Argumentation

The causation of the of the appraisal for female and male slaves in the slave data is the high demand for slaves between 1775 and 1885 due to the economic opportunity that the southern states had at the time which was created through the means of producing goods such as cotton and tobacco. Slaves have fluctuated in value over that hundred year span, mostly increasing in value as the years went on. It has become an ordinary way of living for those in the south to own slaves and benefit from their free labor. As the popularity of owning slaves grew, so did their value. In the beginning of the years in which the data was recorded, having slaves was legal and a way of life for the white men which mainly were located in the south. It is a pretty known fact that tobacco plants as well as other jobs were located in the southern states and that they took a lot of labor to maintain. With the legality of slaves, those who were able to afford slaves bought as many as they could to do these jobs that required an abundance of labor. The appraisal value of male slaves are more than that of female slaves. This is caused due to the amount of labor as well as type of labor that male slaves can do that female slaves can’t physically do. Females don’t have the same body type or muscle mass that males do, therefore they are more limited to the work they can do. Male slaves also tend to be more skillful with their hands and can do jobs such as being a blacksmiths while women who are skillful will most likely do the jobs such as basket making and other simple jobs. While males are doing more physical labor out in the field or blacksmith work, female slaves can do less physical work such as watching children, making items such as baskets, and other activities. With that being said, their value isn’t going to be as high because that labor isn’t as intense or challenging and isn’t as profitable as the males line of work is overall. It is pretty standard that all male slaves will be worth more money than their female counterparts. The direct causation of the value difference between the male and female values seems to be due solely to their potential productivity and how much money they can bring in.

 

An argument that can be noted from the data set that may come as a surprise to some people is the average price of slaves throughout time. Most people will automatically assume that as the years go by that the value in slaves only increases until it is abolished in the 1860’s. According to the data however, the value trend with slaves throughout time haven’t been as consistent as some people may think. The trend of slave values started at a decent number and then proceeded to decrease in value before picking back up. It isn’t clear why the value of slaves decreased during this time but it can be argued that the causation for the slaves to steadily increase in value after it’s descent can be caused by the growing popularity of slaves. As the years went by, news of how effective the slaves were could have been spread throughout the south. The businesses started to thrive and become more successful than they may have been previously. It is noted that the value of slaves really started to get high in price in the 1800’s. The causation of this spike can be credited to the industrial revolution. The south was a big manufacturer of goods during this time period and provided these goods to the northern states; states in which slaves were outlawed. With the slaves providing free labor, the south was able to benefit exponentially. This of course made the south even more wealthy and this in turn caused the appraisal of slaves to increase since they were viewed as a great asset to the owner of the plantations and manufacturers of goods. Even though the value of slaves were at a higher average than it was previously, the value of slaves still drop in price certain years before increasing again. This trend of erratic values continues throughout the decades. The causation for this trend is unknown and there aren’t any signs that may explain why. The value of slaves however hits its peak in 1864 in which is a time in American history when the civil war was taking place. The average appraisal price for the slaves during this time period was over a staggering 1000 dollars. The price of slaves during the time of the civil war jumped up by over three hundred dollars.  The reason for this insanely high price can be argued to be a direct result of the civil war that was happening at this time. Since one of the main reasons of the civil war was over the liberation of slaves, this caused the value of the slaves to soar to new heights. This is the highest value that slaves have been since the data has been recorded. It can be inferred that slave owners were attempting to get top dollar for their slaves at this time since the possibility of slaves being outlawed all together was in the minds of the owners during the time of war if the south suffered defeat to the north. Slave owners figured that it was the best time to increase the value of their slaves in order to have some type of monetary gain in case the south lost the war. In the year 1885, the value of slaves appears to begin its plummet at a fast rate. This is a direct causation of the south losing the civil war to the north which resulted in the outlawing of laves. Since having slaves were illegal, there was no longer an appraisal value on the now former slaves.