>From the book _American Slavery, 1619-1877_ by Peter Kolchin (Professor
of History, University of Delaware):
The spread of capitalism, and the new "dismal science" of
economics that it spawned, contributed significantly to
the questioning of slavery. Slavery lacked a basic ingredient
of capitalism: the free hire of labor through mutual agreement
of consenting parties........The early political economists -
including Adam Smith, .........believed that slavery, by
preventing the free buying and selling of labor power and by
eliminating the possibility of self-improvement that was the
main incentive to productive labor, violated central economic
laws; like government regulation of wages, prices, and interest
rates, slavery constituted an artificial restraint of trade.
(1993. P67)
What is the sense of this group regarding this claim? Personally, I feel
that slavery represented super-capitalism.
Peace,
Anthea Tillyer City University of New York [EMAIL PROTECTED]
