Publisher's Synopsis
One of the most influential anti-slavery books in pre-Civil War America, this book was written by a Southerner who not only opposed White Supremacy, but also clearly understood the relationship between race, civilization, political power, and demographics. By assembling official statistics from slave-owning and non-slave owning states, the author proved conclusively that the presence of slaves was not, as the South's leaders claimed, vital for their economy, but in fact exactly the opposite. Helper showed that by all measures-economic, social, political, agricultural yield per square mile, education, literacy, infrastructure, and many other indicators-the use of black slaves by the South was an impediment upon economic growth which had severely retarded the entire development of the southern states. Helper's conclusive economic and social arguments against slavery were backed up by his heartfelt moral objections to the idea of "owning" another person-but he was no bleeding heart liberal. This work, which became a Republican Party election propaganda piece in the US presidential election of 1860, also revealed that the officially-endorsed abolitionist movement had two goals-the emancipation of African slaves-and their immediate deportation back to Africa or somewhere else where they would be permanently geographically isolated from white America. As expected, this book and its ideas caused a storm in the South, where it was banned and its possession and distribution outlawed. Its reasoning and judgement remain sound throughout the years, and if anything, Helper's warnings about the long-term effect of the presence of massive numbers of nonwhites in white America has come true a thousand times over.
