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Sven Beckert’s work Emancipation and Empire: Reconstructing the Worldwide Web of Cotton Production in the Age of the American Civil War explores the effect the ending of the American institution of slavery had on the world economy. Under the race based institution of slavery cotton production in the US had little to no labor costs. Plantation owners only needed to provide their slaves with room and board which cost them significantly less then providing them with living wage. Once the American Civil war ended and the institution of slavery was outlawed in the United States cotton production slowed and the world economy was in need of alternate sources. My peer Chris pointed out that three nations in particular rose up to meet the demands of the market, which were India, Brazil, and Egypt. These countries experienced a brief era of economic expansion before depression hit the marketplace and everyone suffered.
I earlier stated that I believed that slavery was a topic that came up to frequently in our readings; I would like to now revise that statement to include economic exploitation and the global marketplace. I feel like nearly every reading we have read this semester has had something to do with the economic exploitation of others or the development of the global marketplace, while this is probably and accurate way to look at Atlantic History it is also incredibly depressing.