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Southern Classics
The Slave Power
An early assessment of the contest between an economically defunct and politically aggressive Southern slave power and a liberal, free-wage-labor North
The Slave Power, John E. Cairnes's seminal work on slavery, was widely acclaimed upon publication in 1862 as a brilliant attempt both to explain the essential cause of the American Civil War and to shape European policy concerning the struggle. It remains among the most important works on the political economy of Southern slavery. When Cairnes—one of the nineteenth century's preeminent classical liberal economists—characterized Southern slavery as inefficient and backward, his opinions carried enormous weight, earning him applause in the North and castigation in the slave- holding South. Casting the Civil War as a contest between an economically defunct and politically aggressive Southern slave power and a liberal, capitalist, free-wage-labor North, Cairnes offered an interpretation of the origins of the Civil War that has remained as compelling and controversial as it was when first published.
Mark M. Smith's new introduction to the work places The Slave Power in historical context by explaining the intellectual milieu in which the book was written (including a treatment of classical liberal economic thought in Great Britain), the book's friendly reception in Union circles, and its rejection by war-torn Confederates. Smith also traces the book's reception by successive generations of historians of the slave South.
The Slave Power, John E. Cairnes's seminal work on slavery, was widely acclaimed upon publication in 1862 as a brilliant attempt both to explain the essential cause of the American Civil War and to shape European policy concerning the struggle. It remains among the most important works on the political economy of Southern slavery. When Cairnes—one of the nineteenth century's preeminent classical liberal economists—characterized Southern slavery as inefficient and backward, his opinions carried enormous weight, earning him applause in the North and castigation in the slave- holding South. Casting the Civil War as a contest between an economically defunct and politically aggressive Southern slave power and a liberal, capitalist, free-wage-labor North, Cairnes offered an interpretation of the origins of the Civil War that has remained as compelling and controversial as it was when first published.
Mark M. Smith's new introduction to the work places The Slave Power in historical context by explaining the intellectual milieu in which the book was written (including a treatment of classical liberal economic thought in Great Britain), the book's friendly reception in Union circles, and its rejection by war-torn Confederates. Smith also traces the book's reception by successive generations of historians of the slave South.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
John E. Cairnes
66 books3 followersJohn Elliott Cairnes (26 December 1823 – 8 July 1875) was a political economist.
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May 28, 2021
Published in Britain in 1862, the second year of the U.S. Civil War, this book was meant to sway British opinion away from intervening on the side of the Confederacy. It refutes claims of southern diplomats that secessionists were just fighting for the self-determination that should be every nation's right. Instead, Cairnes shows clearly, with generous quotes from southern leaders themselves, that the South seceded to form a Slave Republic. And that despotic state would not merely protect slavery where it already existed, but would insist on continuing to expand the domain of slavery both west to the Pacific and into the Caribbean, aiming to annex Cuba or other European colonies.
With lots of detail about the economics of slavery and how it crowds out all other forms of industry except large-scale commodity agriculture, Cairnes's account has aged surprisingly well. His observations explain many things in the contemporary South, from low population density in some of the areas longest inhabited by Europeans and their descendants, to the persistence of a large class of poor white people with no prospects for advancement who were nonetheless willing to do the bidding of the planter oligarchy because it kept the poor whites above Black people.
Cairnes was also prescient in predicting the outcome of the war (Northern victory), the future of slavery (not promising) and the difficulty of reconstruction (high). Indeed, Cairnes thought it would be so difficult to integrate the Deep South back into the Union that he advised the United States to conclude a peace, in victory that would let it dictate terms, that would keep the upper South states of the border areas along with unsettled parts of Texas and Arkansas and the one lower South state of Louisiana (which would give the U.S. access to the Mississippi River down to the Gulf), but let the other lower South states secede. Cut off from any supply of new slaves either from their recent sources in border states or else from a new African slave trade that southerners hoped to re-start, the Deep South states would soon suffocate economically in their own exhausted soils, and would soon find that slaves were more expensive to keep than to free.
In the end, that's not what happened, but Cairnes did prove to be correct that Reconstruction was nearly impossible on terms of Black equality, and that the planters of the South would continue to find ways to oppress freedmen enough to grind them down back to a state as close to slavery as possible.
A fascinating look into a primary source of commentary from the middle of the fight. Unlike us, Cairnes didn't know how the Civil War would turn out. That gives his conjectures a certain tension that adds narrative suspense, making for entertaining reading.
With lots of detail about the economics of slavery and how it crowds out all other forms of industry except large-scale commodity agriculture, Cairnes's account has aged surprisingly well. His observations explain many things in the contemporary South, from low population density in some of the areas longest inhabited by Europeans and their descendants, to the persistence of a large class of poor white people with no prospects for advancement who were nonetheless willing to do the bidding of the planter oligarchy because it kept the poor whites above Black people.
Cairnes was also prescient in predicting the outcome of the war (Northern victory), the future of slavery (not promising) and the difficulty of reconstruction (high). Indeed, Cairnes thought it would be so difficult to integrate the Deep South back into the Union that he advised the United States to conclude a peace, in victory that would let it dictate terms, that would keep the upper South states of the border areas along with unsettled parts of Texas and Arkansas and the one lower South state of Louisiana (which would give the U.S. access to the Mississippi River down to the Gulf), but let the other lower South states secede. Cut off from any supply of new slaves either from their recent sources in border states or else from a new African slave trade that southerners hoped to re-start, the Deep South states would soon suffocate economically in their own exhausted soils, and would soon find that slaves were more expensive to keep than to free.
In the end, that's not what happened, but Cairnes did prove to be correct that Reconstruction was nearly impossible on terms of Black equality, and that the planters of the South would continue to find ways to oppress freedmen enough to grind them down back to a state as close to slavery as possible.
A fascinating look into a primary source of commentary from the middle of the fight. Unlike us, Cairnes didn't know how the Civil War would turn out. That gives his conjectures a certain tension that adds narrative suspense, making for entertaining reading.
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