Do you think slavery was an efficient labor system ?

Answer 1

I decided to answer your question because I felt that no body tackled your question directly. I think people expressed their feelings rather than replied.

My thesis during college was actually about the slave era, that was a few years ago, but after extensive research, I was able to conclude that it indeed was a very effecient labor system that best served the slave owners. This also meant that the communities which had slaves also prospered. Thier hard work at no cost was actually the back bone of the American economy during the industrial age. If slaves had been abolished only 50 years prior to that American would have lagged big time in comparison to Europe.

A lot of industries flourished during the slave era. Mining, farming, metal manufacturing & roads/ railways thrived on slave labor. It is estimated that if slave labor had not been allowed at those time, it would have been at least 30% more expensive to get these projects done. At a time where money was very limited and resources were scarce, the slaves were the power behind the american economy.

Now, I am against slavery and I believe it is evil, but I also believe that the truth needs to be told. Slavery was indeed a very effecient and powerful aid to the american economy, it was wrong by all means, but we should be grateful for all those men and women who helped provide the first big boost for modern america.

Answer 2

If you look at something so repugnant as slavery strickly from an economic stand point it probabily was fairly efficient in that it kept labor costs low which would in turn raise profits. However the down side would be that your workers would have no insentive to work hard and would have a huge amount of resentment of you as their owner. As played out it also generated a large amount of resentment among other members of your nation. All these things in turn are what caused the War between the states. When the south lost the cheap labor it was not as productive and the north got bigger and richer. Until such time as machines did more of the labor. You see some of the same thing going on with illegals now. They work for a lot less money than the American population and are generating the same kind of resentment among the American population and probabily among the immigrant population as well. Time will tell how that problem plays out.

Answer 3

It doesn't matter what I think. It was immoral then and immoral now. That's like asking whether I think a worthwhile outcome of the Haulocaust was a reduced population.

But, to give an opinion different from some of your other answers - NO. Slaves took resources to feed, clothe and house. Skimp on these resources and you lost productivity through illness, death and escape. Moreover, slaves, on a whole were probably not highly motivated.

I'd put the productivity of a motivated and freed labor force up against the productivity of an enslaved labor force anyday and expect the freed labor force to win.

Also, if anything, slavery slowed progress by slowing the adoption of things like the cotton gin. Unfortunately, however, we'd probably find that such inventions were bigger forces to ending slavery than morality. At some point, the productivity of technology far surpassed the productivity humans (free or not) for such tasks and made slaves obsolete.

Answer 4

Profitable? Yes. For one class of people.

Effective? Yes. But effective in an immorale, unjust way.

But your question is worded in a certain way and with regards to the labor system. It makes me think it is cleverly worded by a teacher.

Efficient? No. Efficient is "productive without waste" The system was such that it did get results, made people rich, kept the south economy going... So it was produced results even if immoral. But it wasn't without waste. All the examples given in the answers here point to waste. Wasted lives, suffering, inhumanity. That it took 20 to 100 poor people beaten down like that to keep 1 family in luxury smells of waste. An effective labor system would show more wealth and spread it around more.

This labor system has basically taken the cost of labor and called it an asset. Thus when competing in a capitalistic marketplace you have under estimated your labor costs and changed them into assets. On your balance sheet your business looks to be worth more than one fairly highering labor. It looks to do it more efficent with cheaper labor costs. But because the labor is free - it is not being used efficiently. An efficent business with actual labor costs would not be able to compete.

Also consider people will tend to try do what they are good at, or what the love to do, or both. That is efficent. In slavery labor is not doing what they are best at, nor what they like doing, they just do what they are told. The owner may see that after beating one slave over and over because he isn't a good cotten picker, he might find he makes a better buttler. But it is far from choices most people get that we base on wages verses our skills and desires.

