden hand directing the system. Smith postulated that society as a whole benefited by allowing each individual from seeking his own individual interests. Individuals pursuing their own personal interests will guarantee the interests of society as a whole. There are major differences between mercantilism and capitalism. Capitalism involves the rational or efficient use of the means of production. Labor becomes specialized workers in the form of wage labor. The managers or capitalist manipulate capital, raw materials, technology, and other factors so as to maximize profit or wealth. There is the potential for capitalist to cause social problems by reducing wages to poverty levels, child labor, causing pollution, producing unsafe problems, unfair competition, etc. Here it is up to the Government to regulate the system to prevent these undesirable consequences. Labor unions can also unbalance the system through racketeering, unsustainable wage demands, etc. And thus must be regulated. Here there is a fine line. Inadequate regulation can threaten the system by resulting in a socially unacceptable concentration of wealth. Oppressive regulation can destroy the profitability of the system. The individual and his desire for a profit is at the hear of the capitalist system. It was the Dutch who first invented capitalism. It was quickly adopted by the English and in the American colonies. It was the efficiencies and wealth generating capabilities of capitalism that enabled the Dutch and English to survive and prosper in conflicts with much larger countries. Other European countries also embraced capitalism, but none more thoroughly than the Anglo-American powers. This proved to be the central force in the 20th century when Britain and America faced a series of conflicts with powerful adversaries challenging not only capitalism, but ln\beral democracy which developed as an adjunct.

History of Slavery

Slavery has existed since time memorial--millennia before capitalism existed. In our modern world there are few human practices that inspire such profound outrage as the practice of one human enslaving another. This is, however, a very modern sentiment. The institution of slavery probably predates civilization itself. Slavery was an accepted institution and central to the economies of most major world civilization. The onset of Christianity meant and end to widespread slavery in Europe, although feudal serfs were only slightly more elevated than slaves. The European countries which conquered native American civilizations in the 16th century enslaved millions in Brazil and South America to work in mines and the tremendously profitable sugar plantations. The conditions were so brutal and European diseases so virulent that native American populations were decimated. The Spanish and Portuguese turned Africans. Millions of Africans were transported across the Atlantic and sold into slavery in the Americas. Slavery in earlier epochs had no racial connotations. With the growth of the African slave trade, slavery in the Western mind became associated with race as with the collapse of Native American populations, it was Africans who were enslaved in huge numbers. European Christian who would not have tolerated the enslavement of other Europeans found little objecting to enslaving black Africans. Slavery is not just a historical artifact. It persisted into the 20th century, primary in Islamic societies and in totalitarian nations (Communist, Fascist, and Japanese military occupation areas). And has not entirely disappeared in the 21st century.

Slavery and Socialism: The New Feudalism

And slavery became a major part of all socialist regimes--the Gulag of the Soviet Union and similar slave labor systems in other socialist economies like China and NAZI Germany. This was pure unadulterated slavery, but the lives of workers in the countries were hardly free. Workers received sallies that were only a fraction of what workers received in capitalist countries,, And private property rights were severely restricted. This is in essence a condition not dissimilar to European feudalism. Now we see the term Neo-fedudalism being used by both right and left. To us the key indicators to assess are wage levels, free speech, and property rights.

African Slave Trade (8th century AD)

The common narrative on the African Slave trade just describes the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Actually the African Slave Trade began many centuries before the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The rise of the African Slave Trade became with the rise of Islam and the explosion of the Arabs out of Arabia (8th century AD). This includes the Trans Saharan and the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. And the dimensions of these trades were at the same dimensions as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Even the Atlantic slave trade began several centuries before capitalism developed and the United States even came into existence. The Atlantic slave trade began at a time that the dominant world economic system was mercantilism and the countries engaged in the slave trade (Portugal and Spain) both had mercantilist economies. Portugal and Spain launched the Trans-Atlantic slave trade because they began the move south along the coast of Africa, especially Portugal. Spain was consume with the Recoquista which involved North Africans, but began adventures in the Americas at the same time Granada fell (1492). Spain at first focused on the Caribbean--the Spanish Main. Portugal focused on Brazil. The Spanish world also follow the Portuguese south when news of round the Cape of Good Hope became known. Dealing in captive Africans soon became a major part of the economic benefits.

The United States

Of course there were still no socialist state in the 19th century, but there were a handful of capitalist states. The United States became the largest capitalist state (19th century), but the country was deeply divined between a free North and a slave South. The south Confederacy was not dominated by a capitalist economy. The Southern economy was primarily agrarian. Most Americans lived in rural areas until the 1920s, but the South was much more agrarian than the rest of the country. One historian maintains that slavery laid the foundation for and 'drove the evolution and modernization of the United States.' 【Baptist】 Now we believe that the ante-bellum Southern cotton boom did help finance the launch of American capitalism and industrial revolution, but Baptist is saying much more. Another author provides a telling criticism of the relationship between American capitalism and slavery. "If the slave trade were capitalist then, for example, the slave abductors of Africa were capitalist entrepreneurs. Nonsense. At best the slave-cotton-shipping triangle was the addition of agrarian commerce to a colonial mercantilist trade led by the British shippers who had as strong a role in Parliament as the slave owners had in the governments of the southern states. Plantation slavery was the essence of a government-sanctioned aristocratic-agrarian economy that was nearly the opposite of market capitalism. Great accumulation of wealth, contrary to the thinking of Mr. Baptist and others, doesn’t make an economy capitalist. Rome wasn’t capitalist, neither was medieval feudalism. Karl Marx missed the fact that his wage slaves refused to revolt, preferring to become consumers especially in the West where we realized that along with production there must be consumption. As with Marx long ago, Mr. Baptist doesn't seem able to envision a capitalism that actually prefers a society of free consumers to a society of minimally productive slaves." 【Teevan】

Sources

Baptist, Edward E. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.

Teevan, John Addison. "American slavery wasn't capitalist," Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2014). Teevan is also the author of Integrated Justice and Equality.

Created: 12:44 PM 2/17/2021
Last updated: 7:05 AM 1/4/2026