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African History 4: Inherent Problems With Slavery 12 Views


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Description:

Slavery just didn't make sense. We're sure you've thought that plenty of times, but the way things ended up it didn't even really make economic sense. Let's take a look at today's video to find out why.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here’s the weird thing about slavery people...

00:07

Besides actually chaining up fellow human beings…[Slaves chained up]

00:09

…is that slavery doesn’t jibe with most modern laws of economics.

00:14

You know how businesses spend all that money on barf-worthy motivational posters to increase

00:19

productivity?

00:20

Well, imagine how much slacking off, lack of motivation, deliberate sabotage employees would get up to if they [Employees working in chains]

00:27

were literally enslaved.

00:30

Let's think about slavery in terms of cash.

00:33

Business owners want lots of people to have lots of cash to spend in your store.

00:38

Lots of consumers equals more opportunity for that cash to go in the store owners pocket.

00:45

That way they can turn around and spend the cash on other stuff.

00:48

Like… that hoverboard they’ve been eying. [Store owner using a hoverboard]

00:51

But slaves are completely removed from the cash economy.

00:54

Because they don’t get paid anything for whatever grueling chores their owners think

00:58

up for them to do.

00:59

So the more slaves a society has, the fewer people there are ready to pump cash into businesses. [Slaves working]

01:05

Fewer consumers, less consumer choice, and less people starting new businesses are all [The economy ship sailing and explodes]

01:10

factors that end up torpedoing the economy.

01:13

It's no coincidence that, at the time of the American Civil War, the North was wealthier

01:18

and more developed than the South.

01:20

Apparently, wearing hoop skirts while slaves who hate you work your fields is not nearly [Woman wearing hoopskirt on a field of slaves]

01:25

as productive as actually doing your own work.

01:28

Who knew?

01:29

Slaves also made their owners a little anxious.

01:32

Every boss knew that their employees were one opportunity away from killing them and [Slave kills owner]

01:36

hitting the road.

01:37

That probably made staff meetings extremely awkward.

01:40

Despite these issues, every complex human society had slavery. [Slaves attempting to free themselves from chains]

01:44

It turns out that slavery was a way for the state to demonstrate and increase its power.

01:49

Slavery was like a violent form of theater.

01:51

Defeated soldiers or criminals were led to kings in chains, allowing everyone to see

01:56

the power of the king and the consequences of defying him. [Slave in chains beside a King]

01:59

Want to appear important?

02:01

Get a slave and exert some power.

02:03

Boom.

02:04

Instant ego boost.

02:06

We can also think of slavery as a punishment and reward system.

02:09

Slavery was used to punish a bunch of stuff, from treason to sexual deviancy to… just

02:14

plain being homeless or in debt. [Homeless man in chains]

02:17

Powerful dudes could also give slaves to supporters as rewards.

02:21

Don’t know what to get that special someone? [Slave appears out of a gift box]

02:25

Why not a slave?

02:26

Slaves given as gifts became personal servants or concubines and were symbols of just how

02:31

important and powerful their masters were.

02:35

Throughout history, many slaves were prisoners of war, but some were also criminals.

02:38

If there weren’t enough criminals around, it wasn’t too hard to drum some up.

02:42

Need some more slaves to reward to your cronies?

02:45

Just declare a small crime as punishable by slavery.

02:48

Like…imagine if jaywalking was suddenly made punishable by enslavement. [Man jaywalks and office appears]

02:52

Pretty soon, we’d all be slaves.

02:54

Or we’d stop jaywalking.

02:56

But…you get the point.

02:57

Also, this technique had the added bonus of concentrating wealth in the hands of the military [Coins falling into a funnel beside a military man]

03:02

elite.

03:03

But relying on slavery was like holding TNT and hoping it doesn't blow off your hand. [Slave holding TNT]

03:08

Most people recognized that slavery, if unchecked, had the potential to cause states to collapse.

03:13

Like a snow fort in the spring.

03:16

You can only concentrate so much wealth in the military elite.

03:20

Or remove so many consumers from the economy. [Hand picks up consumers and throws them away]

03:22

Or endure so many rebellions… before it all gets out of hand.

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