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Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery
A probing analysis of the American institution of slavery examines the lives of the slaves, their condition and treatment, the economic repercussions of subjugation, the culture and society surrounding them, and abolitionist movement that helped bring about the end of slavery.
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First published October 1, 1989
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May 30, 2021
Without Consent or Contract by Robert William Fogel
Please give a helpful vote to my Amazon review - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
Robert William Fogel is a Nobel Prize winner and a "cliometrician." Cliometrics is the study of history by the use of quantitative, usually economic, data. This approach may shed light on what really happened in history, outside of the subjective experience of historical actors.
Fogel's career involved an extensive engagement with the issue of American slavery. In fact, the third and final part of this book deals with Fogel's developing understanding of the nature and moral implications of slavery based on his cliometric studies.
The first part of this book is most involved with cliometric analysis. By looking at studies that have been done on various statistical information, Fogel comes to the unsettling notion that the South was largely right in its positions before the Civil War. The South was prosperous because of slavery; in fact, if it had been an independent country it would have been the fourth most prosperous nation on Earth and more prosperous than any other European country other than England.
Likewise, slavery was efficient and productive, at least with respect to the "gang system" used in the cash crops like cotton and rice. As a result, slave plantations could outcompete free farmers.
Southern plantation owners essentially turned their gang system into an industry using techniques that would be employed by factories in later years. Slaves were given simple, repetitive motions to engage in. Work was done quickly. Lengthy breaks were given at regular intervals. It turns out that slaves worked far fewer hours than Northern factory workers worked. Slaves would work less than four hours a week, less than 8 hours a day, and regularly had Sundays and portions of Saturday off work. When they did work, they worked hard and fast.
Slaves were also well-fed. Slaves in the South were taller and healthier than the free population of most European countries and in the North. In fact, because of immigration, the Northern free population was in a vice of unemployment, depression, low wages, and squalid conditions. Fogel notes:
"The exceptional health of native-born Northerners during the late eighteenth century is revealed by new time series on stature and life expectation recently constructed by cliometricians (see Figure 28) They show that by the end of American white males were more than 68 inches tall (which was 2 to 4 inches taller than the typical Englishman) and had average expectations at age 10 of close to 57 years (about 10 years longer than the English.) However both life expectations and stature began to decline l early in the nineteenth century. The most rapid of deterioration was between 1830 and i860. By the eve of the Civil War life expectation was 10 years less than it had been just before the turn of the century and males born in i860 reached final heights that were about 1.5 inches less than those born in the early 1830s." (page 360.)
Like most people, I want to believe that such an evil system must have been inefficient and on its last legs, but Fogel's analysis does not fit the "just world" I want to believe in, at all.
The section of the book looks at the history of slavery and abolition in the English-speaking world. Fogel first looks at abolition in the English-speaking world that was the product mostly of the "saints" working altruistically to force the world into their moral image. England ended its involvement in the slave trade, then ended slavery in its Caribbean colonies, and, finally, sought to end slavery through the world, using its diplomatic and military power to coerce other countries, such as Brazil, to give up slavery, and, also, intervening in the politics of other countries in a most imperialistic fashion.
Fogel's description of American abolitionism is involved and educational. Slavery was in the process of abolition in the North during the years of the Founding Fathers as the North attempted to live up to the ideals of democracy. But slavery was more intertwined into the economy of the South and the South moved in the direction of protecting slavery. The abolitionist movement waxed and waned but things began to come to a head because of two issues - the expansion of slavery into the territories and the fugitive slave law. For Fogel, the former was more important since the South kept pushing slavery further and further into formerly free territories. Free farmers were concerned that they would be rendered second-class citizens if they were forced to compete with slave plantations.
Fogel's discussion of the Know-Nothing movement was eye-opening. I had always considered the Know-Nothings to be a fringe movement of kooks, but it was a serious contender against free soil/antislavery/Republicans. In the 1850s, the Know-Nothings had control of the legislatures of several states and had 70 members in Congress. The question was whether politics in the American North would re-organize in opposition to the Vatican Power or against the Slave Power. The Kansas-Nebraska Act changed the dynamic of the competition by fomenting open war in Kansas and dividing the country along clear sectional lines. It was a near run thing that could have gone the other way.
The final section involves Fogel's reflections on slavery and his research. Fogel is clearly aware that his research gives apparent aid and comfort to those who want to argue that slavery "really was not so bad." Fogel is a conventional liberal and does not want to be the guy responsible for that. I suspect that if this book was written in the 2020s, it would never have been written or published, or that the usual crowd would be demanding his head.
Fogel's response to the conundrum of well-treated slaves, just like the slave-holding South claimed, is to reflect on the core evils of slavery - that it denies dignity and opportunity to human beings. Being well-cared for may be an ideal way to treat a horse, but human beings are not horses.
I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. The first part can be very dense but the insights and learning of this book make it a first-rate book to study on the issue of slavery.
Please give a helpful vote to my Amazon review - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
Robert William Fogel is a Nobel Prize winner and a "cliometrician." Cliometrics is the study of history by the use of quantitative, usually economic, data. This approach may shed light on what really happened in history, outside of the subjective experience of historical actors.
Fogel's career involved an extensive engagement with the issue of American slavery. In fact, the third and final part of this book deals with Fogel's developing understanding of the nature and moral implications of slavery based on his cliometric studies.
The first part of this book is most involved with cliometric analysis. By looking at studies that have been done on various statistical information, Fogel comes to the unsettling notion that the South was largely right in its positions before the Civil War. The South was prosperous because of slavery; in fact, if it had been an independent country it would have been the fourth most prosperous nation on Earth and more prosperous than any other European country other than England.
Likewise, slavery was efficient and productive, at least with respect to the "gang system" used in the cash crops like cotton and rice. As a result, slave plantations could outcompete free farmers.
