Does decline make sense? The West Indian economy and the abolition of the British slave trade

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Volumn 31, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 347-374

  Rydcn, David Beck ^a  

^a BRUNEL UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33751375110     PISSN: 00221953     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1162/002219500551569     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Thomas Clarkson, Tlic History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Stare-Trade, by the British Parliament (New York, 1836);
2. Howard Tcmperley, "The Ideology of Antislavery, " in David Eltis and James Walvin (eds.). The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Origins and Effects in Europe, Africa, and the Amcricas (Madison, lySi), 21-22.
3. Examples of works based on Clarkson's include Earl Leslie Griggs, Thomas Clarkson, the Friend of the Slares (Westport, 1970; orig. pub. 1936);
4. Frank J. Klingberg, The Anti-Slavery Movement in England; a Study in English Hamaiiiurianisin (New Haven, 1926);
5. Ernest Edwin Ryden, The Story of our Hymns (Rock Island, 111., 1930). It is important to note, however, that the conventional wisdom regarding the anti-slavery movement was becoming more complex during this time. In 1941,
6. Francis John McConncll incorporated the materialist argument while lauding the moral achievement of abolition: "Nobody in these days can for an instant deny the power of economic forces in social change; but nobody can deny either that economic forces arc used by men, that men act according to moral as well as economic motives" (Revolutionists and Idealists, Six Eiylisli Contributors to American Thought and Action [New York, 1941], 182).
7. Reginald Coupland, The British Anti-Slarcry ^lavement (London, 1964; orig. pub. 1933), 62-64.
8. Eric Willianis, Capitalism Mid Slaivry (London, 1964; orig. pub. 1944), 178.
9. For an analysis of Capitalism ami Slarcry's effect on Marxist historiography, see Gerald Bosch, "Eric Williams and the Moral Rhetoric of Dependency Theory," GI/J.I/IV, XX (lyyS), 817, 822-8:15.
10. Lowell Joseph Ragatz, The FM (if the Planter Class in the British Carilihean, 1763-1833 (New York, 1963; orig. pub. 1928), vii-viii, 3-4;
11. Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, 52-54, 145.
12. Williams, Capitalism ami Slarcry, 113;
13. John James McCusker, Jr., "The Rum Trade and the Halance of Payments of the Thirteen Continental Colonies, 1650-1775," unpub. Ph.D. diss. (University of Pittsburgh, 1970), 905-927.
14. Williams, Capitalism and Slat-cry, 121; Letter from E. East, June 5, 1776, Robert Hope Elletson Letterbook, MS 2ya, Institute of Jamaica;
15. Ragatz, Fall I'ftlic Planter Class, 153;
16. Rich-ard Champion, Considerations ou the Present Situation of Great Britain and tlw United Stales of America with a View to ihcir Future Commercial Connections (London, 1784; 2d ed.), 161.
17. Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, 135-153. When Williams speaks of the West India "monopoly," he is referring not to a monopoly in the strict sense of the term but the mercantilist preferences given to the Caribbean planters. On page 152, Williams famously wrote, "Overproduction in 1807 demanded abolition." Williams is especially critical of Coupland: "Of this deplorable tendency [of wrapping "real interest in confusion,"] Professor Coupland of Oxford University is a notable example" (2 II).
18. McCusker, Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic World (London, 1997), 310-330, dates decline after 1790. Quantitative criticism of other arguments found in Capitalism and Slat-cry can be seen in
19. Stanley L. Engerman, "The Slave Trade and British Capital Formation in the Eighteenth Century: A Comment on the Williams Thesis," Business History Review, XLVI (1972), 430-443;
20. Robert Paul Thomas and Richard Nelson liean, "The Fishers of Men: The Profits of the Slave Trade," Journal of Economic History, XXXIV (1987), 885-914;
21. David Richardson, "The Cost of Survival: The Transport of Slaves in the Middle Passage and the Profitability of the 18" Century British Slave Trade," Explorations in Economic History, XXIV (1987), 178-196.
22. Seymour Droscher, Econocidc: British Slarery in llic Era of Abolition (Pittsburgh, 1977). y For a comprehensive review of recent literature, see
23. Drescher, "Capitalism and Slarery after Fifty Years," Slarery and Abolition, XVIII (1997), 212-227;
24. Barbara L. Solow and Engernian, British Capitalism ana Caribbean Slarery: The Legacy of Eric Williams (Cambridge, 1987), 11-17.
25. For a long list of historians persuaded by Econoddc's argument, see Drescher, "The Decline Thesis since Econocide," Slarery and Abolition, VII (1986), 21, n. 13.
