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Welcome to Keith Tonight, don't 
tread on anyone in the 

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Libertarian Institute. 
On August 14th of 2019, Matthew 

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Desmond of the 1619 Project 
published in the New York Times 

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an article stating in order to 
understand the brutality of 

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American capitalism, you have to
start on the plantation where he

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makes the case that the reason 
that America is uniquely 

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prosperous with regards to an 
overall standard of living and a

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high gross domestic product is 
as a causal result of some 

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people having a recognized right
at the time to force other 

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people to pick cotton against 
their will. 

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A book was written by Thomas 
Soul titled Race and Culture, 

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where he addresses this claim 
that slavery makes nations 

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wealthy. 
Referring to the economic legacy

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in the aftermath of slavery, 
Soul says what was accomplished 

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by the enslavement of untold 
millions of human beings in 

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countries around the world. 
No doubt particular projects 

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here and there were the fruits 
of slave labor, but it would be 

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difficult to make the more 
general case that slavery 

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advanced the economic level of 
those societies in which it 

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existed on a mass scale. 
The American South, for example,

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was by no means the most 
economically dynamic region of 

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the country, either during or 
after the era of slavery. 

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It was, in fact the poorest. 
Brazil, which imported several 

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times as many slaves as the 
United States, remained A 

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relatively backward country 
until the large scale European 

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immigration that began after the
era of slavery was over. 

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The slave societies of North 
Africa and the Middle East, 

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which absorbed even more 
millions of slaves than the 

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Western Hemisphere, lagged 
conspicuously behind the 

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technological and economic level
of the West both during and 

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after the end of slavery. 
Until oil, not slaves, raised 

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their standards of living in the
modern era in Europe, it was the

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nations in the Western 
Hemisphere of the continent 

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where slavery was abolished 
first, that led the continent 

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and the world into the modern 
industrial age. 

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In many parts of the world, 
slaves were luxuries, or at 

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least domestic amenities rather 
than capital investments 

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intended to yield a profit. 
A large retinue of slaves was a 

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display of wealth and power, 
whether in ancient Rome, China, 

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Africa, Thailand, Tibet, or 
elsewhere. 

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In regions where slaves were 
part of a lifestyle, and this 

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included much of the Islamic 
world, it can be hardly 

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surprising that slavery did not 
create any notable economic 

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development. 
That was not its role. 

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Moreover, even in societies 
where slaves were intended to 

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produce profits for slave 
owners, it is by no means 

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apparent that those profits 
played any major role beyond the

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current consumption of those 
slave owners. 

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So what Desmond is doing is 
saying some people in America 

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benefited, therefore America 
benefited. 

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It would be as ridiculous as 
saying, well, Boeing, Northrop 

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Grumman and Raytheon benefit and
Halliburton benefit from 

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invading Iraq, Afghanistan, 
Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, 

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Pakistan. 
So therefore America benefits 

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when those countries get 
invaded. 

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He's making the classic 
confusion between a group of 

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parasites reaping benefits and 
an entire nation reaping 

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benefits as a cause of result of
engaging in some sort of 

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expenditure, whether it's 
through through the state or 

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through a process of 
enslavement. 

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Some have attempted to claim 
that profits from slavery 

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provided the investments that 
made the industrial revolution 

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possible in Britain. 
But even if all the profits from

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slavery had been invested in 
British industry, this would 

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have come to less than 2% of 
Britain's domestic investments 

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during that era. 
Moreover, neither in Britain nor

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the Western Hemisphere was there
any evidence that slave owners 

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were such dedicated capitalists 
as to invest all or most of 

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their incomes. 
Contemporary observers 

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frequently characterized slave 
owners as selfindulgent or 

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ostentatious consumers, often in
debt. 

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Finally, when the total cost of 
Britain's naval and military 

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efforts against the slave trade 
for more than a century are 

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added up, they are comparable to
all the profits ever made by 

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Britain from the slave trade in 
earlier times in the United 

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States. 
It's also questionable whether 

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all the profits from slavery 
exceeded the enormous cost of 

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fighting the Civil War, a war 
which would not have been fought

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if there were no slavery, even 
if its purposes were conceived 

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in other immediate terms by 
those on both sides. 

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Many other slave societies which
sustained no such staggering 

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costs also had no comparable 
profits from which these costs 

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could be subtracted. 
Appalling as it may be to think 

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of untold millions of human 
beings sacrificed for no larger 

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purpose than the transient 
aggrandizement of others, that 

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is what the historical record 
suggests. 

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Thank you for watching Keith 
Knight. 

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Don't tread on anyone. 
And the Libertarian Institute. 

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Check out this excellent book 
Race and Culture by Thomas Soul.