Southern plantation owners essentially turned their gang system into an industry using techniques that would be employed by factories in later years. Slaves were given simple, repetitive motions to engage in. Work was done quickly. Lengthy breaks were given at regular intervals. It turns out that slaves worked far fewer hours than Northern factory workers worked. Slaves would work less than four hours a week, less than 8 hours a day, and regularly had Sundays and portions of Saturday off work. When they did work, they worked hard and fast.
Slaves were also well-fed. Slaves in the South were taller and healthier than the free population of most European countries and in the North. In fact, because of immigration, the Northern free population was in a vice of unemployment, depression, low wages, and squalid conditions. Fogel notes:
"The exceptional health of native-born Northerners during the late eighteenth century is revealed by new time series on stature and life expectation recently constructed by cliometricians (see Figure 28) They show that by the end of American white males were more than 68 inches tall (which was 2 to 4 inches taller than the typical Englishman) and had average expectations at age 10 of close to 57 years (about 10 years longer than the English.) However both life expectations and stature began to decline l early in the nineteenth century. The most rapid of deterioration was between 1830 and i860. By the eve of the Civil War life expectation was 10 years less than it had been just before the turn of the century and males born in i860 reached final heights that were about 1.5 inches less than those born in the early 1830s." (page 360.)
Like most people, I want to believe that such an evil system must have been inefficient and on its last legs, but Fogel's analysis does not fit the "just world" I want to believe in, at all.
The section of the book looks at the history of slavery and abolition in the English-speaking world. Fogel first looks at abolition in the English-speaking world that was the product mostly of the "saints" working altruistically to force the world into their moral image. England ended its involvement in the slave trade, then ended slavery in its Caribbean colonies, and, finally, sought to end slavery through the world, using its diplomatic and military power to coerce other countries, such as Brazil, to give up slavery, and, also, intervening in the politics of other countries in a most imperialistic fashion.
Fogel's description of American abolitionism is involved and educational. Slavery was in the process of abolition in the North during the years of the Founding Fathers as the North attempted to live up to the ideals of democracy. But slavery was more intertwined into the economy of the South and the South moved in the direction of protecting slavery. The abolitionist movement waxed and waned but things began to come to a head because of two issues - the expansion of slavery into the territories and the fugitive slave law. For Fogel, the former was more important since the South kept pushing slavery further and further into formerly free territories. Free farmers were concerned that they would be rendered second-class citizens if they were forced to compete with slave plantations.
Fogel's discussion of the Know-Nothing movement was eye-opening. I had always considered the Know-Nothings to be a fringe movement of kooks, but it was a serious contender against free soil/antislavery/Republicans. In the 1850s, the Know-Nothings had control of the legislatures of several states and had 70 members in Congress. The question was whether politics in the American North would re-organize in opposition to the Vatican Power or against the Slave Power. The Kansas-Nebraska Act changed the dynamic of the competition by fomenting open war in Kansas and dividing the country along clear sectional lines. It was a near run thing that could have gone the other way.
The final section involves Fogel's reflections on slavery and his research. Fogel is clearly aware that his research gives apparent aid and comfort to those who want to argue that slavery "really was not so bad." Fogel is a conventional liberal and does not want to be the guy responsible for that. I suspect that if this book was written in the 2020s, it would never have been written or published, or that the usual crowd would be demanding his head.
Fogel's response to the conundrum of well-treated slaves, just like the slave-holding South claimed, is to reflect on the core evils of slavery - that it denies dignity and opportunity to human beings. Being well-cared for may be an ideal way to treat a horse, but human beings are not horses.
I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. The first part can be very dense but the insights and learning of this book make it a first-rate book to study on the issue of slavery.
April 20, 2018
Without Consent or Contract is incredible. The engagement with the sources and debates within the field of slavery research is meticulous. Fogel lays out an incredible amount of quantitative evidence to bolster any argument he makes. The first half deals with the empirical details of slavery (the productive efficiency of slaves; anthropometric data on height, weight, life expectancy, etc.; price data of slaves; and much more). All the data presented in this section would hopefully convince the reader that the institution of slavery was not going to die because of any internal "paradoxes" in its economic foundations (though apparently some modern scholars seem to think that this aspect is a new discovery) and that it would only wither under sustained political struggle. You will learn that slavery was efficient in its production due to economies of scale (as in the same inputs lead to more output) (this is different than economic efficiency) (small slave farms showed no advantage over free farms); slaves had a shorter workweek than English textile workers; life expectancy and nutrition of slaves was comparable to (or better than) urban workers in the North and in England. Fogel also brings data to the issue of slave culture and family life. On small plantations (15 or fewer slaves), there was too much interaction between slaves and owners for slaves to develop separate culture and family structure on these small plantations is distinctly different from larger plantations:
The difference between field and house slaves does not seem to have been relevant for describing the typical experience of slaves. Even on a plantation of 50 slaves, just 5 adults would normally have been regularly engaged in non-field occupations, and even house slaves would be sent to the fields at peak times. About 80 percent of slaves resided on plantations with fewer than 50 slaves.
When discussing why industrialization lagged in the south, Fogel rests his explanation mostly on the fact that women would work for less money relative to men (40% of men's wages) in the north, whereas in the south women earned 60 to 70 percent of men's wages (women made up a lot of the textile labor force). While relative wages are important in economic decisions, levels also matter. Even if women in the north earn less relative to men, if factory owners are drawing their workforce mostly from the female labor pool, then it is the relative wages of southern women vs. northern women that matters. Since factories are based on scale economies, my prior on why the north was more industrialized than the south would just be that it was more urbanized, and factory owners were able to draw a sufficient number of women due to the population density (i.e. it's relative wages + urbanization).
The second half of the book describes the political story behind abolition. This part is much less quantitative and proved less interesting. One interesting aspect of the antebellum era was the increasing role state governments gained in determining the social relationships between slaves and whites, with laws becoming more restrictive as 1860 approached (this aspect does put a minor wrinkle in the "only politics could end slavery" story that Fogel wants to tell).
