<<Surely the war was about economics initially - the unfair advantage that the states in the south had with free labour. d>>
How so? Not only did the North possess the overwhelming industrial and financial advantage over the South, but the North had a surplus population of labor. The North was richer by far than the South. As to "free" labor being an advantage, Id hardly call slave labor either "free" or advantageous. Those slaves had to be housed, fed, clothed, and cared for. The output from a slave workforce is far less than a comparable free labor force. You're getting less output for every dollar you spend on their upkeep, as well as the cost of buying, and keeping must I add, than you would from a free wage-earning labor force. Remember the reason why the South imported slaves to begin with, they did not have the labor force necessary for intensive profit yielding cotton plantation. A slave is the least economical laborer you could want. |
