Industrializing the Old Dominion: State Power, Enslaved Hiring, and Industry in Antebellum Virginia, 1790-1860 99 views

Between the American Revolution and the Civil War, Virginia was transformed from a dying monocultural society based around the cultivation of tobacco into the most diversified and industrialized slave state in the Union. This dissertation analyzes the development of industrial slavery and its role in shaping the economy and society of Virginia between 1790 and the Civil War. During the antebellum period, white Virginians demanded that the state legislature take a more active role in fostering economic growth. Lawmakers responded by increasing the issuing of corporate charters, establishing a system of state branch banks, and using a combination of private and public funds to finance the construction of internal improvements. With the decline of major cash crops, Virginians envisioned a post-plantation society, but not one based on free labor. Industrialists in coal mines, salt mines, tobacco factories, and contractors for infrastructure projects all required large numbers of laborers and they determined that slavery was compatible with industry. However, due to the temporary nature of some industrial jobs and the high cost of purchasing enslaved people, industrialists utilized a growing market in hired enslaved labor—in cities and in the hinterlands—to meet their demands. To attract and retain hired enslaved laborers, I argue, industrial enslavers adapted plantation labor management strategies to an urban industrial setting and adopted innovative technologies that mitigated the financial risk associated with slave hiring. Throughout this dissertation, I also show how the actions of enslaved African Americans affected their enslavers’ businesses and the fundamental structure of southern industry. Black people knew the financial value they represented, they understood the legal terms of their hiring contracts, and, perhaps most importantly, they recognized industrialists’ dependence on the slave hiring market. By leveraging their enslavers’ dependence on hired enslaved people, Black men and women strategized to limit their enslavers’ use of violence and secured opportunities to make money and gain greater autonomy for themselves and their families. Ultimately, the concessions enslaved people extracted from industrialists helped to shape Southern industry and contributed significantly to the evolution of slavery during the antebellum era.

PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Industrial Slavery; Slave Hiring/Leasing; Tobacco Manufacturing; Coal Mining; Salt Manufacturing; State Power; Enslaved Resistance

English

All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)

2025-07-31