The last chapter is about moral judgment on slavery. This chapter seemed incredibly personal (probably because Fogel was labeled as a slavery apologist by some). In it, Fogel criticizes the view that slavery was bad because of how slaves were treated. Fogel's own research muddies the foundation of this view by showing that urban workers did not fare any better than slaves on many margins. Fogel readily admits to the poor treatment of slaves (noting throughout the book that violence was an integral part of this "peculiar institution"), but if the case against slavery rests on how slaves were treated, then that leaves open the possibility that if slaves are treated well then slavery would be okay. Fogel will have none of that. He rests his case (rightly) on the normative claim that freedom is an absolute right.
This last chapter ends with an interesting counterfactual of what if the Civil War had not occurred in the wake of secession. He mentions how powerful the South may have become, increasing its political ties with Latin America and extending the longevity of the institution of slavery. He notes that a $0.05 sales tax on cotton would have yielded $100 million annually during the 1860s (50 percent more than the entire federal budget on the eve of the Civil War). I am a little skeptical since one of the main disadvantages of the Confederacy in the Civil War was the individual states' opposition to a strong central government. One of the difficulties of governing during the early republic was that the 13 states were organized as a confederacy. I don't think the southern states would so easily overcome the problems implied by their chosen governing structure. Also, the federal budget was quite small at that point in time (around 2% of GDP).
Further notes are below:
- the large sugar farms in the Caribbean often had refining facilities on site (this was relatively heavily mechanized)
- the average slave workweek in spring, summer, and fall was 58 hours (in the English textile mill it was 72 hours)
- trend of importation of slaves into the US was increasing until 1808 (when it was banned)
- most of the slave population in the US came from natural increase (not importation)
- the gang system was used to take advantage of economies of scale and split cotton planting and harvesting into multiple task. This was something plantations with more than 15 slaves could take advantage of
- tobacco was not amenable to the gang system due to "biological characteristics which limited opportunities for the division of labor and for the organization of production on an assembly line basis."
- "Ironically, the English tradition of representative government meant that the formulation of the laws that gave legal definition tho the institution of slavery was left to colonial legislatures dominated by slaveholders
- there was an occupational hierarchy (with artisans being at the top). In the Caribbean, lighter skinned slaves were more likely to be trained as artisans
- training as an artisan came later for slaves so as to take advantage of the physical stamina of young adults
- the doubling of slave prices in Virginia during the late 1840s and 1850s owed relatively little to the western demand for slaves and much to the resurgence in the European demand for tobacco.
- On cotton productivity: "If slaveowners had been confined to the counties that they already occupied in 1850, and if they had been barred from adding to the total acreage already improved in 1850, they could still have doubled cotton production over the next decade merely by shifting 1/15 of the land normally planted with other crops into cotton."
- Accounting for superior land and capital, there is no productivity advantage of small slave farms and free farms.
- Plantations with 16 or more slaves, however, exhibit a 39% productivity advantage due to the use of the gang system
- the average slave workweek was 10 percent shorter than the average free northern farmer workweek (this is the result of livestock and dairying accounting for 38 percent of northern farm output)
- the fundamental form of exploitation of slave labor was through speeding up the labor rather than increasing the clock-hours (this resolves any paradox about longer work breaks and greater time off on Sundays for slaves than free men
-the fraction of southern households who owned slaves declined from 36 percent in 1830 to 25 percent in 1860
- before the Civil War most of the super rich lived in the south, afterwards 4/5 lived in the north
- slaveowners responded quickly to changes in the price of cotton (contrary to theories of slaveowner irrationality)
- Among the developments that made cotton farming more efficient: improvements in seed varieties, cotton gin, reduction of transportation and other marketing costs, relocation of cotton production to the more fertile lands of the New South
- the breakup of the gang system after the war is the largest factor explaining the postwar decline in productivity
- studies of manufacturing firms that used slaves find that slaves could perform routine factory production and engineering and supervisory duties equally (if not better than) with free men
- slavery most likely stunted long term economic development of the south in favor of short term gains. This might be a result of vertical integration of large plantations that inhibited the growth of small manufacturers, but this explanation belies the fact that the south was as well represented in the optimum range of firm sizes as the North Central states.
- Manufacturing firms in the south had to pay higher wages to women (60 to 70 percent of male wages vs. 40 percent in the North) to get them to leave the farm (thus the pool of cheap labor was not as large) [I'm not sure I'm convinced by this argument for why the South lagged in economic development (doesn't actually take into account the actual wage, just the relative wage between men and women)]
- death rates on slave ships were high for both slaves and crew (crew death rates generally ran 30 percent above those of slaves
- tropical regions tended to have negative rates of natural increase for slaves, while the US had positive rates of natural increase in the slave population. The rate of natural increase for slaves follows the whites closely for the US. The difference between tropical and US rates of natural increase is mostly due to higher fertility rates (rather than lower death rates)
- the type of crop had a significant effect on slave mortality with Jamaica sugar slaves having a 50 percent higher mortality than those growing coffee and in Trinidad sugar slaves had mortality rates 3 times higher than cotton slaves
- meat consumption among US slaves was high (slave average meat consumption in 1860 was almost as high as the average meat consumption in the US in 1879)
- high infant mortality came from working pregnant women too hard, sending those women back to work too soon after birth, and weaning children using raw milk
- most malnutrition of slaves occurred in childhood
- One study revealed that the proportion of slave women who bore children was substantially lower on plantations with 100 or more slaves than on those with only a few slaves
- the impressive efficiency of gang laborers belies the idea that slaves were constantly engaged (or even sometimes engaged) in resisting the slave owners. While there was probably some day-to-day resistance it was highly variable.
