Adam Smith's Argument Against Slavery

Samuel Johnson, a prominent British politician at the time of the American revolution, asked: "how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes" (Johnson 83). It was a good question, one that we are still answering today. To many outside the colonies, it was illogical that a slave-holding people would argue so fervently about their God given rights. Many of the founding fathers, most of whom were slaveholders, recognised this irony. Nevertheless, they enshrined slavery into the country's constitution. To many people, there was no contradiction in affirming the equality of Man while also affirming slavery, as the African slave was, in their view, inferior to white men, in much the same way as it was argued that
The eminent Scottish economist, Adam Smith, believed that slavery was not economically viable, for example, he argued that “ the work done by free men comes cheaper in the end than the work performed by slaves. Whatever work he does, beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance, can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own” (Smith 253). Smith's objection to slavery was not on moral grounds, he argued for free market economics, the “invisable hand” of the market, in essence the best way for an economy to operate is when workers are free of all governmental interference. Essentially, workers having full freedom and choice creates labour competition, keeping wages low, in turn, this creates price competition, preventing high inflation. Smith argued that slavery was economically inefficient as slaveholders had to buy and maintain slaves. Esentially, Smith's main premise when it came to slavery was that it would be less expensive to pay blacks a wage than to have to feed, house, and clothe them. Smith was far from a moral crusader when it came to the issue of slavery, his objection to the system was purely