Slavery and Capitalism

For John, BLUF:  I have heard it suggested that Slavery creates production and wealth through the power of the oversear.  Not everyone agrees.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Father of Capitalism and the Abolition of Slavery

From Quillette, by Blogger Matthew Lesh, 22 Jun 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

It has become a common trope that slavery and the slave trade is responsible for the industrial revolution, if not our entire modern prosperity.  Slavery is often called capitalism’s “dark side.”  A recent column in the Guardian claimed the slave trade “heralded the age of capitalism” and Guardian columnist George Monbiot said on Twitter:  “The more we discover about our own history, the less the ‘trade’ on which Britain built its wealth looks like exchange, and the more it looks like looting.  It meant extracting stolen resources and the products of slavery, debt bondage and land theft from other nations.”  The same line has been taken by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who tweeted:  “It’s a sad truth that much of our wealth was derived from the slave trade.”

But what did the “father of modern economics,” Adam Smith, actually think about slavery?  And is it responsible for our modern prosperity?

Adam Smith argued not only that slavery was morally reprehensible, but that it causes economic self-harm.  He provided economic and moral ammunition for the abolitionist movement that came to fruition after his death in 1790.  Smith was pessimistic about the potential for full abolition, but he was on the side of the angels.

Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, contains perhaps the best known economic critique of slavery.  Smith argued that free individuals work harder and invest in the improvement of land, motivated by their interest in earning a higher income, than slaves.  Smith refers to ancient Italy, where the cultivation of corn degraded under slavery.  The cost of slavery is “in the end the dearest of any,” Smith writes.

There is a lot of bad history out there.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff