Slavery and Capitalism, Brown University Conference, April 7-9

This spring is the semester of slavery conferences, for sure.  Though I have hardly had a chance to digest or write about Emory's conference on slavery and universities last weekend, I want to call your attention to the Brown-Harvard conference on slavery's capitalism, which will take place in Providence April 7 to 9.  The conference is organized by Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman.

From the conference website:

The decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War witnessed two economic transformations: the harnessing of machinery and capital into an industrial revolution and the vast expansion of slavery across a so-called Cotton Kingdom. These were not rival developments, but rather the twin engines of the nineteenth-century American economy. This three-day conference will showcase the latest research on the role of slavery in American economic development, pointing toward a new history of capitalism itself. 

Undoubtely there will be a lot of talk about the connections between proslavery thought and the capitalism -- a sort of flip on David Davis' talk of the correlation between the growht of anti-slavery thought and capitalism.  There might even be talk of Emerson on anti-slavery and the market, the role of southern law (which I am increasingly referring to as an element of technology) in the development of the market, of Thomas Cobb's Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery, of literary addresses supporting the fugitive slave law in northern schools -- and perhaps even of evolution of trust law to facilitate the management of enslaved human beings....

The image is of the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, which was a place where a great many enslaved people worked.  Interested in knowing more about this?  Check out Charles Dew's fantastic book Ironmaker to the Confederacy.  Back in the days when I lived in Richmond the iron works were closed, but now they are an anchor of the National Park Service's interpretation of Richmond during the war.

Comments

[David Bernstein]

I'm stumped why they are calling this conference "Slavery and Capitalism," when, judging from the description, what they really mean is "Slavery and American Economic Development."

[Alfred Brophy]

Hi David,

I may have added some to that confusion. The conference is called "slavery's capitalism" and the subtitle is "A New History of American Economic Development." The conference is pitched at the relationship of slavery to US economic development and in particular the role of the market (capitalism) in that development.

While I suppose a lot of folks think of economic development and capitalism as essentially the same, I think part of the reason for the reference to capitalism in the title is the long-standing question from some southern historians about the relationship between slavery and capitalism. A common trope of pro-slavery writers was that free workers faired worse in the market than did enslaved people. Thus arose the argument that slavery was in some way a protection from the market.

[David Bernstein]

"A common trope of pro-slavery writers was that free workers faired worse in the market than did enslaved people. Thus arose the argument that slavery was in some way a protection from the market."

Yep, that's why we saw all those Irish immigrants trying to sneak across the border to the South, where they voluntarily enslaved themselves.