Interestingly, slavery would have eventually destroyed the Old South. Ignoring that it was a powderkeg that would eventually go off, based on the number of slave revolutions in other countries, slavery was sapping the strength of The South:
Expense: By the time of the Civil War, a healthy male black slave was going for $1100, based on handbills of the time. Putting that into perspective, they could have bought a healthy male Irish slave for $15 and a Native American for $5. Keep in mind that the average plantation could have 50 to 200 slaves on it, the majority of whom were young black males, and that represents a major expense on the part of the plantation owner. Throw in the expense of owning a slave, as they had to be fed, clothed, and otherwise maintained, not to mention the overseers and other associated personnel to deal with the slaves, and those slaves represented a major drain on resources. While the owners could hire them out in order to recoup some costs, this was rarely as profitable as it needed to be.
Technology: The South pretty much sucked as far as technology was concerned. The cost to update the technology is just part of the equation, but so was the dependence on slave labor. Be keeping to what they knew the Southerners were slowly falling behind the North in terms of technology. Worse, their plantations were not as efficient as Northern farms due to the lack of technology, so that was another additional cost that The South had to bear.
Education: The South had a love-hate relationship with education. The problem is that, with no real technology to maintain and being a primarily agrarian society, there was no real need for an education. Even women probably didn't stay in school as long as they did up north, especially as there was plenty to do at home. The rich were more likely to use tutors, whether it was for giving potential belles of the ball their manners and basic skills or for preparing boys for the military academies. This lack of education among its lower classes meant that the South was able to maintain its status quo, remaining a static society far longer than necessary.
Equality: While it needs to be noted that the 19th century is hardly the bastion of equallity, the South was far worse than the rest of the nation. While others were willing to ignore the gender and race under the right conditions, the South had managed to develop its own caste system based on gender, race, and economic status and vertical mobility was virtually impossible, at least less likely than other areas. This additional stratification added to the other stultifying effects of Southern society and ensured that the South would fall well behind the North.
The basic gist of the situation is that whenever someone says that slavery was ever a good thing, the deserve to be slapped down. By the 19th century slavery had long outstayed its welcome and needed to fade into the past. It had become a millstone around the neck of progress and needed to disappear into the annals of history, allowing the world to advance rather than keeping it where it was, like a fly in the amber of history. The damage wrought by slavery is going to be with us for a while longer, but hopefully we will eventually overcome it.
Expense: By the time of the Civil War, a healthy male black slave was going for $1100, based on handbills of the time. Putting that into perspective, they could have bought a healthy male Irish slave for $15 and a Native American for $5. Keep in mind that the average plantation could have 50 to 200 slaves on it, the majority of whom were young black males, and that represents a major expense on the part of the plantation owner. Throw in the expense of owning a slave, as they had to be fed, clothed, and otherwise maintained, not to mention the overseers and other associated personnel to deal with the slaves, and those slaves represented a major drain on resources. While the owners could hire them out in order to recoup some costs, this was rarely as profitable as it needed to be.
Technology: The South pretty much sucked as far as technology was concerned. The cost to update the technology is just part of the equation, but so was the dependence on slave labor. Be keeping to what they knew the Southerners were slowly falling behind the North in terms of technology. Worse, their plantations were not as efficient as Northern farms due to the lack of technology, so that was another additional cost that The South had to bear.
Education: The South had a love-hate relationship with education. The problem is that, with no real technology to maintain and being a primarily agrarian society, there was no real need for an education. Even women probably didn't stay in school as long as they did up north, especially as there was plenty to do at home. The rich were more likely to use tutors, whether it was for giving potential belles of the ball their manners and basic skills or for preparing boys for the military academies. This lack of education among its lower classes meant that the South was able to maintain its status quo, remaining a static society far longer than necessary.
Equality: While it needs to be noted that the 19th century is hardly the bastion of equallity, the South was far worse than the rest of the nation. While others were willing to ignore the gender and race under the right conditions, the South had managed to develop its own caste system based on gender, race, and economic status and vertical mobility was virtually impossible, at least less likely than other areas. This additional stratification added to the other stultifying effects of Southern society and ensured that the South would fall well behind the North.
The basic gist of the situation is that whenever someone says that slavery was ever a good thing, the deserve to be slapped down. By the 19th century slavery had long outstayed its welcome and needed to fade into the past. It had become a millstone around the neck of progress and needed to disappear into the annals of history, allowing the world to advance rather than keeping it where it was, like a fly in the amber of history. The damage wrought by slavery is going to be with us for a while longer, but hopefully we will eventually overcome it.
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