- Stealing was over 8 times more frequent on plantations of masters who provided meager rations
- slave resistance was rarely political, but focused on protection of the family and on the amelioration of conditions of life
- large plantations permitted slaves to live together in close-knit communities where they could develop their own culture, whereas slaves on small plantations had much more interaction and less isolation from whites
- most of the study of slave culture comes from evidence based on slaves from large (over 50 slaves) plantations, which only covers 20 percent of the slave population
- positive incentives for work are a sign that slaves had a least some bargaining power and that naked force was not enough for efficient production
- studies show that the average diet fed to slaves on large southern plantations was about twice as expensive as it had to be to satisfy modern nutritional standards
- The British abolition of the slave trade seemed to be only costly to traders and not to slave owners
- British consumers paid 48 percent more for sugar during the first four years of freedom than they had in the last four years of slavery (amounting to an extra 21 million pounds), in addition to the 20 million pounds paid to slave owners as compensation
- Popular interest group politics aided in the British abolitionist movement
- while Quakers got the ball rolling, it was the Methodists who carried the day
- a telling quote: "It is," wrote Harriet Martineau, British author and social critic, after retuning from a tour in the US, "a totally different thing to be an abolitionist on a soil actually trodden by slaves, [than] in a far off country, where opinion is already on the side of emancipation."
- at the Continental Congress, the most insistent demands for action against the African slave trade came from Virginia [though one shouldn't make too big of a deal about this since if everyone was in agreement, then the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the US would have ended in 1789 rather than 1808]
- by despiritualizing the problem of chattel slavery, the moral urgency of the issue was blunted.
p 254
- temperance movement mission creep: abstinence from alcohol pledges initially did not include hard cider or wine and distilled hard liquor for "medicinal purposes"
- during the expansion to the south and west, New Englanders toyed with secession (1814-1815)
- pro-slavery (aristocratic) pamphlets and newspapers intimated that a society in which whites, as well as blacks, are slaves might be best
- comparisons between the situation to the poor state of urban workers and slaves (meaning free market, industrial economy not necessarily great)
- during the 1830s, state legislatures passed laws to enforce social isolation of slaves
- interesting counterfactual story for if the south had been allowed to remain independent (he suggests the South would have become a major power with strong links to South America).
- Plantations with 15 or fewer slaves contained 43 percent of the slave population.
- mother-headed families were 50 percent more frequent on these smaller plantations
- these smaller plantations account for nearly 2/3 of all slaves living in divided residences and for over 60 percent of slaves in one-parent residences, suggesting conventional family structure was under greater pressure on smaller farms
- on plantations with 15 or fewer slaves, just 1/3 of children lived in conventional households while on plantations with 50 or more it was 2/3
The difference between field and house slaves does not seem to have been relevant for describing the typical experience of slaves. Even on a plantation of 50 slaves, just 5 adults would normally have been regularly engaged in non-field occupations, and even house slaves would be sent to the fields at peak times. About 80 percent of slaves resided on plantations with fewer than 50 slaves.
When discussing why industrialization lagged in the south, Fogel rests his explanation mostly on the fact that women would work for less money relative to men (40% of men's wages) in the north, whereas in the south women earned 60 to 70 percent of men's wages (women made up a lot of the textile labor force). While relative wages are important in economic decisions, levels also matter. Even if women in the north earn less relative to men, if factory owners are drawing their workforce mostly from the female labor pool, then it is the relative wages of southern women vs. northern women that matters. Since factories are based on scale economies, my prior on why the north was more industrialized than the south would just be that it was more urbanized, and factory owners were able to draw a sufficient number of women due to the population density (i.e. it's relative wages + urbanization).
The second half of the book describes the political story behind abolition. This part is much less quantitative and proved less interesting. One interesting aspect of the antebellum era was the increasing role state governments gained in determining the social relationships between slaves and whites, with laws becoming more restrictive as 1860 approached (this aspect does put a minor wrinkle in the "only politics could end slavery" story that Fogel wants to tell).
The last chapter is about moral judgment on slavery. This chapter seemed incredibly personal (probably because Fogel was labeled as a slavery apologist by some). In it, Fogel criticizes the view that slavery was bad because of how slaves were treated. Fogel's own research muddies the foundation of this view by showing that urban workers did not fare any better than slaves on many margins. Fogel readily admits to the poor treatment of slaves (noting throughout the book that violence was an integral part of this "peculiar institution"), but if the case against slavery rests on how slaves were treated, then that leaves open the possibility that if slaves are treated well then slavery would be okay. Fogel will have none of that. He rests his case (rightly) on the normative claim that freedom is an absolute right.
This last chapter ends with an interesting counterfactual of what if the Civil War had not occurred in the wake of secession. He mentions how powerful the South may have become, increasing its political ties with Latin America and extending the longevity of the institution of slavery. He notes that a $0.05 sales tax on cotton would have yielded $100 million annually during the 1860s (50 percent more than the entire federal budget on the eve of the Civil War). I am a little skeptical since one of the main disadvantages of the Confederacy in the Civil War was the individual states' opposition to a strong central government. One of the difficulties of governing during the early republic was that the 13 states were organized as a confederacy. I don't think the southern states would so easily overcome the problems implied by their chosen governing structure. Also, the federal budget was quite small at that point in time (around 2% of GDP).
Further notes are below:
- the large sugar farms in the Caribbean often had refining facilities on site (this was relatively heavily mechanized)
- the average slave workweek in spring, summer, and fall was 58 hours (in the English textile mill it was 72 hours)
- trend of importation of slaves into the US was increasing until 1808 (when it was banned)
- most of the slave population in the US came from natural increase (not importation)
- the gang system was used to take advantage of economies of scale and split cotton planting and harvesting into multiple task. This was something plantations with more than 15 slaves could take advantage of
- tobacco was not amenable to the gang system due to "biological characteristics which limited opportunities for the division of labor and for the organization of production on an assembly line basis."
- "Ironically, the English tradition of representative government meant that the formulation of the laws that gave legal definition tho the institution of slavery was left to colonial legislatures dominated by slaveholders
- there was an occupational hierarchy (with artisans being at the top). In the Caribbean, lighter skinned slaves were more likely to be trained as artisans
- training as an artisan came later for slaves so as to take advantage of the physical stamina of young adults
- the doubling of slave prices in Virginia during the late 1840s and 1850s owed relatively little to the western demand for slaves and much to the resurgence in the European demand for tobacco.
