Banking on Slavery: Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States

In her book "Banking on Slavery," Sharon Ann Murphy argues that nineteenth-century American banks were deeply entwined with the institution of slavery, using enslaved individuals as loan collateral and altering time-honored banking practices to meet the needs of slaveholders. She reveals how banks and slaveholders transformed enslaved lives into abstract capital assets, sacrificing themselves in their efforts to stabilize the slave economy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 05 April 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

A profound exploration reveals the intricate web of connections between nineteenth-century American banks and the institution of slavery. It is widely acknowledged that the pinnacle of nineteenth-century American capitalism was embodied in the framework of chattel slavery. Furthermore, it is widely recognized that nearly every other institution and facet of life during that era was, at the very least, intricately entwined with and often benefited from the perpetuation of slavery. However, as Sharon Ann Murphy compellingly demonstrates in her groundbreaking and unparalleled book, the significance of enslaved labor in banking in the antebellum United States far exceeds previous estimates.

Banking on Slavery sheds valuable light on the intricate financial relationships between banks and slaveholders that flourished throughout the nineteenth-century South. Murphy makes a compelling argument that the rapid expansion of slavery in the South during the 1820s and 30s was significantly influenced by the willingness of southern banks to financialize enslaved lives. She highlights how the use of enslaved individuals as loan collateral played a pivotal role in these financial interactions. Murphy elucidates how southern banks were prepared, and in some cases, even eager, to deviate from established banking practices to accommodate the needs of slaveholders.

In the pursuit of stabilizing the slave economy, many of these banks sacrificed themselves. Furthermore, Murphy provides a detailed account of how banks and slaveholders transformed the lives of enslaved individuals from physical bodies into abstract capital assets. Her book serves as a crucial examination of how our nation's financial history is more intricately intertwined with the dehumanizing institution of slavery than scholars have previously realized.

Weight: 620g
Dimension: 149 x 229 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226825137