Journal of Economic Literature 2017, 55(2), 637643

https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151334

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
Stanley L. Engerman*

The two books being reviewed are concerned with the importance of slavery in the
antebellum US South for the economic development of the Northern states. One
(Schermerhorn) deals primarily with Southern financial arrangements facilitating the
sales of slaves and cotton. The other (Baptist) presents a broader picture of masters
treatment of slaves,as well as how the incomes of slaveowners spurred the demand
for Northern industrial production. The review argues that both books overstate the
importance of slavery and cotton production for USeconomic growth.(JEL J15, N11,
N31, N51, P16)

I n his famous speech to the US Senate

in 1858, James Henry Hammond, South
Carolina politician and slaveowner, com-
outhern slave-produced cotton, England
S
would topple headlong and carry the whole
civilized world with her, save the South.
mented that No, you [the Northern states Hammond was not alone in this conten-
and England] dare not make war on cot- tion, given t hen-contemporary writers such
ton. No power on Earth dares to make war as David Christy (whose 1856 book was
upon it. COTTON IS KING. Hammond entitled Cotton is King), Thomas Dew
backed his claim by demonstrating (at least (1852), E. N. Elliott (1861), Thomas Kettell
to his own satisfaction) the importance of (1860), and Daniel Lord (1861). Some abo-
cotton to the industrial growth of the North litionists such as William Lloyd Garrison
and England, and arguing that without (1907), Lydia Maria Child (1836), and the
Grimke (1837) sisters, no doubt intend-
ing to embarrass the North, pointed to
*University of Rochester.

Go to https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151334 to visit the the Northern commercial dependence on
article page and view author disclosure statement(s). southern slavery.

637
638 Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. LV (June 2017)

Some foreigners, such as Edward Gibbon argue that they should deservedly be forced
Wakefield (1834), pointed out that the to regard themselves and their descendants
states, therefore, which forbid slavery, have as guilty of much immorality and evil. A
reaped the economical benefits of slavery, question harder to establish, however, is to
without incurring the chief of its moral evils, reach agreement on whether the slave trade
seem to be even more indebted to it than the and the slavery economy was necessary (or
slave states. The emphasis by these com- essential, or required, or the basis) for the
mentators was on Southern slave-produced economic growth of the Northern states.
cotton, but, as was demonstrated in the There were numerous economic relations
late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centu- in trade, finance, and population move-
ries and again in the Civil War period, this mentsas well as legal positions, that could
clearly understated the extent to which other benefit both sections. That they had a suffi-
countries around the world had filled the gap ciently large impact to account for Northern
in providing cotton, albeit at higher costs. economic growth, or even to dramatically
By contrast, the most frequent use of raise its rate of growth and development,
Hammonds statement by subsequent histo- is, however, considerably more difficult to
rians has been as a source of derision and a establish.
sign of Southern intellectual weakness, irra- The importance of slavery for the economic
tionality, and an inability to understand con- development of England has been a source
temporary reality. They see it as an argument of debate among historians since the middle
not to be taken seriously, as nothing but an of the twentieth century, starting with the
important component of the pro-slavery writings of two important Trinidadian intel-
defense. lectual figures. C.L.R. James (1938) (briefly)
Yet, quite recently, more than one century and Eric Williams (1944), in a frequently
after Hammond, there has emerged a school reissued book, linked British economic
of historians, now antislavery and antiracist, growth to West Indian slavery and sugar pro-
who argue for the fact that it was Southern duction. Perhaps it is the differences in loca-
slave-grown cotton that was to a great extent tion and crops that permits the two authors
responsible for Northern economic develop- being reviewed to skate over Williamss
ment, and without cotton the United States claims and not give them adequate attention.
and the world economy could not have Nevertheless, a comparison and evaluation
grown, at least as rapidly as it did. Thus we of these two different, but basically similar,
have, not for the first time, the proclamation stories of slavery and industrialization might
of a truth that has been frequently ignored, help to clarify both arguments.
now presented as a new, original argument The claims of Williams and the two books
correcting a long-standing historical error. under review that it was slave-produced
What strange bedfellows the Southern sugar and cotton that were responsible for
apologists and many of todays historians, Northern and English economic growth do
including the authors of the two books under not evaluate other argued-for major contri-
review, do make. butions to economic development. Some
If the point to be made is that many indi- have argued that it was the amounts exploited
viduals in North America were involved with from the British working class that permit-
the slave trade and slavery and were benefit- ted more capital investment. Others, mainly
ing from a highly immoral and evil system, scholars in India, have argued that it was the
there is clearly enough material to condemn economic exploitation of India by British
American (and European) whites and to imperialists that had played the major role
 Engerman: Review of Schermerhorn and Baptist 639

