Modernizing a slave economy : the economic vision of the Confederate nation / John Majewski

NMAH copy Purchased from the NMAH Library Endowment.

Introduction: Imagining a Confederate economy -- Shifting cultivation, slavery, and economic development -- Agricultural reform and state activism -- Explaining Lieber's paradox : railroads, state building, and slavery -- Redefining free trade to modernize the South -- Economic nationalism and the growth of the Confederate state -- Statistical appendix: The origins and impact of shifting cultivation

What would separate Union and Confederate countries look like if the South had won the Civil War? This was something that southern secessionists actively debated. Imagining themselves as nation builders, they understood the importance of a plan for the economic structure of the Confederacy. The traditional view assumes that Confederate slave-based agrarianism went hand in hand with a natural hostility toward industry and commerce. It maintains that secessionists opposed state-led economic change since they vigorously defended states' rights in prewar national legislatures. John Majewski claims that these conventions rely on faulty logic and stereotypes of southern planters who were hostile to industry and commerce. Moreover, he explains, the commonly held ideas ignore the historical record. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Majewski's thorough examination of archival materials reveals that secessionists strongly believed in industrial development and state-led modernization. In speeches, pamphlets, and newspaper articles, secessionists predicted that an independent Confederacy would actively foster economic growth through agricultural research and development, railroad subsidies, and taxes on northern goods. Secessionists also believed that slavery would be advantageous for industrial development because it effectively controlled an under-class that might threaten political stability. They blamed the South's lack of development on Union policies of discriminatory taxes on southern commerce and unfair subsidies for northern industry. Majewski argues that Confederates' opposition to a strong central government was politically tied to their struggle against northern legislative dominance. Once the Confederacy was formed, those who had advocated states' rights in the old Union to defend against northern political dominance quickly came to support centralized power and a strong executive for war making and nation building.