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In most cases they still owned large plantations which was always the real source of wealth. Slaves were the means to extract that value from the land. The end

In most cases they still owned large plantations which was always the real source of wealth. Slaves were the means to extract that value from the land. The end of the war lined up with serval advancements in farming technology (or at-least the widespread use of them). Combined that with many of the former slaves having no transferable skills and very limited bargaining power forced them to work on the plantations for horrible wages.

empath75 8y ago
Strong argument for reparations you just made. They should have given shares in the plantations to the former slaves.
- codingslave 8y ago
  Can I have reparations for the wealth that CEOs earned while my father worked long days and nights at the bottom of a mega corporation totem pole? This is how capitalism has always worked. The conditions probably were worse, but theres millions and millions of people working for minimum wage right now, who live poor because people at the top live great. EDIT what this 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ze4AA-p8w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ze4AA-p8w Noam Chomsky holds the same opinion that I wrote here.
  - __jal 8y ago
    I'm going to guess your father's CEO didn't beat, rape or starve your father with the full support of the law.
    - sadris 8y ago
      It was illegal to rape or starve slaves. Your statement is incorrect.
  - verbify 8y ago
    Was your father not allowed to switch jobs on pain of death?
- hannasanarion 8y ago
  Fun fact: in colonial days, grants of land, money, and food were mandated whenever a white slave is emancipated. Turning out all of the black slaves with nothing but the clothes on their backs was a new and intentional cruelty.
  - wallace_f 8y ago
    Jackson literally said slavery was going "to be not the real reason, but a pretext" for aggression against the south. Lincoln also said he wasn't trying to free the slaves. Trust me, it's 100% possible to be living a life in 2019, even as an American, defined by tyranny and injustice. Now, not the same level of tyranny as Black slaves, but you'll become aware people are just the same. Most dont genuinely give a shit. The ones that do cant be bothered to do anything about it. Too many will takr advantage of you. And the closest most people can get to morality is defined by social norms. Edit: people downvote this, sadly showing this to be right. What would show this to be wrong is if someone offered help. I'm pretty sure people just want to virtue signal.
    - Talanes 8y ago
      The full Jackson quote you're looking for is: "Therefore the tariff was only the pretext, and disunion and a Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery, question." He wasn't talking about the North making pretexts for aggression against the South, he was fed up with the South not adhering to the Union as he saw it. Lincoln is a little more complex, but it suffices to say that the politics of slavery always took the forefront over whatever his personal beliefs may have been.
      - wallace_f 8y ago
        Ok maybe "northern aggression" is a bit too controversial word choice as this history is debated and some people are going to chime up and express their own personal expertise and disagreements. But this was my reading of it and also how it was taught to me uni, but it doesn't matter, we can agree for purposes of the main point that slavery (a moral cause) was a pretext and even today, it's hard to find people who care about what is right. I know this, because I'm dealing with blatant abuse.
- tick_tock_tick 8y ago
  What they did at the time was absolutely horrible. You're free but how free can you really when you need to keep food on the table and have never been taught any skills outside of your role as a slave? While they might have been granted freedom many, probably most, were not given the resources to truly act on that freedom. That being said I think reparations at this point would ineffective and a politically infeasible. The money that would hypothetically be used for such a thing could be more effectively used providing services to low income areas.
- Not_a_pizza 8y ago
  As long as you remember which ethnic group(s) owned and shipped the majority of slaves, I'm totally cool with reparations. Reparations should of course be made from the coffers of the descendants of those individuals, where possible. Generational wealth is a very real problem in some countries.
- wongarsu 8y ago
  Back then it would have been fair to give them payment for the years they worked for free (or shares worth the equivalent amount). It would likely have lead to a more equal society today. But we already fought a war over just freeing the slaves, I don't think giving them decades of wages at once was politically viable. Reparations today would be an entirely different topic and would probably look more like social programs that seek to repair the lasting effects of the less than ideal way those people entered the (paid) workforce 150 years ago.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    Please add to the ledger the nearly 600,000 white soldiers who died in the Civil War, and 36,000 black soldiers. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casual... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Colored_Troops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Colored_Troops
travmatt 8y ago
They also instituted black codes to ensure that the freedmen couldn’t enjoy the same freedoms as their white counterparts, and give their former slavers the same leverages they had previously. The post war institutions were just slavery with a better veneer.
- gotocake 8y ago
  They also created the KKK to accomplish with terrorism what the legal system and social norms couldn’t rig for them. That really persisted unabated into the late 50’s, and to an extent still exists. The violence has been reduced, but the economic devastation remains. There’s a reason that you can use zip code as a proxy for race in America.

