Recently there seem to be an increasing number of claims that American prosperity resulted from slavery.
Did slavery actually create the wealth of the U.S.? Does this claim have any historical basis in fact, or is this a distortion of history to influence the views of voters?
If American prosperity is based on slavery, then we would expect other nations that participated in the transatlantic slave trade to also be prosperous.
If we take Brazil, for example, that nation took about 20 times more slaves than the U.S. So, if slavery leads to great prosperity one would expect Brazil to be much more prosperous than the U.S., since they took many more slaves.
If American prosperity were based on slavery, then we would expect to learn that in the 1800s the Southern States were wealthier than the Northern States, where slavery was illegal.
In 1860 per capita income in the South was only 72% of the U.S. average, so there is no evidence that slavery made the South wealthy, let alone the entire U.S. While it is true that a small elite group in the South did become wealthy from growing cotton through the use of slave labor, we also need to take into account the impact this had on the U.S. economy as a whole.
By any objective measure, American prosperity is not based on slavery.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/did_slavery_create_american_prosperity.html
Did slavery actually create the wealth of the U.S.? Does this claim have any historical basis in fact, or is this a distortion of history to influence the views of voters?
If American prosperity is based on slavery, then we would expect other nations that participated in the transatlantic slave trade to also be prosperous.
If we take Brazil, for example, that nation took about 20 times more slaves than the U.S. So, if slavery leads to great prosperity one would expect Brazil to be much more prosperous than the U.S., since they took many more slaves.
If American prosperity were based on slavery, then we would expect to learn that in the 1800s the Southern States were wealthier than the Northern States, where slavery was illegal.
In 1860 per capita income in the South was only 72% of the U.S. average, so there is no evidence that slavery made the South wealthy, let alone the entire U.S. While it is true that a small elite group in the South did become wealthy from growing cotton through the use of slave labor, we also need to take into account the impact this had on the U.S. economy as a whole.
By any objective measure, American prosperity is not based on slavery.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/did_slavery_create_american_prosperity.html
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