in British industrialization. For the United impact on traders, slaveowners, and those
States, there has been some discussion of slaves being bought and sold. It is a story
the exploitation of the working classes in well told, and while clearly demonstrating
the ante- and postbellum periods, though the many evils of the trade, shows the ability
the role of any colonial area, except for the and interest of Southerners in dealing with
western territories, makes any symmetrical commercial activities. His presentation fits
arguments uncertain. Similarly the role
in well with current descriptions of a p eople
of tariffs in Northern industrial growth is able to handle commercial activities and
downplayed. willing to adapt to changing circumstances.
Thus, the claims of Baptist and There is, however, little use of the available
Schermerhorn to have presented a startling data to estimate how profitable this trade was,
new interpretation of the past omits a long its quantitative importance to the Southern
series of writings and debates, although economy, and what the basic factors in the
whether any of these arguments made, then trends and cycles in the numbers and char-
or now, could be right or wrong remains acteristics of slaves relocated were. He does
under discussion. To what extent did any of not explain why, in the United States and
these capture the past with any accuracy? elsewhere, the international slave trade usu-
Nevertheless, both authors have demon- ally ended up to one-half century before the
strated some excellent original scholarship ending of the internal slave trade and slav-
and quite interesting and useful descrip- ery. The author is mainly concerned with the
tions of the slave economy, its operations, mechanics and morality (or lack of same) of
and impact on both white masters and black the internal slave trade. At times, he seems
slaves. Where they disappoint is the weakness to be interested in creating a new vocabu-
in the attempts to demonstrate their basic larywhat, for example, are a mechanical
claim of the dominant role of Southern slav- market and slaverys capitalism? (Is this
ery in Northern and world development. In in contrast with some other variety of capi-
some ways, however, these authors end with talism?) It is the detailed descriptions of the
rather differing interpretations of this rela- mechanics of the slave trade and the impacts
tionship. Baptist emphasizes slaverys role upon slaves that makes The Business of
in originating institutions of the Northern Slavery and the Rise of American Capitalism
economy, while Schermerhorn demon- 18151860 such a valuable addition to the
strates the great ability of Southerners to study of American slavery and, more gener-
take advantage of financial and other insti- ally, American history, although the authors
tutions first developed in the North and in claim that the South caused the Civil War
England. due only to the imagined threats of aboli-
Schermerhorns major concern is with the tionists and other non-slaveholding country-
operations of the domestic slave tradeits men is hardly convincing as presented.
financing, the mechanics of acquiring slaves Nor does Schermerhorn provide an answer
and transporting them to markets, and the to the puzzle of why it was only the British or
sales process. It is this aspect of the slave their North American colonies that had both
economy that is his focus, not the operations slavery and capitalism. These were success-
of the plantation, the sale of its output, and ful in achieving both, but not the first to be a
most aspects of the Southern and Northern major transatlantic slave traderSpain, with
economies. By extensive research in primary its one-century lead over Britain and France
and secondary sources, he gives a thorough in settling the New Worldnor the nation
description of how things were done and the that received more slaves than any other
640 Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. LV (June 2017)

nationthe Portuguese and their Brazilian increasing use of torture (whipping) by the
colony. The need for appropriate conditions labor camp operatives (slave-plantation
in the metropolitan economy for slavery and owners). Why it took labor campers so long
the slave trade to have the advocated impact to find the appropriate amount of torture
has led both Robin Blackburn (1988) and to be applied and why only for certain crops
Joel Mokyr (2009), in modifying Williams, is not always clear.
to ask whether the expansion of the New While the title proclaims that he will pro-
World slave systems were a consequence of vide the half [that] has never been told,
capitalist e conomic development and not its this seems to refer to the truth about the
creator. This question is similar in spirit to Southern economic system and also what the
Max Webers (1930) claim that the Protestant slaves experienced and confronted. Many
ethic gave rise to modern capitalism, but only of the examples and arguments presented
when the appropriate (whatever they have are now well-known to scholars of slavery
been) conditions were present to permit and to others interested in this topic. Much
this to happen. Readers must then decide of the argument resembles both black and
whether the analysis should focus on the white historians descriptions of the delete-
setting of these preconditions or the specific rious impact of slavery on the enslaved that
triggering mechanisms (or both) that work in was considered accurate before the 1950s,
only one case but not in others. before the many counter-arguments that this
Baptists book is a rather more ambitious very negative presentation of the slaves was
work, interested not only in claiming that psychologically harmful to todays African
slavery and cotton were the major contribu- Americans, as well as clearly inaccurate.
tors to American economic growthslavery There are, moreover, some surprising omis-
is what made the United States powerful sions from the writings on slavery of the past
and rich (p. xxi)but is intended also to be half-century. Major descriptions of slave life
a full-scale description of the evils of enslave- by, for example, Kenneth Stampp (1956),
ment and the adverse effects on the lives of Eugene Genovese (1974), and Ira Berlin
the enslaved. Based on a wide (if selective) (1998), are given brief (if any) mention. He
reading of the slave autobiographies and the does not fully engage at all in what should
Works Progress Administration slave narra- be of major interest to him, the last decades
tives, it presents a story of the horrors that of works concerning economic aspects of
slaves lived within the interest of planter the slave economy by scholars such as Gavin
profits, and argues that it was violence that Wright (2006), Roger Ransom and Richard
served to increase the productivity of slave Sutch (1977), and Claudia Goldin (1976),
labor, with the high human costs it entailed. not to say Robert Fogel (1989) and Fogel and
Baptist accepts that the productivity of Engerman (1974), whose work is both drawn
slaves in producing cotton increased over upon and harshly criticized elsewhere. These
time (pp. 12729), but rather than attribute have been a major analytical and statistical
some of this either to the movement to better battleground, but are not discussed in any
lands, or to improved managerial techniques, detail. There is only some preemptory discus-
or to improvements in seeds, or possibly to sion towards the end of the book consistent
an increase in slave heights and strength with the recent outpouring of work on slave
(compare height estimates of males on p. 40 culture and agency, issues that some now
and p. 183, an increase of about seven inches consider central to understanding the lives of
in the first third of the nineteenth century), those enslaved. The arguments would seem
his preferred explanation is attribution to an to fit awkwardly with the descriptions of the
 Engerman: Review of Schermerhorn and Baptist 641

