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Slavery and the Rise of the Nineteenth-Century American Economy

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  • Gavin Wright

Abstract

The essay considers the claim that slavery played a leading role in the acceleration of US economic growth in the nineteenth century. Although popular among pro-slavery apologists, the proposition fails under rigorous historical scrutiny. The slave South discouraged immigration, underinvested in transportation infrastructure, and failed to educate the majority of its population. It is not even clear that the region produced more cotton than it would have under a counterfactual alternative settlement by free family farmers, on the free-state pattern. The grain of truth in recently popular narratives is that many northerners and business interests were complicit in the crime of slavery: routinely engaging in transactions with slaveholders, even promoting activities that facilitated slavery and the domestic slave trade. Complicity complicates simple historical moralism, but it is quite different from the notion that the prosperity of the nation as a whole derived from slavery in any fundamental way.

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin Wright, 2022. "Slavery and the Rise of the Nineteenth-Century American Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 123-148, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:36:y:2022:i:2:p:123-48
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.36.2.123
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephen Broadberry & Bishnupriya Gupta, 2009. "Lancashire, India, and shifting competitive advantage in cotton textiles, 1700–1850: the neglected role of factor prices1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(2), pages 279-305, May.
    2. Hilt, Eric, 2017. "Economic History, Historical Analysis, and the “New History of Capitalism”," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(2), pages 511-536, June.
    3. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2016. "Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1700," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10670, December.
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    5. Drescher, Seymour, 1987. "Capitalism and Antislavery: British Mobilization in Comparative Perspective," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195205343.
    6. Stanley L. Engerman, 2017. "Review of The Business of Slavery and the Rise of American Capitalism, 1815-1860 by Calvin Schermerhorn and The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(2), pages 637-643, June.
    7. repec:cup:jechis:v:32:y:1972:i:04:p:811-840_07 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. T. G. Burnard, 2001. "‘Prodigious Riches’: The Wealth of Jamaica Before the American Revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 54(3), pages 506-524, August.
    9. Rousseau, Peter L. & Sylla, Richard, 2005. "Emerging financial markets and early US growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 1-26, January.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Francis, Joseph A., 2025. "Did Slavery Impede the Growth of American Capitalism? Two Natural Experiments Using Farm Values per Acre," MPRA Paper 124379, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Francis, Joseph, 2026. "Did Slavery Impede the Growth of American Capitalism? Two Failed Natural Experiments," MPRA Paper 129902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Phillip W. Magness & Art Carden & Ilia Murtazashvili, 2023. "Gordon Tullock and the economics of slavery," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 197(1), pages 185-199, October.
    4. Rhode, Paul W., 2024. "What fraction of antebellum US national product did the enslaved produce?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Oana-Maria Cozma, "undated". "From Developing to Under Developing Economies - The Storyline of Slavery and Nowadays Consumption," BASIQ Conference Proceedings 2023:006, Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
    6. Narayanan, Rajesh P. & Pritchett, Jonathan, 2025. "The paradox of slave collateral," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N41 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N51 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N91 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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