The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and Probable Designs: Being an Attempt to Explain the Real Issues Involved in the American Contest

by John Elliott Cairnes

Overview

John Elliot Cairnes (1823-1875) was one of the leading economists of his day, holding professorships at Trinity College Dublin, University College, Galway, and University College, London. He gained an international reputation with The Slave Power, first published in 1862, and enlarged and reissued the following year. His analysis of the economic and social system of the Confederate states in America did much to influence British support for the Union in the United States' Civil War. He argued that the course of history was influenced most of all by economic causes. Although he had begun his study of the slave trade on a theoretical basis, the outbreak of civil war had given it a more immediate and practical application. His case is very clearly and impartially argued. While being opposed to slavery on moral grounds, he fairly states the arguments on both sides, and refutes some of the Confederate propaganda.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108024334
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/09/2010
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Slavery and Abolition
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

John E. Cairnes (1823–1875) earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Trinity College in Dublin. He held the Whately professorship of political economy at the University of Dublin before being named professor of political economy and jurisprudence at Queen's College in Galway in 1859. In 1866 Cairnes became professor of political economy at University College, London.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introductory - the case stated; 2. The economic basis of slavery; 3. Internal organization of slave societies; 4. Tendencies of slave societies; 5. Internal development of slave societies; 6. External policy of slave societies; 7. The career of the slave power; 8. The designs of the slave power; 9. General conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

Cairnes's 1962 dispassionate treatise examines slavery in terms of economics and attempts to present the monetary reasons for the Civil War. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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