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The Long Shadow of Slavery: The Persistence of Slave Owners in Southern Lawmaking

Author

Listed:
  • Bellani, Luna
  • Hager, Anselm
  • Maurer, Stephan E.

Abstract

This paper documents the persistence of Southern slave owners in political power after the American Civil War. Using data from Texas, we show that former slave owners made up more than half of all state legislators until the late 1890s. Legislators with slave-owning backgrounds were more likely to be Democrats and voted more conservatively even conditional on party membership. A county’s propensity to elect former slave owners was positively correlated with cotton production, but negatively with Reconstruction-era progress of blacks. Counties that elected more slave owners also displayed worse educational outcomes for blacks in the early twentieth century.

Suggested Citation

  • Bellani, Luna & Hager, Anselm & Maurer, Stephan E., 2022. "The Long Shadow of Slavery: The Persistence of Slave Owners in Southern Lawmaking," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(1), pages 250-283, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:82:y:2022:i:1:p:250-283_7
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jung, Yeonha, 2023. "Formation of the legacy of slavery: Evidence from the US South," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Geloso, Vincent & Kufenko, Vadim & Arsenault-Morin, Alex P., 2023. "The lesser shades of labor coercion: The impact of seigneurial tenure in nineteenth-century Quebec," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Galli, Stefania & Theodoridis, Dimitrios & Rönnbäck, Klas, 2024. "Elite persistence and inequality in the Danish West Indies, 1760–1914," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Tommy Krieger, 2024. "Elites and health infrastructure improvements in industrializing regimes," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 433-468, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Philipp Ager & Leah Boustan & Katherine Eriksson, 2021. "The Intergenerational Effects of a Large Wealth Shock: White Southerners after the Civil War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(11), pages 3767-3794, November.
    7. Galli, Stefania & Dimitrios, Theodoridis, & Rönnbäck, Klas, 2024. "Thriving in a declining economy - Elite persistence in the West Indies, 1760-1914," Göteborg Papers in Economic History 37, University of Gothenburg, Unit for Economic History.
    8. Hiroshi Kumanomido & Yutaro Takayasu, 2025. "Elite Persistence in Family: The Role of Adoption in Prewar Japan," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 537, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    9. Jung, Yeonha, 2025. "Slavery and collectivism in the postbellum American South," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 534-558.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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