RESEARCH December 10, 2015

Not all inequality is the same

Slavery versus economic creativity in Civil War America

Overview

[T]here can be no question but that the slavery … must be injurious to science; since the minds of our slaves are never cultivated. The same reason will always render it unfavourable to trade and manufactures, which have ever flourished in free states. Commerce especially flies from oppression, and rests only on the wings of liberty. If slavery then be necessarily an enemy to arts and sciences, good policy would surely direct us to suppress it.
-Arthur Lee, 17641

End Notes

1. Arther Lee, An Essay in Vindication of the Continental Colonies of America from a Censure of Mr. Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments (London: T. Becket and P.A. De Honda, 1764), 39.

Connect with us!

Explore the Equitable Growth network of experts around the country and get answers to today's most pressing questions!

Get in Touch