Unfree Markets: The Slaves' Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina

Justene Hill Edwards

Published by Columbia University Press 2021

Unfree Markets

The Slaves' Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina

Justene Hill Edwards

In the series Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism

https://doi.org/10.7312/hill19112

Overview
Contents

About this book

Justene Hill Edwards illuminates the inner workings of the slaves’ economy and the strategies that enslaved people used to participate in the market. Focusing on South Carolina from the colonial period to the Civil War, she examines how the capitalist development of slavery influenced the economic lives of enslaved people.

Author / Editor information

Justene Hill Edwards is an assistant professor in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia.

Reviews

Calvin Schermerhorn, author of Unrequited Toil: A History of United States Slavery:
Unfree Markets deserves distinctions and superlatives for treating enslaved people as economic agents rather than participants in a slave economy segregated from larger processes of commercial life and capitalist development. Edwards brilliantly and convincingly argues that enslavers protected enslaved people’s moneymaking ventures because they realized that the slaves’ economy helped to safeguard their investments in slavery.

Caitlin Rosenthal, author of Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management:
A rich study of an important and understudied topic. Unfree Markets illuminates the many ways enslaved people participated in the expanding markets of early America. Justene Hill Edwards brings new insights to our understanding of how markets changed enslaved people's day-to-day economic lives, never losing sight of the profound ways that these same markets continued to undermine their freedom.

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge:
Centering enslaved men, women, and children as actors on the grand stage of South Carolina’s economy, Hill Edwards demonstrates that the entrepreneurial enterprises of the enslaved did not undermine the institution of bondage but instead reinforced it. Beautifully written and researched, Unfree Markets is a welcome addition to the history of African Americans and capitalism.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION: CAPITALISM IN THE ECONOMIC LIVES OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. “NEGROES PUBLICKLY CABALING IN THE STREETS”: THE ENSLAVED ECONOMY AND THE CULTURE OF SLAVERY IN COLONIAL SOUTH CAROLINA Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
2. “THIS INFAMOUS TRAFFICK”: THE SLAVES’ TRADE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
3. “A DANGEROUS AND GROWING PRACTICE”: ENSLAVED ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE COTTON ECONOMY IN THE NEW NATION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
4. “THE FACILITY OF OBTAINING MONEY”: VIOLENCE, FEAR, AND ACCUMULATION IN THE VESEY ERA Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
5. “THE NEGROES’ ACCOUNTS”: CAPITALIST INFLUENCES IN THE SLAVES’ ECONOMY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
6. “A MONSTROUS NUISANCE”: ENSLAVED ENTERPRISES, CLASS ANXIETIES, AND THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
CONCLUSION: “FREEDOM AIN’T NOTHIN”: CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM IN THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 3 b&w images

eBook

Published: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 9780231549264