The High Price of Slavery: How Wealthy was America During Slave Years?

1 of my fave documentary’s, “Cocaine Cowboys,” talks about the guys who brought cocaine to Miami in the 1970's and 80's. A coroner on there said during that time, if you took a microscope, and looked at every single dollar, you were sure to find some cocaine on that thing. Almost overnight the city turned into a safe beach spot for old folks to the skyscraping fast paced “THAT'S HOW YOU DRIVE” place that we know today. All thanks to drug money. In a way, Miami is an exact metaphor for America, or at least half of it. Zoom in on the dollars from 1619 to 1865, and you are sure to find the sweat of slavery ... 1619-1865. At its peak in 1860, there were 4 million slaves in this country, working for free, for 246 years across 17 states. So how rich did slavery actually make America? Well if all the slave-owning states had combined to become their own country ... they woulda been the 4th richest nation in the world - NOT THE CITY CRAIG - the world. 4 million human lives valued at an whopping $3.5 billion dollars - making slavery the largest financial asset in the entire US economy by 1860 - and creating more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in America How in the hell? In the early 1600s, America started off growing tobacco and mainly used indentured servants and contract workers from Europe. But more jobs started opening up over there, and less workers traveled over here. Well, a replacement was needed. By 1680, enter more slave ships from West Africa. America, and especially the South, quickly realized that slave labor produced way more profit With inventions like the Cotton Gin speeding up production, the south produced 75% of the world’s cotton. High demand meant more slaves. More slaves meant more profit. More profit meant buying more land to grow more crops which needed even more slaves. Example. 60% of South Carolina’s population at one point was all slaves. A vicious cycle. As slavery expanded, the price of slaves also increased. In the 1600's, you could buy a slave for $5-10 ($155-310 today). By the 1800's, $1,200-1,500 ($40,000-50,000) Slavery was so tied to the American economy that not only did banks in New York depend on its profitable, but that slaves actually became money, legal tender, cash on hand. If a southern owner needed to conduct a business transaction, here’s a slave. Need to payoff some debt? Here’s another slave. The same way we count assets into our net worth today, slaves were also counted as property holdings and a source of tax revenue. Imagine owners actually claiming slaves on their taxes ! Even when the govt banned slave ships in 1808, the South still made money. All this losing obviously rubbed the Northern businesses the wrong way and new laws and taxes were created to help them out. Then, the anti-slave folks started gaining influence. And in 1860, Abe Lincoln was made Prezzy and the South said “aight we finna head out” realizing America was changing and not in their favor. From 1861 to 1865, enter the Civil War. Not because of southern states rights, but because their number one financial scheme, the system that made the South the 4th richest place in the world was coming to its end

Now after all that. Let's clear up some myths about slavery, shall we?

I’d be lying to you if I said slavery was the sole reason for the success of America. That’s not true. While it contributed significantly, other major events in US history -the Industrial Revolution, oil and railroad development, WW1 and 2 - all happened after slavery ended and contributed to America's rapid rise as a global power What’s also not true is the myth that all or most southern whites owned slaves. 75% couldn’t even afford it. But they did become the overseers on slave plantations and the 1st line of defense for the belief in a “superior race” which we still see passed down today A third not true, is that slavery existed only in the South. The North was very heavy with slaves. Example. 20% of New York’s population in 1740 were slaves. The North abolished the practice in 1804, but some states kept it going and just switched out titles like New Jersey did in 1860 with “apprentices for life” What is very true. Slavery and it’s cost is not just some event that happened over 150 years ago. People are still effected today. It’s a generational curse for everyone. 246 years of free labor is a LOT of money missed out on. Add that to the Slave Codes and the laws forbidding blacks from owning houses or property or earning their own money. Housing loans denied to Black WW2 vets. Redlining. Increased mortgage rates. Public housing. Mass incarceration. All of these racist and discriminatory ideals are direct symptoms of the institution of slavery Mass incarceration is probably the most obvious connection to slavery. From the late 1860's through the 1920's, over 90% of the prison populations of the South were black thanks to the 13th Amendment loophole and convict leasing program. The average minimum daily wages paid to incarcerated workers is now 86 cents while the institution make billions. Not so overt these days, however, the idea that money can be made on the backs of slave-like systems continues to exists Slavery ended in 1865. 155 years ago. Add another 100 years of Jim Crow ending in 1965. That was only 55 years ago. Of course we’ve made some progress, but we’ve still got a very long way to go to Now that you know your worth back then for a very different reason. Never forget how valuable you are today.