Labor Contracts, Wages, and Slavery

Labor Contracts and Wages

• Employees enter into work contracts freely, not as property.
• A key term in employment is pay.
• Salary or wage is compensation for work.

Economic Aspects of Slavery

• Slavery ensures the wage is effectively zero for the enslaved.
• Plantation owners provide basic shelter and calories to enslaved workers.
• This provision is not benevolence but to maintain productivity.
• The difference between a free market wage and the value of provisions given to an enslaved worker is the rate of exploitation.

Rate of Exploitation

• \text{Rate of exploitation} = \text{Free market wage} - \text{Value of provisions}

Marx and Exploitation

• Karl Marx discusses worker exploitation under free market capitalism but it's hard to quantify.
• Marxist concepts like the labor theory of value lack observable counterparts.
• The rate of exploitation (as defined above) is a tangible measure.
• Historians can determine free market wages and the value of provisions given to enslaved workers to calculate this rate.
• The rate of exploitation represents money the slave owner steals from the slave.
• Slavery is the ultimate wage theft because the worker is held hostage.

Legal Systems: Civil Law vs. Common Law

• Brazil and other Latin American countries have different legal traditions compared to the United States.
• Two main legal systems:
  • Civil Law: Characterized by codes (e.g., Napoleonic Code).
    • Influenced by Roman law.
    • Latin American legal codes in the 19th century derived from French law.
  • Common Law: Anglo-legal tradition.
    • Based on court decisions creating precedent.

Exiting Slavery

• Besides physical escape, the most common way out of slavery was self-purchase.
• Enslaved individuals accumulate money through extra work or cultivating their own crops.
• They petition to purchase their freedom.
• Enslavers may demand more money, emphasizing the hostage situation.
• Attorneys sometimes take these cases to court.
• This process was more prevalent in Latin American slave societies than in the United States.

Labor and Demographic Shifts in Brazil

• Northeast Brazil: Primarily sugarcane cultivation.
• Paraíba Valley: Primarily coffee cultivation.
• Brazilian sugar faced cost competition, while coffee demand increased due to industrialized nations adopting "coffee breaks"
• The Atlantic slave trade to Brazil ended in 1850 due to British pressure.
• The British Navy threatened to enter Brazilian ports to suppress the slave trade.
• The end of the Atlantic slave trade led to an internal slave trade within Brazil.
• The North declined in relative importance of enslaved workers. Amazonas and Pará eventually abolished slavery due to the reduced economic importance of slave labor.

Socioeconomic Differences

• Presley people, phenomenon in Brazil and other places outside of the US involve exits from slavery, even though not common.
• Elite families hired governesses from France (for French language and piano skills).
• Elite males pursued higher education (law, engineering) often in Europe or military academies.
• Laboring children had no access to higher education; they were put to work in fields, especially on small family farms.