Slave-owning women relied upon people they knew or individuals whom loved ones recommended to conduct their business, and these proxies served very practical purposes. Employing factors was risky because such business partnerships required planters to invest enormous amounts of trust in men they knew only cursorily—men who might take their crops and their money and abscond with them. White slave-owning women reduced their level of risk by employing family members and friends. Of course, family and friends were not always above betrayal. But relying on male friends and kin decreased the
...more