- On cotton productivity: "If slaveowners had been confined to the counties that they already occupied in 1850, and if they had been barred from adding to the total acreage already improved in 1850, they could still have doubled cotton production over the next decade merely by shifting 1/15 of the land normally planted with other crops into cotton."
- Accounting for superior land and capital, there is no productivity advantage of small slave farms and free farms.
- Plantations with 16 or more slaves, however, exhibit a 39% productivity advantage due to the use of the gang system
- the average slave workweek was 10 percent shorter than the average free northern farmer workweek (this is the result of livestock and dairying accounting for 38 percent of northern farm output)
- the fundamental form of exploitation of slave labor was through speeding up the labor rather than increasing the clock-hours (this resolves any paradox about longer work breaks and greater time off on Sundays for slaves than free men
-the fraction of southern households who owned slaves declined from 36 percent in 1830 to 25 percent in 1860
- before the Civil War most of the super rich lived in the south, afterwards 4/5 lived in the north
- slaveowners responded quickly to changes in the price of cotton (contrary to theories of slaveowner irrationality)
- Among the developments that made cotton farming more efficient: improvements in seed varieties, cotton gin, reduction of transportation and other marketing costs, relocation of cotton production to the more fertile lands of the New South
- the breakup of the gang system after the war is the largest factor explaining the postwar decline in productivity
- studies of manufacturing firms that used slaves find that slaves could perform routine factory production and engineering and supervisory duties equally (if not better than) with free men
- slavery most likely stunted long term economic development of the south in favor of short term gains. This might be a result of vertical integration of large plantations that inhibited the growth of small manufacturers, but this explanation belies the fact that the south was as well represented in the optimum range of firm sizes as the North Central states.
- Manufacturing firms in the south had to pay higher wages to women (60 to 70 percent of male wages vs. 40 percent in the North) to get them to leave the farm (thus the pool of cheap labor was not as large) [I'm not sure I'm convinced by this argument for why the South lagged in economic development (doesn't actually take into account the actual wage, just the relative wage between men and women)]
- death rates on slave ships were high for both slaves and crew (crew death rates generally ran 30 percent above those of slaves
- tropical regions tended to have negative rates of natural increase for slaves, while the US had positive rates of natural increase in the slave population. The rate of natural increase for slaves follows the whites closely for the US. The difference between tropical and US rates of natural increase is mostly due to higher fertility rates (rather than lower death rates)
- the type of crop had a significant effect on slave mortality with Jamaica sugar slaves having a 50 percent higher mortality than those growing coffee and in Trinidad sugar slaves had mortality rates 3 times higher than cotton slaves
- meat consumption among US slaves was high (slave average meat consumption in 1860 was almost as high as the average meat consumption in the US in 1879)
- high infant mortality came from working pregnant women too hard, sending those women back to work too soon after birth, and weaning children using raw milk
- most malnutrition of slaves occurred in childhood
- One study revealed that the proportion of slave women who bore children was substantially lower on plantations with 100 or more slaves than on those with only a few slaves
- the impressive efficiency of gang laborers belies the idea that slaves were constantly engaged (or even sometimes engaged) in resisting the slave owners. While there was probably some day-to-day resistance it was highly variable.
- Stealing was over 8 times more frequent on plantations of masters who provided meager rations
- slave resistance was rarely political, but focused on protection of the family and on the amelioration of conditions of life
- large plantations permitted slaves to live together in close-knit communities where they could develop their own culture, whereas slaves on small plantations had much more interaction and less isolation from whites
- most of the study of slave culture comes from evidence based on slaves from large (over 50 slaves) plantations, which only covers 20 percent of the slave population
- positive incentives for work are a sign that slaves had a least some bargaining power and that naked force was not enough for efficient production
- studies show that the average diet fed to slaves on large southern plantations was about twice as expensive as it had to be to satisfy modern nutritional standards
- The British abolition of the slave trade seemed to be only costly to traders and not to slave owners
- British consumers paid 48 percent more for sugar during the first four years of freedom than they had in the last four years of slavery (amounting to an extra 21 million pounds), in addition to the 20 million pounds paid to slave owners as compensation
- Popular interest group politics aided in the British abolitionist movement
- while Quakers got the ball rolling, it was the Methodists who carried the day
- a telling quote: "It is," wrote Harriet Martineau, British author and social critic, after retuning from a tour in the US, "a totally different thing to be an abolitionist on a soil actually trodden by slaves, [than] in a far off country, where opinion is already on the side of emancipation."
- at the Continental Congress, the most insistent demands for action against the African slave trade came from Virginia [though one shouldn't make too big of a deal about this since if everyone was in agreement, then the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the US would have ended in 1789 rather than 1808]
- by despiritualizing the problem of chattel slavery, the moral urgency of the issue was blunted.
p 254
- temperance movement mission creep: abstinence from alcohol pledges initially did not include hard cider or wine and distilled hard liquor for "medicinal purposes"
- during the expansion to the south and west, New Englanders toyed with secession (1814-1815)
- pro-slavery (aristocratic) pamphlets and newspapers intimated that a society in which whites, as well as blacks, are slaves might be best
- comparisons between the situation to the poor state of urban workers and slaves (meaning free market, industrial economy not necessarily great)
- during the 1830s, state legislatures passed laws to enforce social isolation of slaves
- interesting counterfactual story for if the south had been allowed to remain independent (he suggests the South would have become a major power with strong links to South America).
June 13, 2013
This is the follow-up volume to Fogel and Engerman's "Time on the Cross", which performs an economic analysis of the institution of American slavery. It is brilliant and challenging work, which earned Fogel a Nobel prize in economics. Fogel passed away yesterday and I realized that I hadn't added this book. This is amazing research and Fogel will be missed.