many excesses of masters cruelty and their Of course, in defense of basic proposition it
pernicious effects upon the slaves. A fre- could be claimed, as was earlier done by one
quent image provided is of something called of the first historians to deal with the impact
a whipping machine. This and the related of slavery upon New England, William B.
discussions suggest a rather constant and fre- Weeden (1891), that although slavery was a
quent use of w hipping. Yet it turns out that small factor [as was the slave trade] in New
such a device probably, at least according England . . . [the slave trade] exercised a
to Baptist, did not exist. It was not a mate- great influence in the whole commerce of the
rial thing but was used as a metaphorical first half of the eighteenth century. Yet the
argument (p. 142). While the prospect and corollary to the contention that small things
actuality of whipping were clearly among can have large effectsthe claim that large
the most vicious evils of slavery (though things could then only have small effectsis
whipping at that time was not limited to the less frequently contemplated.
slave economy), merely the legal acceptance While not discussed in detail in either
of whipping slaves, even if it was relatively book, the data on the importance of the
infrequently used, would be enough to con- slave-trade for New England shipping
demn the slave system. Baptists imagery, merchants is often proclaimed. Yet the
however, is hard to reconcile with one of estimated share of slave traders in Rhode
the few measures of whipping found in the Island in the transatlantic slave trade was
literature, that by the distinguished histo- under 5 percent, the Newport slave trader
rian Herbert Gutman (pp. 140, 448 n. 54). Aaron Lopezs share of the slave trade in his
Gutmans calculation from the Bennet shipping was about 7percent, the share of
Barrow plantation points to a somewhat dif- Newport slave traders in all their vessels was
ferent scenario, as do the detailed estimates under 10 percent, and the estimated share
of whipping collected for the West Indies by of slave-carrying vessels in peak years was
the British Anti-Slavery Society. Baptists dis- about 8 percent of all vessels (see Platt 1975
cussion of slave life, nevertheless, does serve and Coughtry 1981). In his detailed study of
as a very dramatic and essential reminder of the Browns of Providence Plantation, James
what slavery could mean once legally estab- Hedges points out that seldom, however,
lished and accepted. was the slave trade the chief commercial
Baptists economic analysis, intended to interest of the New England merchants,
demonstrate the essential role of the slave- and many of them were not concerned at
grown cotton economy for Northern eco- all. Hedges (1952, 1968) does point out
nomic growth, is weakened by some variants the greater importance to New England of
of double and triple counting and some other types of trade involving the Caribbean
confusion of assets and income flows. To go area, including the West Indies, but he also
from a value of the Southern cotton crop in points to the role of Browns trade with the
1836 of about 5 percent of that entire gross Baltic, South America, Canton, Batavia, and
domestic product, to almost half of the Europe among other parts of the world prior
economic activity in the United States in to the 1830s. He further states that to
1836 (pp.32122) requires his calculation to 1765 the African slave trade engrossed but a
resemble the great effects claimed by an NFL small proportion of the time and energy that
club when trying to convince city taxpayers the Browns paid to commercial affairs, nor
that they should provide the money to build does it appear that that trade became more
a new stadium because of all of the stadiums important to them after 1765. (For more dis-
presumed primary and secondary effects. cussion of these issues, see Engerman, n.d.)
642 Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. LV (June 2017)

One has great respect for the moral inten- References

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