出版社：Richards College of Business, University of West Georgia
摘要：Could slavery have ended early on without a civil war? That isthe counterfactual question considered herein. More specifically,could Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder himself, have convinced theyoung American nation to use the value of the land of theLouisiana Purchase to purchase freedom for the slaves? Exploringthis matter, raises a number of related issues. How much wouldfreeing the slaves have cost? How much was the LouisianaPurchase land worth? What were the social and political obstaclesto a peaceful end to slavery? How would the economy of theslaveholding states look with only a free workforce? How did theestimated cost of purchasing freedom for the slaves compare withthe Civil War’s cost? Each of these questions are consideredherein. To cut to chase, the economics of freeing the slaves withfunds derived from the Louisiana Purchase would have beenfeasible even though the sums are large. The nation would havebeen much better off if this route had been taken. Thesocial/political obstacles were, however, likely to have beeninsurmountable.
