Why were slave families broken up when doing so increased the likelihood of runaways? A key piece of this long-standing puzzle is that most break-ups occurred as the result of government-generated slave sales (e.g., probate and bankruptcy-related sales at public auctions), whereas purely private exchanges, including commercial auctions, tended to maintain family units.
Selling Slave Families Down the River
Property Rights and the Public Auction
By Bradley T. Ewing, Mark Thornton, Mark A. Yanochik
This
article
appeared in
the Summer 2009 issue of The Independent Review.
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(10 pages)
American HistoryCivil Liberties and Human RightsCivil RightsCulture and SocietyLaw and LibertyRace Issues
| Other Independent Review articles by Mark Thornton | ||
| Spring 2014 | Smuggler Nation:How Illicit Trade Made America | |
| Spring 2013 | American Nightmare:How Government Undermines the Dream of Homeownership | |
| Summer 2010 | Modernizing a Slave Economy:The Economic Vision of the Confederate Nation | |
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