To follow up on Mark's last point ---- until cotton culture was totally established, slavery (even for the largest planters) was not a particularly profitable venture ---- cotton production (pre-gin) was very expensive and laborious --- tobacco was quickly exhausting the soil ---
Washington, himself, despite supposedly being a very scientific agriculturalist (a better businessman than Jefferson I think) was pretty certain (remember, the gin wasn't perfected till 1793 and I doubt the implications for cotton cultivation had been fully absorbed the planter class by the time Washington "retired") that slavery would die out of its own accord. (And of course remember slavery was legal in most of the new 13 states of the union post-1788 --- it was gradually abolished in the northern states and forbidden in the new states contemplated by the Northwest Ordinance --- because it was considered on the way out). So Mark is definitely right that slavery was much more successful in 1860 than in 1760 (or 1790). There still remains (sorry for continuing to bring this up) the question of whether or not the "slave" mode of production that emerged in the cotton south (1800-1860) had different dynamics than the emerging capitalist mode in the northeast and midwest --- I think it did --- and the relative poverty of the post Civil War south with it's half-way house between slavery and wage labor in Southern agriculture --- share-cropping and tenantry --- with the furnishing merchant and large landlords helping keep many small tenants (black and white) in debt peonaqge --- is my evidence for this --- and this situation was only "solved" when large percentages of blacks (and smaller groups of whites) just MOVED OUT of the South over the course of the middle of the 20th century .... ] > _._,_._,_ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8560): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8560 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82563203/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
