Slavery And Industry In The Antebellum South: The Texas Experience, 1850-1860

This paper addresses itself to the question: Did slavery drain away the capital of the south and thus destroy the opportunity for expression of the creative entrepreneurial impulse? The primary objective of this study are 1) To discover the points of emergence of the industrial dimension in a frontier economy, Texas 1850-1860, and identify the basic characteristics of that emergence, and 2) to discover if the plantation economy in the decade 1850-1860 offers an excellent opportunity to enter the discussion of the basic nature of the southern plantation economy