Econocide: British Slavery in the Era of Abolition

312 Pages·2010·15.17 MB·English

by  Seymour Drescher

ECONOCIDE
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Econocide
British Slavery in the Era of Abolition
Seymour Drescher
SECOND EDITION
With a new preface by the author and
a new foreword by David Brion Davis
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
First edition © 1977 The University of Pittsburgh Press
Second edition © 2010 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Both the initial research and the initial publication of this work were made
possible in part through grants from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, a federal agency whose mission is to award grants to support
education, scholarship, media programming, libraries, and museums.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press
Initiative since 2003.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition of this book as
follows:
Drescher, Seymour.
Econocide.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index
1. Slavery in Great Britain—Anti-slavery movements. 2. Slavery in the
British West Indies. 3. Slave-trade—Great Britain. 4. Slave-trade—West Indies,
British.
I. Title.
HT1093.D7 301.44'93'0941 76-50887
ISBN 978-0-8078-3446-6 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8078-7179-9 (pbk.: alk. paper)
cloth 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 21
paper 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 21
For Michael, Jonathan, and Karen
and
For Steven Heath Mitton
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Contents
List of Tables ix
List of Figures xi
Foreword by David Brion Davis xiii
Preface to the Second Edition xxi
Acknowledgments xxxi
1 The Decline Theory of Abolition 3
The Emergence of the Decline Theory • The Problem of Measuring
Slavery • The Destruction Process
2 The 1770s as the Pivot of British Slavery 15
The Value of the West Indies • The Slave Trade • The Continental
Colonies
3 The Protected Economy Before the French Slave Revolution 38
The British Caribbean in 1790 • The Imperial Factor • French Sugar:
"The Most Amazing Phenomenon"
4 The Unprotected Economy Before the French Slave Revolution 55
Slave Cotton and "Laissez-faire" Abolitionism • Slave Trading and
"Mercantilist" Abolitionism • Prospects in 1790
5 The Growth of Slavery in the Era of British Supremacy 65
The Trade Network • The Slave Trade—Arrested Growth • Staple
Production During the Caribbean Revolutions
vii
viii Contents
6 The New Frontier and Abolition 92
The Ever-Receding Threshold of Saturation • Demerara and
Abolition • Trinidad and Abolition • St. Vincent and Abolition
7 Economic Conjuncture and Abolition Bills, 1791-1806 113
1791-1792 • 1797-1802 • 1806
8 The Market Mechanism and Abolition 125
Overproduction • Overproduction and Abolition in 1807 • The
Laws of the Market and the Law of Abolition
9 Abolition and the Decline of British Slavery, 1808-1814 142
Decline in Disguise, 1808-1814 • The Crossroads: 1814
10 Beyond Economic Interest 162
The Age of Slavery • Seeds of Destruction • Abolition and Evolving
Economic Policy • The Elusive Enemies of Slavery • Beyond Elites
List of Abbreviations 188
Appendix I. Chronology 189
Appendix II. Estimating the Sugar, Coffee, and Slave Trades 193
Appendix III. The Relative Strength of Suggested Motives in
the Votes of 1806-1807 214
Notes 225
Bibliography 261
Index 273
Tables
1. British West Indian Share of Total British Trade, 1713-1832 19
2. Non-European Shares of Total British Trade, 1713-1822 21
3. Non-European Shares of British Imports, 1713-1822 22
4. Non-European Shares of British Exports, 1713-1822 23
5. Estimated Value of the Annual Production of the British
Empire, 1812 24
6. British Exports to Africa, 1749-1822 26
7. Average Annual Slave Exports by Britain, France, and
Portugal, 1701-1807 27
8. Estimates of the Volume of the British Slave Trade,
1777-1807 28
9. National Shares of the Slave Exporters, 1761 -1805 31
10. French and British Slave Populations, 1710-1814 34
11. Colonial Sources of North Atlantic Sugar Imports,
1770-1787 48
12. Sources of British Cotton Imports, 1786-1787 57
13. British Imports of West Indian Cotton, 1761 -1805 57
14. West Indian Share of Selected British Exports, 1770-1806 69
15. The British Slave Trade, 1791-1805 72
16. Sources of North Atlantic Sugar Imports, 1787-1806 77
17. Shares of Sugar Exports to the North Atlantic, 1805-1806 78
18. Jamaican Slave Population, Coffee and Sugar Exports,
1783-1814 79
19. British Sugar Imports, 1761-1806 80
20. Sources of British Cotton, 1786-1805 84
21. Alternative Aggregation of British Cotton Sources,
1801-1805 86
ix