Capitalism, Slavery, and Republican Values: American Political Economists, 1819-1848

Allen Kaufman

Published by University of Texas Press 1982

Capitalism, Slavery, and Republican Values

American Political Economists, 1819-1848

Allen Kaufman
With contributions by: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese

https://doi.org/10.7560/760196

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the troubled days before the American Civil War, both Northern protectionists and Southern free trade economists saw political economy as the key to understanding the natural laws on which every republican political order should be based. They believed that individual freedom was one such law of nature and that this freedom required a market economy in which citizens could freely pursue their particular economic interests and goals.

But Northern and Southern thinkers alike feared that the pursuit of wealth in a market economy might lead to the replacement of the independent producer by the wage laborer. A worker without property is a potential rebel, and so the freedom and commerce that give birth to such a worker would seem to be incompatible with preserving the content citizenry necessary for a stable, republican political order.

Around the resolution of this dilemma revolved the great debate on the desirability of slavery in this country. Northern protectionists argued that independent labor must be protected at the same time that capitalist development is encouraged. Southern free trade economists answered that the formation of a propertyless class is inevitable; to keep the nation from anarchy and rebellion, slavery—justified by racism—must be preserved at any cost.

Battles of the economists such as these left little room for political compromise between North and South as the antebellum United States confronted the corrosive effects of capitalist development. And slavery's retardant effect on the Southern economy ultimately created a rift within the South between those who sought to make slavery more like capitalism and those who sought to make capitalism more like slavery.

Author / Editor information

Allen Kaufman (1947–2007) held the Hubbard Chair of Strategic Management at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire.

Reviews

Brilliant ... advances our understanding of the North-South divergence and the origins of the Civil War [and] our understanding of American economic thought and intellectual history in general.

— Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
FOREWORD Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION Publicly Available Download PDF	xxiii
1. ADAM SMITH on the Wealth of Nations and the Poverty of Labor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. RICARDO and MALTHUS on Who Uses Labor Best, Capitalists or Landlords Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3. DANIEL RAYMOND on Wealth without a Working Class Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
4. DANIEL RAYMOND on Protecting the Republic from Slave Capital Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
5. THOMAS RODERICK DEW on Accommodating the Republic to History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
6. THOMAS RODERICK DEW on Black Slavery as the Republic's Check on the Working Class Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
7. JACOB N. CARDOZO on Making Slavery Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
AFTERWORD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 220

eBook

Published: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 9781477300213