WI: Boll Weevil hits the American South by the 1850s-60s

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No, people could and often did rent slaves, particularly for mining and urban manufacturing pursuits. It was not always necessary to buy them upfront.

And I'm sure you wouldn't incur additional fees if your rentals died in a gas explosion.
 
And I'm sure you wouldn't incur additional fees if your rentals died in a gas explosion.
That's what insurance was for. Yes, there was a viable market in insurance for slaves.

And one of the unpleasant aspects of the earlier boll weevil scenario is that it will send down the price of slave labour. Which in turn means that slaveowners will care less about whether slaves die.
 
Erm, slaves were used extensively in mining. Can't remember off the top of my head if that included coal, but it certainly included other minerals.

TIL. I guess I always think of mining in the US as an Appalachian vs. lowlander thing, and the Appalachian areas (IIRC) did not have as many slaves as lowland areas nearby. I would be curious to know where slave mining took place in the US (or in what's now the US, as the case may be).
 
TIL. I guess I always think of mining in the US as an Appalachian vs. lowlander thing, and the Appalachian areas (IIRC) did not have as many slaves as lowland areas nearby. I would be curious to know where slave mining took place in the US (or in what's now the US, as the case may be).
After checking the easily accessible sources, slaves were used extensively in coal mining in Virginia and other parts of Appalachia. They were also used to a reasonable degree in the gold rushes in Georgia and elsewhere nearby (e.g. Alabama), though there were plenty of free workers there in those cases. I can't get to my copy of Starobin at the moment, but I'll check to see if he provides more details.
 
I wonder what happens to the slaves themselves. Without the hugely profitable cotton industry, can the plantation owners diversify fast enough to warrant having so many slaves? Without the huge demands of cotton I can see the slave market taking a massive hit, and since so much wealth was tied up in slaves the owners might be stuck with an additional financial burden.
 
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