Cooper Holt

Economics 1740
Mr. Smith
April 30, 2017
The South and Slavery

In 1619 the Dutch first introduced slavery to the New World, and

continued until 1865 when the thirteenth amendment was passed. And as we

know, even though slavery was abolished, there were bridges that were

burnt, as a society, that some people still havent gotten over. So, why was

something so terrible, and inhumane practiced for so long, in so many

places? Why was the Southern United States so keen on not giving up

slavery as the North did? One thing that I love about economics, is it is a

study of why something happens. Most of the time something happens its

because of money! And as we look deeper into the Slavery issue and why

the South wanted to retain slavery, we begin to see how much the Southern

economy was largely based on Slavery. From the year 1780 to 1804, there

were some Northern States that began to emancipate Slaves. These states

included: Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New

Jersey. However, even though there was an Emancipation there were a lot of

stipulations to help the slave owners in the North still make money from their

freed slaves.

As the flood of slaves continued to poor in, most would be sold

into the Southern States. The South began to base its economy more and
more on the slave trade. In fact, the Slave trade was so large that by 1860

Slaves were fifty-three percent of the population in the South. The people in

the South began to come up with excuses on why slavery should continue.

The major way the South makes its money is from agriculture. Such things

as: cotton, tobacco, sugar, and other things as well. With the invention of the

Cotton Gin, the cotton industry boomed in the south. This was a major part of

the southern economy, and most cotton that was picked was by slaves. As

well, with a large part of the South being influenced by money, there were

plenty others that were persuaded by power, and by status.

Not everyone was a plantation owner, or owned slaves. In fact, most

didnt own slaves in the South. Most people, didnt have the money to own

slaves. A slave in 1850 at average cost four hundred dollars. That was close

to the same cost of a house. So, you see most people could not afford slaves,

and they did not own any. However, why would these people, reaping no

benefits of such a terrible, inconceivable thing, stand in favor of it? One

reason is pride. People love to be better than others, so when there is

someone that you can see and that societies sees beneath you, people dont

want to lose that feeling. People dont want to feel that they are at the

bottom, so this could influence people that were in lower classes when it

came to monetary value to hold onto slaver, and to have a desire to keep it.

We all know how terrible slavery was, and how it is ridiculous to think

that someone can own a human being. That, people against their own will,

are taken from their homes, family, and country, and taken thousands of
miles away, and used to do another mans bidding. But, there is usually a

common factor of why something so against our moral laws is done, and if

economics has taught me anything, generally the answer to that is money,

greed and power. We have all heard the saying money makes the world go

around. I dont know who first said it, but it seems to be true.