26. Two historians who do not accept Drescher's point of view are Sclwyn H. H. Carrington, The British West Indies during the American Rcivlntion (Providence, lySS);
27. Walter E. Minchinton, "Williams and Drescher: Abolition and Emancipation," Slaivry and Abolition, IV (1983), 79-105.
28. For works that view abolition as the result of changes within liritish society, see Thomas Bender (ed.). The Antislarery Debate: Capitalism and Abolitionism as a Problem in Historical Interpretation (Berkeley, 1992);
29. Drescher, Capitalism and Antislarery: British Mobilization in Comparative Pcrspcctiiv. (New York, 1987).
30. For a review of the literature, see Drescher, "People and Parliament: The Rhetoric of the British Slave Trade," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XX (1990), 5(11-563.
31. Engerman, "Some Implications of the Abolition of the Slave Trade," in Eltis and Walvin (eds.), Abolition of the Atlantic Slai'c Trade, 6, wrote that Williams' decline thesis, though essentially wrong, provides a "central focus and a starting point" for studying abolition.
32. Drescher, "Decline Thesis," 20-21, emphasizes "the enduring heritage of Capitalism and Slarery . . . for changing the way in which we view abolition." Although not directly critical of Williams' conclusions,
33. Russell R. Menard, "Reckoning with Williams," Callaloo, XX (1998), 793, concludes that the importance of Capitalism and SLircry lies in its revolutionary economic framework. Although "Williams worked within . . . the 'imperial tradition' ..." he, "transformed it into something entirely new."
34. Carrington noted this paradox in noniin.ll liritish sugar prices. He statistically observed that "there was little or no relationship between the price of sugar" and production levels (" Econocitic - Myth or Reality - The Question of West Indian Decline, 1783-1806," Boletin lie Estndios Latinamericanos y M Carilv, XXXVI [1984], 32).
35. Drescher, Econocide, 76. Drescher uses West Indian price quotations to illustrate the hardship faced by the French during the American Revolution. Borrowing from Edward Long, Additional Manuscripts 12407 f. 16v, he writes that "during 1779-1780, many planters in St. Domingue were not able to ship off'a single ounce for France. ... It was such a Drug on the Island, as to be offered to sale at loS per cwt.. . the planters having no prospect of shipping it, were willing to accept any price, rather than lose the whole of so perishable a commodity'" (41).
36. [Samuel Dicker], A Letter hi a Member of Parliament, Concerning the Importance of Our Sugar Colonies in Créât Britain (London, 1745), i-i; A Computation of the Charges and Profits on One Hogflicail of Gooil Jamaican Sugar, Additional Manuscripts 12431 f. 187,
37. liritish Library; Edward Long Papers, Additional Manuscripts 18961, liritish Library; Clarendon Dep. C 360/1 Bundle (6), Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; Goulburn Papers, Box 52 iii/3k, Surrey Record Office.
38. Most notable and comprehensive of the works about trade routes and marketing is James Shepherd and Gary Walton, Shipping, Maritime Trade and the Economic Development of Colonial North America (Cambridge, 1972).
39. McCusker and Menard, The Economy of British America, 1607-1789 (Chapel Hill, 1991), 70-88;
40. Edwin J.Perkins, The Economy of Colonial America (New York, 1980), 27-36.
41. The price of the typical empty puncheon container rose from 30 to 60 shillings during the American Revolution. Although the nominal price of the hogshead did not change, its real price rose, due to a shrinkage in size from roughly 1,710 Ib to 1,610 Ib capacity. These estimates are based on a sample drawn from Crop Accounts, 1B/11/6, Jamaica Archives.
42. Kenneth Morgan, Bristol and tlic Ailiintif Trade in tlic Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, 1993)- For the French Wars of the 1790s to 1800s,
43. see William Young, The West-India Common-Place Book (London, 1807) 24-25, 199-205; letter from Henry Hummer to Jos Foster Barham, July 13, 1799, Clarendon Dep. c. 357, Bodleian Library.
44. Letter from Thomas Hall, July 8, 1778, Thomas Hall Correspondence and Accounts, MS 1069 #5, Institute of Jamaica.
45. Robert Hope Elletson Lctterbook, M829a, April 24, 1778, Institute of Jamaica.
46. This paragraph paraphrases Ronald Hope, A New History of British Shipping (London, 1990), 235-236.
47. The value of liritish exports to North America is taken from Marc Egnal, New World Economics: The Growtli of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada (New York, 1998), 35.
48. [Richard Champion], CaiisiHcriitians on the Present Situation of Great Britain and the United States of America, with a view to their Future Commercial Connexions (London, 1784), 4, 14-31.