empath75 8y ago

Strong argument for reparations you just made. They should have given shares in the plantations to the former slaves.

codingslave 8y ago
Can I have reparations for the wealth that CEOs earned while my father worked long days and nights at the bottom of a mega corporation totem pole? This is how capitalism has always worked. The conditions probably were worse, but theres millions and millions of people working for minimum wage right now, who live poor because people at the top live great. EDIT what this 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ze4AA-p8w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ze4AA-p8w Noam Chomsky holds the same opinion that I wrote here.
- __jal 8y ago
  I'm going to guess your father's CEO didn't beat, rape or starve your father with the full support of the law.
  - sadris 8y ago
    It was illegal to rape or starve slaves. Your statement is incorrect.
- verbify 8y ago
  Was your father not allowed to switch jobs on pain of death?
hannasanarion 8y ago
Fun fact: in colonial days, grants of land, money, and food were mandated whenever a white slave is emancipated. Turning out all of the black slaves with nothing but the clothes on their backs was a new and intentional cruelty.
- wallace_f 8y ago
  Jackson literally said slavery was going "to be not the real reason, but a pretext" for aggression against the south. Lincoln also said he wasn't trying to free the slaves. Trust me, it's 100% possible to be living a life in 2019, even as an American, defined by tyranny and injustice. Now, not the same level of tyranny as Black slaves, but you'll become aware people are just the same. Most dont genuinely give a shit. The ones that do cant be bothered to do anything about it. Too many will takr advantage of you. And the closest most people can get to morality is defined by social norms. Edit: people downvote this, sadly showing this to be right. What would show this to be wrong is if someone offered help. I'm pretty sure people just want to virtue signal.
  - Talanes 8y ago
    The full Jackson quote you're looking for is: "Therefore the tariff was only the pretext, and disunion and a Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery, question." He wasn't talking about the North making pretexts for aggression against the South, he was fed up with the South not adhering to the Union as he saw it. Lincoln is a little more complex, but it suffices to say that the politics of slavery always took the forefront over whatever his personal beliefs may have been.
    - wallace_f 8y ago
      Ok maybe "northern aggression" is a bit too controversial word choice as this history is debated and some people are going to chime up and express their own personal expertise and disagreements. But this was my reading of it and also how it was taught to me uni, but it doesn't matter, we can agree for purposes of the main point that slavery (a moral cause) was a pretext and even today, it's hard to find people who care about what is right. I know this, because I'm dealing with blatant abuse.
tick_tock_tick 8y ago
What they did at the time was absolutely horrible. You're free but how free can you really when you need to keep food on the table and have never been taught any skills outside of your role as a slave? While they might have been granted freedom many, probably most, were not given the resources to truly act on that freedom. That being said I think reparations at this point would ineffective and a politically infeasible. The money that would hypothetically be used for such a thing could be more effectively used providing services to low income areas.
Not_a_pizza 8y ago
As long as you remember which ethnic group(s) owned and shipped the majority of slaves, I'm totally cool with reparations. Reparations should of course be made from the coffers of the descendants of those individuals, where possible. Generational wealth is a very real problem in some countries.
wongarsu 8y ago
Back then it would have been fair to give them payment for the years they worked for free (or shares worth the equivalent amount). It would likely have lead to a more equal society today. But we already fought a war over just freeing the slaves, I don't think giving them decades of wages at once was politically viable. Reparations today would be an entirely different topic and would probably look more like social programs that seek to repair the lasting effects of the less than ideal way those people entered the (paid) workforce 150 years ago.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  Please add to the ledger the nearly 600,000 white soldiers who died in the Civil War, and 36,000 black soldiers. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casual... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Colored_Troops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Colored_Troops

travmatt 8y ago

They also instituted black codes to ensure that the freedmen couldn’t enjoy the same freedoms as their white counterparts, and give their former slavers the same leverages they had previously. The post war institutions were just slavery with a better veneer.

gotocake 8y ago
They also created the KKK to accomplish with terrorism what the legal system and social norms couldn’t rig for them. That really persisted unabated into the late 50’s, and to an extent still exists. The violence has been reduced, but the economic devastation remains. There’s a reason that you can use zip code as a proxy for race in America.