10/12/99
Section 1. (5 points each) Consider each of the following statements. Are they true or false? Discuss how the work of Economic Historians impacts the validity of each statement. Be sure to make a distinction between the normative and positive aspects of each statement and to site the specific results and evidence discussed in lecture and the readings which bear on each statement. Write on the back of the page if necessary.
1. Americans should not feel guilty about the legacy of slavery because Africans brought to the United States were a lot better off than Africans sent to the Caribbean.
2. Slave owners were not evil people. They treated their slaves like members of their own families. Slaves were fed well, clothed well, had high quality housing, and were encouraged to be productive members of society. It was actually better to be a slave than a poor immigrant in New York.
3. America was only peripherally involved in slave system. In fact, the vast majority of slaves lived in Caribbean countries.
4. The average northerner living before the Civil War had nothing to do with the slave system because slavery was only legal in southern states.
5. Segregation, Separate but Equal Schools and the disenfranchisement of blacks after the Civil War are unimportant because blacks were able to increase their absolute incomes after emancipation. Obviously, these events had no negative effect on black welfare.
6. Segregation, Separate but Equal Schools and the disenfranchisement of blacks after the Civil War are unimportant because blacks were able to increase their income relative to whites after emancipation. Obviously, these events had no negative effect on black welfare.
7. It was better to be a slave in the South than a free black today. The slaveowner took less of a slave’s output than the government takes today in taxes.
8. The Civil War was a waste human life and money because the slave system would have collapsed by itself.
9. Vietnam Veteran’s are a bunch of cry babies. The Vietnam War was a family picnic compared to the Civil War.
10. The stereotype of blacks as lazy and not interested in work is true. The proof is that after emancipation, blacks worked less and were less productive than as slaves.
Long Answer Questions.
A. (25 points) One of the great strengths of the constitution of the United States and the capitalist system is that allows conflicts between groups and individuals to be resolved without resort to violence. Discuss.
B. (25 points) Consider the following quote from Fogel. Without Consent or Contract (p. 406). What dilemma is Fogel talking about? Are there any similarities between abolitionists and modern day political activists?
The anti slavery struggle was marked by numerous dilemmas and paradoxes that strained the unity of the movement and frequently led to conflicts between highly moral men and women who chose different solutions. I want to describe briefly two of these problems: one a dilemma and the other a paradox. The dilemma arose out of the exigencies of the politics that led leaders of a just cause to compromise principles, join arms with opportunists, accept immoral propositions, misrepresent their ideals, disguise their real goals, and deliberately mislead, not for careerist advancement or financial gain-although some fell victim to these temptations but-but to strike down an exceedingly evil foe. Time and again moral crusaders found that they could vanquish sin only by sinning and thus were repeatedly faced with anguished choices. Some could cope with the moral stress; others were broken by it.
Impatience was the root of many dilemmas. Moral purity could have been maintained if the crusaders had been willing to remain a movement of moral suasion, never compromising principle but doggedly affirming and broadcasting views they knew to be wholly moral. Yet such a course was painfully slow. Converts could be won this way but not rapidly enough or in sufficient numbers to threaten the continued political sway of the proslavery coalition. For most antislavery crusaders the impulse to accelerate the pace of their movement was irresistible. To speed persuasion they sought to dramatize the evils of slavery and to win converts on grounds requiring less than full commitment to the abolitionist creed. Although dramatization led not only to exaggeration but also to deception, the cause was moral and the intention was virtuous. It was deception that harmed only the slaveholders.