Answer 5

The crux of your question is 'efficient'. Efficiency in classical economics has to do with the allocation of resources and payments to the factors of production. It is also based on, and very importantly, A FREE MARKET. Slavery, by its very nature, is inconsistent with a market economy and resources therefore are not allocated according to market prices or returns to factors. In a free market efficiency would be achieved where the wage equals the marginal product of labor.Not being a market economy therefore, the issue of efficiency, as we know it, doesn't even arise. The fact certain industries and perhaps the country as a whole, grew or 'prospered' doesn't necessarily mean that slavery was an efficient system of labor. In fact to add to a contributor's point, slaves, being legally defined as chattels, were better categorized as part of the estate's CAPITAL than labor. In any event slaves were exploited and did not receive value for their labor. Their exploitation yielded huge profits for the estate owners who then accelerated the accumulation of capital. That rapid accumulation of capital, galloping capitalism if you will, does not make slave labor efficient. 'EXPLOITATION' NOT 'EFFICIENCY' can better characterize slave labor. Those who ague that slave labor was efficient are laboring under some very misleading presumptions.

Answer 6

Along with the initial outlay for the purchase, the cost of feeding, housing, clothing, and providing medical care made slavery a very poor labor system economically. Former plantation slave owners found that they could make more money by employing the former slaves to work on their plantations at low wages.

Economic forces would have caused slavery to be replaced by equipment. The first tractors cost much less than 1 slave, cost less to maintain and operate, and could do the work of 40 slaves. While Lincoln was against slavery, he invisioned slavery being abolished on a state by state basis with the Federal government reimbursing the slave owners for their loss in property. As a part of the process, he invisioned training programs that would create a skilled labor base from the freed slaves. Slaves would have transitioned to a legacy of industry and modernization. Plantation owners could pay a former slave to operate the equipment to farm their fields for about 1/10 the cost. Everyone would have been better off.

Instead, our leaders failed us once again and we killed 700,000 of each other and set the country back 10 years.

Answer 7

I believe slavery is immoral. I was a slave as a child, didn't live like a child unless part of the system (in care) and it may have been an efficient system for my parents because they did little and had everything they wanted done (and I am not talking about washing dishes or going shopping either)
When I compare myself to the history of slaves I can imagine many similarites. No love, no equality starved and beaten and worked because they were powerless -
I must say, what I learned because of my past-is priceless so I am personally very thankful for my past, I have many capabilities, I am alive, I have my freedom and I look back and smile because I know-God knows that I gained from it and not lost-priceless I say

I say immoral at the beginning because to cause anybody harm, or hurt and knowingly continue to hurt and cause harm is immoral-

Answer 8

slavery has been around about as long as man's civilizations. it was always seen as good [until it went bad]. basically it was cheap labour. it was also a cruel and for the most part, inhumane way that business in any period of history, used their fellow men, and women.
it was not a labor system as such, but a way for men to get rich and enjoy power over others. it was/is a barbarous exploitation of other people. it almost always became a problem when the size of the slave population grew beyond the means to control. people do not forever stay down in the depths of slavery, there is always the urge to climb out of the slime, the urge to survive, and they 'will' and did, find a way.

Answer 9

No! The slaves were treated badly and pounished and they didnt get enough Food, Love and Shelter! The women were raped on the ships and the men beaten during work! how would you feel int his position

you get up early before the sun rises you go to the field to pluck cotton. your hands hurt it is a hard job. the sun rises it is hot. you are not allowed a break. your hands are bruised and bleeding. you sit in a shady spot under a cane plant. your master comes and whips you, your back bleeds. you go to bed very late with very little supper. your room is a cold hut and you cant get no sleep, you think about your wife and child tat were separated from you at arrival. you trya nd escape your master catches you, beats you and places a metal thing around your neck. it has spokes that stick out so you cannot lay down and if you run you cant sit or lean on anything or if you hide this is too big to hide you. you die trying to escape!
was it efficient? it brought RACISM that is BAD

Answer 10

Yes from an efficiency standpoint it enriched the owners to a great degree. Also slaves were priced according to their ability to generate future income to the owner, much like stocks today.

Southern slave owners were the richest people in America before the civil war, in fact.