Quiz: What was one of the greatest and most rapid overturns of private property in US history? ?

[Ichingcarpenter]

Hint: It worth some $3 billion at the time, over $1 trillion dollars in today’s monies.

[LetTimmySmoke]

1. The Emancipation Proclomation

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Yes four and a half million slaves

were ultimately given up as PRIVATE PROPERTY.

[LetTimmySmoke]

3. 1 trillion divided by 4.5 million is more than 200,000

That means one slave was valued on average more than $200,000 in today's dollars. No wonder the vast majority of slaves were owned by mega-wealthy plantation owners.

[Divine Discontent]

4. wow! and no wonder they went to war about it. amazing when you really think about it, if you had

someone as a personal slave, of COURSE they would be worth hundreds of thousands. Just adding up what you'd pay someone each year to do work, times 30-40 years, it makes a human worth a lot, if you shamefully bought and sold them, that is!

good thread.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Plantation owners were also capitalists of their day

You needn't be an industrialist to be a capitalist.
Many don't know that Karl Marx wrote to Lincoln congratulating him on his election in 1865.



The letter is here: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/iwma/documents/1864/lincoln-letter.htm

[zeemike]

7. The plantation system was originally created by industry.

The industry's that dealt in things like cotton and tobacco started plantations in the new world to keep the industry supplied.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. WOW. No wonder there was a savage war over this! nt