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.
No, people could and often did rent slaves, particularly for mining and urban manufacturing pursuits. It was not always necessary to buy them upfront.
That's what insurance was for. Yes, there was a viable market in insurance for slaves.And I'm sure you wouldn't incur additional fees if your rentals died in a gas explosion.
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.
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.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).