September 6, 2019
Esse livro pode interessar quem quer ter uma visão geral sobre a escravidão nos EUA. Ele é dividido em duas partes. Na primeira, o autor dedica-se a apresentar os fatos estilizados sobre a escravidão americana (demografia, estrutura ocupacional, produtividade) e sobre a economia do Sul de modo geral. A segunda parte é dedicada ao estudo do movimento abolicionista e suas eventuais consequências práticas.
Assim como em Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Slavery, o leitor brasileiro pouco afeito ao tema será surpreendido com algumas diferenças relevantes em relação à escravidão brasileira. Um exemplo dessas diferenças é que a escravidão brasileira era muito mais dependente do tráfico. Ficamos com quase metade de todos os escravos traficados no Atlântico, enquanto os EUA ficaram apenas com 8%. Curiosamente, no entanto, o número absoluto de escravos nos EUA no início do século XIX era maior maior do que no Brasil. O que explica essa contradição? O incrível crescimento endógeno da população negra americana.
Também achei muito interessante a descrição sobre o grau de dinamismo da economia do Sul e de sua indústria. Fogel afirma que, se fosse um país, o Sul americano seria mais rico que países como França e Alemanha em meados do século XIX. Isso joga um pouco por terra o mito tão pervasivo do "sul atrasado".
A inescapável e perversa conclusão é que a escravidão era um sistema de produção extremamente racional. Na verdade, o fato desse sistema ter terminado deveria dar um pouco de esperança para todos nós que esperamos ver o fim de outras mazelas humanas que persistem até nossos dias. Uma esperança que certamente não faltou aos abolicionistas que eram tomados como loucos como o alfaiate no poema de Brecht:
Said the Tailor to the Bishop:
Believe me, I can fly.
Watch me while I try.
And he stood with things
That looked like wings
On the great church roof
That is quite absurd
A wicked, foolish lie,
For man will never fly,
A man is not a bird,
Said the Bishop to the Tailor.
Said the People to the Bishop:
The Tailor is quite dead,
He was a stupid head.
His wings are rumpled
And he lies all crumpled
On the hard church square.
The bells ring out in praise
That man is not a bird
It was a wicked, foolish lie,
Mankind will never fly,
Said the Bishop to the People.
Assim como em Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Slavery, o leitor brasileiro pouco afeito ao tema será surpreendido com algumas diferenças relevantes em relação à escravidão brasileira. Um exemplo dessas diferenças é que a escravidão brasileira era muito mais dependente do tráfico. Ficamos com quase metade de todos os escravos traficados no Atlântico, enquanto os EUA ficaram apenas com 8%. Curiosamente, no entanto, o número absoluto de escravos nos EUA no início do século XIX era maior maior do que no Brasil. O que explica essa contradição? O incrível crescimento endógeno da população negra americana.
Também achei muito interessante a descrição sobre o grau de dinamismo da economia do Sul e de sua indústria. Fogel afirma que, se fosse um país, o Sul americano seria mais rico que países como França e Alemanha em meados do século XIX. Isso joga um pouco por terra o mito tão pervasivo do "sul atrasado".
A inescapável e perversa conclusão é que a escravidão era um sistema de produção extremamente racional. Na verdade, o fato desse sistema ter terminado deveria dar um pouco de esperança para todos nós que esperamos ver o fim de outras mazelas humanas que persistem até nossos dias. Uma esperança que certamente não faltou aos abolicionistas que eram tomados como loucos como o alfaiate no poema de Brecht:
Said the Tailor to the Bishop:
Believe me, I can fly.
Watch me while I try.
And he stood with things
That looked like wings
On the great church roof
That is quite absurd
A wicked, foolish lie,
For man will never fly,
A man is not a bird,
Said the Bishop to the Tailor.
Said the People to the Bishop:
The Tailor is quite dead,
He was a stupid head.
His wings are rumpled
And he lies all crumpled
On the hard church square.
The bells ring out in praise
That man is not a bird
It was a wicked, foolish lie,
Mankind will never fly,
Said the Bishop to the People.
December 1, 2014
Fogel, R. (1994). Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery. New York: Norton & Company.
Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, written by Robert Fogel, is essential a history textbook. One could surmise the subject of this report is an extension to Time on the Cross. In Time on the Cross, the author discusses how slavery benefited the owners. This earlier work was subjected to great criticism. It appears the author felt the later work would clarify his position, describing the causes and consequences of slavery with its historical and empirical roots (Fogel & Engerman, Time on the cross, 1974).
A Nobel Prize recipient, the historian in question, a graduate of both Cornell and Colombia Universities, received his PhD from the John Hopkins University, was born in New York on 1st July 1926. Interestingly, by 1960, the man who would one day pen the quintessential American slavery textbook, could be found conducting research as an associate professor at the University of Rochester. He moved to the University of Chicago four years later (Fogel, Robert W. Fogel – Biographical, 1993).
Eugene D. Genovese, a writer with the Los Angeles Times Book Review, gave the work written by the John Hopkins University doctorial graduate a highly favourable a review. Genovese writes, “Few historians have more skilfully integrated economic with social, intellectual and political history to demonstrate both the importance and the limits of economic developments–the material reality and the perception of it” (Genovese, 1990).
There is a good argument to be made that each chapter provides a comprehensive account of how and why the slaves trade in the European and American countries. It also provides insight into the factors which ultimately leads to the formation of an anti-slavery movement. With the aid of a historical lens, what we read within the textbook reveals previously undiscovered aspects to the 18th century slave trade. This trade can be traced back to at least the mid-15th century (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994).
There is much explanation pertaining to how the 18th century saw significant growth in the slave trade, increasing to at least 1,000 per year from Africa to the Americas. Many slaves were made to work on cotton plantations (Larry, 1987). Our respected historian writes, “Over 75 percent of all slaves were imported between 1451 and 1810. This fact clearly rules out of cotton as a dominant factor in the traffic since the production of cotton was still in its infancy in 1810” (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994, p. 18).