49. Other historians have emphasized the utility of colonial price data for other staple commodities. See 1'etcr A. Codanis, "Rice Prices in the 17205 and the Evolution of the South Carolina Economy," Journal of Southem History, XLVII (1982), 535.
50. Elizabeth lioocly Schumpeter, "English Prices and Public Finance, 1660-1822," Review of Economic Statistics, XX (1938), 21-36.
51. Additional material about eighteenth-century inflation can be found in Norman J. Silberling, "Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars," Journal ffEcMiwiiics, XXVIII (1924), 214-233;
52. Elizabeth W. Gilboy, "The Cost of Living and Real Wages in Eighteenth Century England," Rci-icw of Economic Statistics, XVIII (1936), 134-143;
53. Nicholas F.R. Crafts and Terence C. Mills, "Trends in Real Wages in Britain, 1750-1913," Explorations in Economic History, XXXI (1994), 176-194.
54. Schumpeter, "English Prices," 27.
55. On the impact of government debt on the British economy, see Jeffrey Williamson, "Why Was liritish Growth so Slow during the Industrial Revolution," Journal ojEconomic History, XLVI (1986), 693-720;
56. Robert A. lilack and Claire G. Gillmorc, "Crowding Out during Hritain's Industrial Revolution," ibid., L (1996), 109-131.
57. John R. MacCulloch, A SeIcft Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts and Oilier Publications on Paper Currency and Banking (New York, 1966; orig. pub. 1857), 95-98.
58. W. Lushington, The Interests of Agriculture and Commerce, Inseparable (London, 1808),
59. An anonymous commentator wrote, "the relative value of money is since [1783] . . . greatly lessened" (Statements and Observations on the Sugar Trade, between Great Britain and lier Old ll'estIndia Colonies [London? 1802?], 5).
60. Richard Sheridan, Sugar and Slavery: an Economic History of the British West Indies, 1623-1775 (Kingston, 1994; orig. pub. 1974), 289, 329.
61. For additional information about the crop accounts, see Barry W. Hignian, Slave populartion and Economy in Jamaica, 1807-1834 (Kingston, 1995; orig. pub. 197(1), 9-11.
62. Long, The History of Jamaica (London, 1970; orig. pub. 1774), II, 200, 192.
63. A bivariatc ordinary-least-squares model produces this estimate. The dependent variable is the variance between the West Indian price and the liritish price. The two independent variables are a time trend term and a dummy variable for periods of war. Each estimated coefficient is statistically significant. The model explains 13 % of the variation in the difference between the two price series. The time-trend term is -0.14, suggesting that shipping would have become cheaper over time, if not for the complications of warfare. Metropolitan prices are taken from McCusker, "Rum Trade," Table £-45, 1144-1146;
64. Morgan, Bristol and the Atlantic Trade, Table 7.10, 210. When referring to English sugar prices, these figures are deflated by Schumpeter's index for consumer goods, exclusive of cereals. McCuskcr's London figures were converted from his own consumer-producer index and deflated for consistency. All weights are standardized as "short hundredweight" (equaling 100 Ib) as was practiced in the West Indies, but not the United Kingdom.
65. An Enquiry into the Causes of the High Price ofMnscorada [sic] Sugars trith Some Remedies . . . in a Letter to ii Member of Parliament (London, 1753);
66. J. F. Uarham, On Monday, May 23 1808 On the Motion for Prohibiting Corn and the Substitution of Sugar in the Distilleries (London, 1808);
67. quotation from Noel Deerr, The History of Sugar (London, 1950), 175
68. (orig. printed in Long, History of Jamaica, I, 435).
69. On irrigation, see letter from E. East, May 31, 1777, Robert Hope Elleston Lctterbook, MS 29a, Institute ofjamaica;
70. William Heckford, A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica (London, 1790), II, 198-199, 202-203;
71. John Robert Ward, British West Indian Slavery, 1750-1834: The Process of Amelioration (Oxford, 1988), 83.
72. Drescher, "Decline Thesis," 5-6, n, 21 n. 13; idem, Econocide, Figure 5, 20.
73. Some examples of planters who touted the sugar industry include Josia Child, A New Discourse of Trade, Wherein is Recommended Several Weighty Points Relating to Companies of Merchants. . . . The Balance of Trade. And the Nature of Plantations, ami their Consequences in Relation to the Kingdom, ate Seriously Discussed (London, 1698), 191;
74. The Importance of the Si/gar Plantations Considerd (London, 1714), 25;
75. The Importance oftlic Sugar Colonies to Great-Britain Stated, ami Sonic Objections Against the Sugar Colony Bill Ansuvr'd (London, 1731), 4-7.
