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The south literally tried to secede over exactly that state of affairs, starting the USA civil war. Not particularly controversial...


The issue is that only the south got rich. Not "America".

The north got rich off factories and wage earning labour. To equate the wealth of America to the south is a falsehood. And not a helpful one. It misleads you into missing the travesty of slavery: it did not build a nation. It gave leisure to a couple lucky families at the expense of hundreds per plantation.

The industry and wage earning of the north is what built America.


So the South produced cheap goods… where did they go? Who benefitted from being able to buy underpriced agricultural products?


Predominately England though France did benefit some as well.


Well yes, because the South supplied the majority of the world’s cotton, and the European powers were larger economies at the time.

But the textile mills in the Northern states also got their cotton predominantly from the South. Not to mention the tobacco, rice, etc.


> The industry and wage earning of the north is what built America.

uhhh... who is gonna tell him? that those industries in the north imported goods from the south.


The white liberal has been attacked way too hard throughout history despite literally being the good guy of history for hundreds of years. I’m so glad to see us finally defending our heritage. John Brown was a white liberal and a lot of black people cite him as “the realist white man who ever lived”.

Americas racism was primarily southerners being racist. It took white liberals to liberate everyone else, and we have to thank and celebrate the white liberal, not shit on them yet again.


You missed my point. US was not rich due to slavery, quite the contrary, after abolishing slavery, after (sic!) civil war, it became no. 1 economy in 1871.

Here is the list of GPD countries in 1861, before the start of civil war:

1 - China - $199.6 billion

2 - India - $125.7 billion

3 - United Kingdom - $85.8 billion

4 - France - $72.3 billion

5 - Germany (Prussia and other states) - $52.4 billion

6 - Russian Empire - $49.6 billion

7 - United States - $44.2 billion

8 - Japan - $33.0 billion

9 - Austria-Hungary - $30.1 billion

10 - Ottoman Empire - $17.5 billion

Source: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/the-world-economy_...


have you ever heard of jim crow? and also hockey stick growth? hockey stick growth is the common hacker news ideology, i know you know what i'm talking about.




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