Reflecting on the work at hand, Austen (1990) contends working conditions in the American industries were not suitable for salves, particularly pregnant women. The factors of the intense work load and malnutrition of the slave workers resulted in high death rates of slaves, including new born babies. This practice continued until 1860, when the anti-slavery movement, also referred as “Abolitionism” was started to combat the human rights of American slaves (Austen, 1990).
Interestingly, within the text, we find assertions that suggest slaves in the South held a significant position to a number of businesses and enterprises in South America. Realizing this significance, a number of business owners did not exploit their manpower to the fullest and also give them a life better than the free workers of the North (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994).
This elucidates that the black slaves, though do not have their free will and cannot migrate to other places, lived better than an average life, comparing it with that of overall north workers. In the mid time of the 19th century, between 1848 and 1855, the economic situation of the European and American countries worsen, and this was the time when the standard of living of the slaves declined discernibly, proving to be the milestone for the anti-slavery movement (Morgan, 1972).
A number of religious propagators came forward in the 17th century, underlining the evilness of slavery. There are further discussions pertaining to the role of the religious movements and proponents cannot be overlooked in getting rid of slavery. In addition, the development of the Republican Party was a major milestone in turning the tables for politicians, who were of the opinion that slavery is imperative for the economic growth of the country (Morgan, 1972).
As an avid research, I am profoundly gratified to find the author has provided his audience with no less than 37 full pages of references. The material we have in front of us comes from centuries past not recent history. When it comes to conducting research on this magnitude, there is no room for cutting corners. In addition, the index is 15 pages. Being detail orientated is important to writing a great history textbook. This is what we have here. Nothing more. Nothing less.
We are given a comprehensive account of the political, economic, and social factors pertaining to not only slavery, the main focus of the textbook, but also how far people were prepared to go to abolish such practices. One potential weakness of the book is the vague representation of black slaves’ culture.
A renowned authority on historical matters, we have discerned that what has been reviewed is a must read for anyone interested in studying American history. Genovese was correct in his evaluation of this great text. Any professor that plans to teach a course focusing on slavery in these United States should seriously consider using this book, in part or as a whole, as a required textbook.
Reference – Associated Press Style
Austen, R. (1990). Book Review: Without Consent or Contract. Business History Review, 64(4), 774-776.
Fogel, R. W. (1993). Robert W. Fogel – Biographical. Retrieved Sept 12, 2014, from Nobelprize.org: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...
Fogel, R. W. (1994). Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery. |New York: Norton & Company.
Fogel, R. W., & Engerman, S. L. (1974). Time on the cross. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
Foner, E. (1996). Languages of Change: Sources of black ideology during the civil war and reconstruction. Columbia: Columbia University .
Genovese, E. D. (1990, Feb 18). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved Sept 12, 2014, from Los Angeles Times Book Review: http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-1...
Larry, T. (1987). Proslavery: A History of the Defense of Slavery in America, 1701-1840. . Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Morgan, E. (1972). Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox. The Journal of American History, 59(1), 5-29.
Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, written by Robert Fogel, is essential a history textbook. One could surmise the subject of this report is an extension to Time on the Cross. In Time on the Cross, the author discusses how slavery benefited the owners. This earlier work was subjected to great criticism. It appears the author felt the later work would clarify his position, describing the causes and consequences of slavery with its historical and empirical roots (Fogel & Engerman, Time on the cross, 1974).
A Nobel Prize recipient, the historian in question, a graduate of both Cornell and Colombia Universities, received his PhD from the John Hopkins University, was born in New York on 1st July 1926. Interestingly, by 1960, the man who would one day pen the quintessential American slavery textbook, could be found conducting research as an associate professor at the University of Rochester. He moved to the University of Chicago four years later (Fogel, Robert W. Fogel – Biographical, 1993).
Eugene D. Genovese, a writer with the Los Angeles Times Book Review, gave the work written by the John Hopkins University doctorial graduate a highly favourable a review. Genovese writes, “Few historians have more skilfully integrated economic with social, intellectual and political history to demonstrate both the importance and the limits of economic developments–the material reality and the perception of it” (Genovese, 1990).
There is a good argument to be made that each chapter provides a comprehensive account of how and why the slaves trade in the European and American countries. It also provides insight into the factors which ultimately leads to the formation of an anti-slavery movement. With the aid of a historical lens, what we read within the textbook reveals previously undiscovered aspects to the 18th century slave trade. This trade can be traced back to at least the mid-15th century (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994).
There is much explanation pertaining to how the 18th century saw significant growth in the slave trade, increasing to at least 1,000 per year from Africa to the Americas. Many slaves were made to work on cotton plantations (Larry, 1987). Our respected historian writes, “Over 75 percent of all slaves were imported between 1451 and 1810. This fact clearly rules out of cotton as a dominant factor in the traffic since the production of cotton was still in its infancy in 1810” (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994, p. 18).
Reflecting on the work at hand, Austen (1990) contends working conditions in the American industries were not suitable for salves, particularly pregnant women. The factors of the intense work load and malnutrition of the slave workers resulted in high death rates of slaves, including new born babies. This practice continued until 1860, when the anti-slavery movement, also referred as “Abolitionism” was started to combat the human rights of American slaves (Austen, 1990).
Interestingly, within the text, we find assertions that suggest slaves in the South held a significant position to a number of businesses and enterprises in South America. Realizing this significance, a number of business owners did not exploit their manpower to the fullest and also give them a life better than the free workers of the North (Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1994).
This elucidates that the black slaves, though do not have their free will and cannot migrate to other places, lived better than an average life, comparing it with that of overall north workers. In the mid time of the 19th century, between 1848 and 1855, the economic situation of the European and American countries worsen, and this was the time when the standard of living of the slaves declined discernibly, proving to be the milestone for the anti-slavery movement (Morgan, 1972).
