Some dumb guy on the Internet is saying that it reminds him of a time when he was actually happy. Now, he’s obviously racially dogwhistling, but it really occurred to me that I don’t really know what life was like for a non-slave, non-rich person back then. Obviously, it was hell on earth for slaves, and probably pretty good for the super rich (just like every other time). Was it better or worse for a free, working class person than the northern states? Better or worse than the US right now?
Small-holders always suffer under slave/serf regimes since they can’t compete with the planter class (due to economies of scale and the aristocratic control of the state apparatus). There’s also very little demand for domestic industry due to the high inequality (planters could only consume so much, and preferred imported luxury goods over local ones). That means a limited support for artisan/professional strata (i.e., “the middle class”.)
I’d want to source this, but the non-slaver whites weren’t very well off in the antebellum south (and were drafted as cannon fodder during the war). This is why you had pro-Union rebellions in the CSA’s periphery, like in Appalachia, and (relatively) pro-Union Southerners like Andrew Johnson who saw themselves as representing the white small-holder class.
Small-holders always suffer under slave/serf regimes since they can’t compete with the planter class (due to economies of scale and the aristocratic control of the state apparatus).
Why do they never fuckin’ see this though? That is what I don’t really get. People just straight up refuse to understand that they personally are almost certainly not gonna fuckin’ win the lottery, and yet they keep trying to play it anyways instead of giving up the game & doing something more productive. I don’t get it.
