The Institution Of Slavery

Paper Summary:

Discusses the historical circumstances that shaped all slave societies. The economics of slavery, worldwide and in the United States. Focus on slavery in the Ameican South as a function of Capitalist development. Contends that the spread of slavery depended largely on the activity of government on behalf of commerical interests. Briefly compares U.S> rigid racial idiology to more liberal one on Brazil and the West Indies. Reform movement and Abolitionism. Policies of politicians. Impact of Westward Expansion on slavery.

From the Paper:

"Slavery in the South dominated the social structure, drove the economy, and permeated the political system (Oakes 40). While all slave societies had similarities, each one was shaped by the historical circumstances within which it developed. The influence of liberal capitalism in the South helps explain how the slaveholders achieved extraordinary powers and how western political culture, the capitalist economy, and the liberal state limited these powers (Oakes 40-42). Modern slave societies shared the fact that their existence was inconceivable except as a function of capitalist development. The institution of slavery in the American South was different because while slavery dominated the economy of the ancient world, this New World slavery was in and of itself the servant of the driving force of capitalism (Oakes 52)."

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