Capitalism & SlaverySlavery helped finance the Industrial Revolution in England. Plantation owners, shipbuilders, and merchants connected with the slave trade accumulated vast fortunes that established banks and heavy industry in Europe and expanded the reach of capitalism worldwide. Eric Williams advanced these powerful ideas in Capitalism and Slavery, published in 1944. Years ahead of its time, his profound critique became the foundation for studies of imperialism and economic development. Binding an economic view of history with strong moral argument, Williams's study of the role of slavery in financing the Industrial Revolution refuted traditional ideas of economic and moral progress and firmly established the centrality of the African slave trade in European economic development. He also showed that mature industrial capitalism in turn helped destroy the slave system. Establishing the exploitation of commercial capitalism and its link to racial attitudes, Williams employed a historicist vision that set the tone for future studies. In a new introduction, Colin Palmer assesses the lasting impact of Williams's groundbreaking work and analyzes the heated scholarly debates it generated when it first appeared. |
Contents
The Origin of Negro Slavery | 3 |
The Development of the Negro Slave Trade | 30 |
British Commerce and the Triangular Trade | 51 |
Copyright | |
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abolition abolitionists Adam Smith African American Anti-Slavery April Barbados Bathurst Brazil Brazilian Bristol Britain British capitalism British exports British Guiana British West Indies capitalists cargo Caribbean cent Clarkson Colonial Series commerce Committee Company cotton Coupland Cuba cultivation Donnan duties East India sugar economic eighteenth century emancipation England English Eric Williams free trade French governor Hansard History House humanitarian Huskisson Ibid important increased Indian slavery industry Jamaica July June labor land Liverpool London Lord mainland Manchester manufactures March ment mercantilist merchants Merivale monopoly Negro slave Papers Parliament petition Pitman Pitt plantations port Postlethwayt produce profit Ragatz Revolution Saint Domingue servants ships slave trade slave-grown sugar colonies sugar islands sugar planters sugar refining Third Series tion triangular trade Trinidad West Indian West Indian monopoly West Indian planters West Indian slavery West Indian sugar West Indian trade Wilberforce woolen wrote