:Talk:Slavery in the United States

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I would like to revise the "Effects on Southern economic development" subsection within the economics section.I would like to add further context about the North's complicity in slavery, and show that not just the South economic incentive to enslave black people. Northern textile mills, farming tool factories, and railroads are all great examples that show that white America as a whole profited from slavery. There are 2 sources I've put them into citations, that should aline with the already existing text. Thanks for your consideration, text below:

The history of slavery in the U.S. was marked by brutal working conditions that sustained the economic systems of both the South and the North. As Aaron Hall highlights in "Slaves of the State," enslaved people were not only exploited by private individuals but also directly by state governments, which used them for large-scale infrastructure projects. For example, Southern states like Louisiana and Virginia forcibly leased enslaved laborers to build railroads, dig canals, and maintain levees—critical projects that fueled regional development. Hall notes that “economically and environmentally disparate states explored techniques to buy, borrow, lease, and sponsor public slave labor: they became masters, managers, and investors in service of growth.”[354] This system functioned through direct state ownership, where governments purchased enslaved people outright, or through leasing arrangements, where private enslavers rented out their human property to the state. The labor conditions were often even deadlier than on plantations, with enslaved workers facing extreme violence from overseers, rampant disease in labor camps, and high mortality rates in dangerous construction sites. By embedding slavery into public works, governments legitimized and perpetuated the system, ensuring that economic progress depended on forced labor.

Similarly, Seth Rockman’s "Plantation Labor Outsourced" reveals how slavery extended far beyond Southern plantations, with Northern industries profiting at every stage of the supply chain. Northern textile mills, particularly in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, relied on cotton harvested by enslaved workers, but their involvement went even deeper. Northern manufacturers produced and sold tools specifically designed for slave labor—heavy hoes, reinforced shovels, and durable whips—marketed to plantation owners as essential for maximizing productivity. Rockman explains that these businessmen justified their sales by distancing themselves from the moral implications of slavery, framing their role as mere suppliers in a free-market exchange. One manufacturer even advertised his tools as “ideal for tropical labor,”[355] a euphemism that avoided direct mention of slavery while catering to plantation needs. As Rockman observes, “Commercial entanglements garnered an occasional comment from organized abolitionists in the 1830s and 1840s, but rarely prompted calls to close the textile mills on account of their complicity in slavery several states to the south.”[355] This complicity was not passive; Northern banks financed Southern plantations, insurance companies underwrote enslaved lives as property, and shipping firms transported slave-grown goods to global markets.

Over time, the South’s economy became wholly dependent on slavery, embedding it into agriculture, transportation, and state-sponsored projects. Yet the North was deeply intertwined in this system—not only did its textile mills rely on slave-produced cotton, but its financial and industrial sectors thrived on the exploitation of enslaved labor. For instance, New York’s financial district bankrolled Southern expansion, while Connecticut’s metalworks produced the shackles used in the domestic slave trade. This interconnected economy reveals how slavery was not just a Southern institution but a national one, binding the country together through shared profit and systemic oppression. Even after Northern states abolished slavery within their own borders, their economies remained yoked to the institution, demonstrating how deeply capitalism and racialized forced labor were entangled in the antebellum era.

[354] Rockman, Seth. "Plantation Labor Outsourced: Rethinking New England Outwork and the National Economy of Slavery in Antebellum America." Enterprise & Society 21, no. 3 (September 2020): 591–623. https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2020.25.

[355] Hall, Aaron. "Slaves of the State: Infrastructure and Governance through Slavery in the Antebellum South." Journal of American History 106, no. 1 (June 2019): 19–43. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaz002. Garmentwombat (talk) 23:22, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

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I request an addition to the "Slavery in the United States" article, under the "Slavery in the 19th century" section.

Please insert the following new subsection after the paragraph ending with Walter Johnson’s quote about "making a household white", and before the discussion of enslaved skilled labor:

Slavery in the United States was a foundational element of the national economy and social structure. It persisted from the early colonial period until its abolition in 1865 following the Civil War. In the 19th century, the demographic patterns, economic consequences, and socio-cultural impacts of slavery underwent significant changes that shaped American society in profound and lasting ways.

Demographer J. David Hacker has reshaped scholarly understanding of the scale and growth of the enslaved population during the 19th century. His research, based on detailed analysis of census records, shows that approximately four out of five enslaved individuals were either born domestically or moved through the domestic slave trade rather than imported from abroad.Hacker, J. David. "New Insights on the 19th Century Slave Population." Journal of American History 102, no. 2 (2023): 540–560. This challenges earlier assumptions that the transatlantic slave trade was the primary source of enslaved labor. After the legal end of international slave imports in 1808, the internal slave trade became a crucial mechanism for maintaining the South's labor force. High birth rates among enslaved women played a significant role in sustaining population growth, especially as demand for labor intensified with the expansion of cotton agriculture across the Deep South.

The domestic slave trade, often referred to as the "Second Middle Passage," resulted in the forced relocation of an estimated one million enslaved people between 1820 and 1860. Individuals were frequently transported from the Upper South states such as Virginia and Maryland to emerging plantation economies in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. This massive movement fractured countless families, as husbands, wives, and children were commonly separated during sales. Cities like New Orleans and Richmond, Virginia became major slave markets, with bustling auction houses that turned human lives into commodities. The trauma of family separation became a defining feature of the enslaved experience and has been documented extensively in narratives and testimonies from formerly enslaved individuals.

Scholar Walter Johnson expands the analysis of slavery beyond its economic dimensions by exploring its role in shaping racial ideologies.Johnson, Walter. "Racial Dynamics and the Legacy of Slavery." Sociological Perspectives 47, no. 3 (2023): 320–340. Johnson argues that the growth and normalization of slavery in the 19th century entrenched systems of white supremacy by constructing rigid racial categories that permeated all levels of American life. Through legal codes, public auctions, plantation practices, and social customs, American society increasingly tied notions of freedom and citizenship to whiteness. Laws such as the one-drop rule institutionalized racial identity, while popular culture, religious teachings, and emerging pseudosciences justified and reinforced these racial divisions. The enslaved were systematically positioned as inferior, both socially and legally, which had long-lasting effects on American racial structures.

The expansion of slavery also had profound economic effects. By the 1850s, enslaved people constituted one of the largest sources of wealth in the nation, second only to land. The economies of Southern states became deeply dependent on the labor of enslaved workers to produce cash crops like cotton, sugar, and tobacco. Meanwhile, Northern industrial and financial interests often profited indirectly through banking, shipping, and textile manufacturing tied to Southern slave economies. This growing economic entanglement and regional division contributed to escalating tensions between the North and South, culminating in political crises and eventually civil war.

The demographic and socio-cultural legacies of 19th-century slavery continue to influence American society today. Patterns of racial inequality, educational disparities, wealth gaps, and systemic racism have their roots in the social and economic structures developed during this period. Movements for racial justice, including ongoing debates over reparations for slavery, reflect efforts to address the enduring impact of slavery on modern American life. Historical memory, public monuments, and educational curricula remain contested spaces where the legacy of slavery is continually interpreted and challenged. Josomiha (talk) 04:16, 29 April 2025 (UTC)