The main argument throughout the essays in Slavery\u2019s Capitalism<\/i> (Beckert and Rockman) was that slavery played a central role in the United States\u2019 economy during the nineteenth century. The traditional economic view\u00a0of slavery has usually been restricted to the South. Slavery\u2019s Capitalism<\/i> countered that interpretation demonstrating how the whole American economy relied on slavery for its success. This book, while focused on the economic history of slavery, also explained how slavery influenced the North and the South, the society, the culture, and the politics of early America.<\/p>\n

The book as a whole included discussions on the main U.S. regions as well as the international scene. However, it would be helpful to see more juxtaposition of those regions within each chapter. For example, Daniel B. Rood discussed the trade connection between the U.S. and Brazil. I think he could have added more on Brazil\u2019s side of the trade relationship or even about Brazil\u2019s specific economic status. This would have allowed the reader to see the dynamic systems of both countries. Another instance might be in Craig Steven Wilder\u2019s chapter on American Catholicism and slavery. This section demonstrated only one religious perception of slavery and it might have been better if it was viewed in the context of other Protestant higher education institutions also associated with slavery.<\/p>\n

The chapters highlighted different case studies regarding slavery\u2019s impact on American capitalism. Case studies are useful for proving specific arguments and analyzing a collection of similar data. Yet, it is also important to realize that case studies cannot necessarily be used for creating generalizations about the country\u2019s overall economic development. That being said, I liked how Bonnie Martin compiled records from three counties each from a different Southern State instead of just one particular case. I also appreciated Daina Ramey Berry\u2019s word choice when she wrote \u201csome cases\u201d or \u201csometimes,\u201d which meant that her evidence pointed to certain instances rather than a general pattern (151, 158).<\/p>\n

Another critique I have of Slavery\u2019s Capitalism<\/i> is that it quickly deals with the development of slavery in the Civil War and the Emancipation periods. It would be interesting to see what evidence there is, if any, to explain the changes that took place then.<\/p>\n

I agree with Sbremer\u2019s statement that \u201cwe are forced to rethink slavery and investigate not just its political ramifications, but the ramifications it had on the development of an incredibly important global economic system.\u201d The book gave us the opportunity to reexamine slavery\u2019s role in establishing America\u2019s global status, adding another dimension to Gould\u2019s analysis last week. I would also add though that Slavery\u2019s Capitalism<\/i> emphasizes American slavery\u2019s Atlantic developments, but mostly ignores what happened in the Pacific and California during that time. Leonard L. Richards\u2019 The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War<\/i> is one book that explained Southern political leaders attempts to bring slavery to California.<\/p>\n

I noticed that there is no conclusion in Slavery\u2019s Capitalism<\/i>. Perhaps this is because these stories were meant to be open-ended. The chapters contained recent research, so the lack of a conclusion suggests that it is only the beginning of a new discussion that still needs further analysis. What the book did well was challenge the reader\u2019s traditional perceptions of slavery and encourage the reader to then continue the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main argument throughout the essays in Slavery\u2019s Capitalism (Beckert and Rockman) was that slavery played a central role in the United States\u2019 economy during the nineteenth century. The traditional economic view\u00a0of slavery has usually been restricted to the South. Slavery\u2019s Capitalism countered that interpretation demonstrating how the whole American economy relied on slavery for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/hist571-fall2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}