76. Edward Long Papers, Additional Manuscripts 12,407, British Library;
77. An Enquiry into the Causes of the High Price of.Mnscorada . . . 5-6, 15. This pamphlet describes "the causes. . . of the present extravagant Price of Sugar ... to be that our Plantations do not produce or send Home a sufficient Quantity to supply the Demand of Great Britain . .. and that we are prevented form importing any from any other part of the World . .. [TJhere is no Possibility of exporting... Muscovada Sugar . . . , the Prices here being so much higher than in any other Part of Europe.
78. " This author also estimates that prices in England were 50% higher in England than in Europe. Solow, liook review, Journal of Economic Literature, XVII (1979), 550.
79. Young, West-India Common-Place Book; Charles Uosanquet, A Letter to W. Planning, Esq. M.P. on the Causes of the Rapid and Progressive Depreciation of West India Property (London, I Soy);
80. Joseph Lowe, An Inquiry into the State of the British West Indies (London, 1807), 77;
81. William Spence, The Radical Cause of the Present Distresses of the \Vest-lndia Planters Pointed Out; and the Inefficiency of the .Measures irliich hai'c been Hitherto Proposed for Rclicring Them (London, 1807).
82. Spence, Radical Cause, 8.
83. Young, West-India Common-Place Book, 56.
84. Spence, Radical Cause, 9; Ragatz, Fall cfthc Planter Class, 287.
85. According to Spence and Young, England's domestic market could absorb only 150,000 hogsheads of the 250,000 hogsheads of sugar manufactured in the 13ritish Caribbean. Although the planters enjoyed a captive British market, they functioned in a perfectly competitive environment, with no ability to act in concert to control prices. Descriptions of the competitive British sugar industry can be found in An Account of Jamaica and its Inhabitants by a Gentleman (London, 1808). See also Edward Long Papers, Additional Manuscripts 12407 fs. 4, 25, British Library-; Observations from a Cattleman in Town to his Friend in the Country, Relative to the Sugar Colonies (London, 1781), 20; John Gardner Kemeys, Free and Candid Reflection Occassioned by the Late Additional Duties on Sugars and on Rum (Dublin, 1785). Spence, Radical Cause, 53.
86. François Crouzet, "America and the Crisis of the British Imperial Economy, 18031807," in McCusker and Morgan (eds.), Tlic Early Modern Atlantic Economy (Cambridge, 2000). See also James Stephen, \Var in Disguise; or the Frauds of the Central Flags (London, 1805), 79-86. Drescher, "Decline Thesis," n. Oddly, Drescher seems to have answered the quer)' himself when he noted the crisis in shipping in Econocide, 122.
87. Spencc, Radical Cause, 34, 6, 20, 66-67.
88. R. Keith Aufhouser, "Profitability of Slavery in the British Caribbean, "Journal of Interdisciplinary History, V (1974), 66;
89. W ard, "The Profitability of Sugar Planting in the British West Indies, 1650-1834," Economic History Rci'ieir, XXXI (1978), 197-213. Spence's estimate.
90. Radical Cause, 50, indicates a terrible rate of return; less risky government consols were yielding about 5 % returns during this period. See Carol E. Heim and Phillip Mirowski, "Interest Rates and Crowding-Out during Britain's Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic Histoiy, XLVII (1987), 120. Ward's estimates of annual profit rates (Parham estate), British IVcst Indian Slavery, 50, appear to corroborate the radical fall in profits just before abolition.
91. Tharp Papers, R.55.7.128 (c) 6 & 7, letter from l'J. Mills to John Cbrke, February i, 1803, Cambridge Record Office.
92. Substance of the Debates on A Resolution for Abolishing the SAire Trade (London, 1806), 141, 135-136;
93. "Parliamentary Intelligence, House of Lords, February <," Tlic Times (London), February 6, 1807, 2.
94. Francis Ilsley, A Statement of Fads, Relating to the Prime Cost of Sugar; iritli Observations in Behalf of \Vcst India Planters (London, 1810), 120.
95. Drescher dismisses Grenville's discussion of foreign competition as "subtle psychological associations, [which constitute] something different from a powerful argument." Citing Anstey, "A Reinterpretation of Abolition of the British Slave Trade, 1806-07," English Historical Renew, LXXXVII (1972), 304-322,
96. he also dismisses Grenville's remarks regarding the 1807 glut, claiming that this argument was unimportant to his overall strategy. See Drescher, Econoädc, 251-252, n. 25, n. 28, n. 29. Ibid., 135.
97. Econoädc, Ibid., 136