Subsistence farming is orthogonal to slavery. A farmer could be free, and a slave could do specialized work. Even in the antebellum South, there were slaves doi

Subsistence farming is orthogonal to slavery. A farmer could be free, and a slave could do specialized work. Even in the antebellum South, there were slaves doing advanced work, like James Derham who worked as a doctor. Most people on this site are beneficiaries of this economy, fortunate to have many options and resources. Not everyone is so lucky. I'd like to think it would be possible to build a specialized, prosperous economy without economic exploitation, but we certainly aren't there yet.