A number of religious propagators came forward in the 17th century, underlining the evilness of slavery. There are further discussions pertaining to the role of the religious movements and proponents cannot be overlooked in getting rid of slavery. In addition, the development of the Republican Party was a major milestone in turning the tables for politicians, who were of the opinion that slavery is imperative for the economic growth of the country (Morgan, 1972).
As an avid research, I am profoundly gratified to find the author has provided his audience with no less than 37 full pages of references. The material we have in front of us comes from centuries past not recent history. When it comes to conducting research on this magnitude, there is no room for cutting corners. In addition, the index is 15 pages. Being detail orientated is important to writing a great history textbook. This is what we have here. Nothing more. Nothing less.
We are given a comprehensive account of the political, economic, and social factors pertaining to not only slavery, the main focus of the textbook, but also how far people were prepared to go to abolish such practices. One potential weakness of the book is the vague representation of black slaves’ culture.
A renowned authority on historical matters, we have discerned that what has been reviewed is a must read for anyone interested in studying American history. Genovese was correct in his evaluation of this great text. Any professor that plans to teach a course focusing on slavery in these United States should seriously consider using this book, in part or as a whole, as a required textbook.
Reference – Associated Press Style
Austen, R. (1990). Book Review: Without Consent or Contract. Business History Review, 64(4), 774-776.
Fogel, R. W. (1993). Robert W. Fogel – Biographical. Retrieved Sept 12, 2014, from Nobelprize.org: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...
Fogel, R. W. (1994). Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery. |New York: Norton & Company.
Fogel, R. W., & Engerman, S. L. (1974). Time on the cross. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
Foner, E. (1996). Languages of Change: Sources of black ideology during the civil war and reconstruction. Columbia: Columbia University .
Genovese, E. D. (1990, Feb 18). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved Sept 12, 2014, from Los Angeles Times Book Review: http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-1...
Larry, T. (1987). Proslavery: A History of the Defense of Slavery in America, 1701-1840. . Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Morgan, E. (1972). Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox. The Journal of American History, 59(1), 5-29.
February 6, 2025
This is quite an old book now (1989), and as it embraces no ideology but the scrupulous examination of facts and data, might not be well received today. Fogel himself expressed reservations about how publishing this kind of history might be seen to undermine African American civil rights campaigns. And I suppose giving more information about the actual experiences of enslaved people could be perceived as blunting the edge of outrage which underpins the continuing campaign for African American rights.
Keeping things vague and emphasising the (undisputed) horrors of slavery is a useful campaigning tool, but however disagreeable the experience of enslavement is, it doesn't prevent human beings from engaging creatively with their environment, building communities (however fragile) and experiencing a range of relationships. It would be a disservice to history if understanding of this complexity and heritage should disappear. Fogel shines a welcome light on the reality and variety of enslaved people's lives, who was likely to be terrorised and abused and who less likely. The differences between large and small slave holding establishments is one example of the more nuanced account Fogel presents. Fogel also widens our understanding of the transportation of enslaved people from Africa in the context of all sea voyages, suggesting that mortality was more dependent on the length of the voyage than any other factor, while not denying the degrading conditions in which African captives were carried.
This is an invaluable book, which should be more widely read, and I hope it will be republish in the near future.
Keeping things vague and emphasising the (undisputed) horrors of slavery is a useful campaigning tool, but however disagreeable the experience of enslavement is, it doesn't prevent human beings from engaging creatively with their environment, building communities (however fragile) and experiencing a range of relationships. It would be a disservice to history if understanding of this complexity and heritage should disappear. Fogel shines a welcome light on the reality and variety of enslaved people's lives, who was likely to be terrorised and abused and who less likely. The differences between large and small slave holding establishments is one example of the more nuanced account Fogel presents. Fogel also widens our understanding of the transportation of enslaved people from Africa in the context of all sea voyages, suggesting that mortality was more dependent on the length of the voyage than any other factor, while not denying the degrading conditions in which African captives were carried.
This is an invaluable book, which should be more widely read, and I hope it will be republish in the near future.
August 1, 2020
Almost overwhelming in the first few chapters, so much data and so many counterintuitive conclusions about various aspects of the institution of slavery across many countries. Note also the exceptionally useful review of the various shifting political coalitions in the pre-Civil War era, both North and South. Not just a definitive history of slavery, but also a definitive historiography (history of the history) of slavery.
June 7, 2021
I read the first 3rd of the book that dealt exclusively with the economics of slavery. I found this section very interesting. He includes several conclusions about the effectiveness of the gang system for cotton production. This conclusion is proved through direct sources. This information along with general observations about feeding slaves backed up by sources was very insightful to me.
The next 2 sections dealing with religion / culture and politics were not at all interesting to me.
The next 2 sections dealing with religion / culture and politics were not at all interesting to me.
November 4, 2024
This is a remarkable economic view of slavery before the Civil War. I learned a great many things that I never knew. It is definitely a must read for students of American History and of the Antebellum South.
December 16, 2025
An overall excellent study of American slavery as an economic system, and political phenomenon. Not overly polemical, this quality of historical output on these specific subjects is sadly not possible today.
Want to read
December 19, 2025Recommended by Esther Duflo
Point out that the slaves in the south of the US were better feed that independants workers in US and London
Point out that the slaves in the south of the US were better feed that independants workers in US and London
September 24, 2009
i put this in in place of the actual book, which goodreads doesn't have. I did not actually read the evidence and methods supplement.
April 17, 2017
There is a lot of good information in this book, but I found chapter 8 on the beginnings of the abolitionists movement and the theology behind it to be the most interesting. I learned about religious "ultraism" and its focus on a works righteousness and how that incentive worked to drive abolitionist towards their objectives.
As far as the methods and techniques used by the abolitionists to reach their goals, I wonder how much the modern day LGBT movement tapped into those techniques in order to make such great gains in such a short period of time.
As far as the methods and techniques used by the abolitionists to reach their goals, I wonder how much the modern day LGBT movement tapped into those techniques in order to make such great gains in such a short period of time.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews