# How much did it cost (in 2004 dollars) to purchase a slave in the antebellum south?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 1, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980 "2004-06-01T00:33:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/1 "2004-06-01T00:33:18Z")
Was reading this review in Salon
[Soul by Soul - Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market](http://archive.salon.com/books/review/2000/02/24/johnson/) and wondered what a slave might cost in 2004 dollars. There was supposedly a huge price spike after the African slave trade was closed down, and masters had to be more careful with their slaves. Are there any relevant numbers re actual purchase prices available?
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/2 "2004-06-01T01:01:21Z")
> **[South Carolina Slavery - Buying and Selling Human Beings](https://www.sciway.net/afam/slavery/flesh.html)**
Don’t know if that helps, and don’t vouch for it. Just found it. Report back. 😃
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/3 "2004-06-01T01:09:38Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> [South Carolina Slavery - Buying and Selling Human Beings](http://www.sciway.net/afam/slavery/flesh.html)
>
> Don’t know if that helps, and don’t vouch for it. Just found it. Report back. 😃
That’s perfect Sam. Thanks!
In looking at the numbers the odd thing is that they’re almost exactly the same as car prices in relative dollars.
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/4 "2004-06-01T02:34:37Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> That’s perfect Sam. Thanks!
>
> In looking at the numbers the odd thing is that they’re almost exactly the same as car prices in relative dollars.
:eek: :eek: They had _cars_ in the antebellum south! :eek:
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/5 "2004-06-01T02:43:31Z")
Well, they had [giant mechanical spiders](http://www.andybaird.com/travels/maine/photos/spider.jpg), so why not?
---
### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/6 "2004-06-01T03:02:07Z")
From a [disturbing article in Scientific American](http://www.mit.edu/people/etekle/Index/) comparing modern “debt bondage” with slavery (bolding mine):
> [@](#):
>
> Although each of the manifestations of slavery has unique local characteristics, one of the aims of social scientists is to understand their universal features, so that therapies developed in one place can be applied elsewhere. Foremost among these commonalities is the basic economic equation. **In 1850 an agricultural slave cost $1,500 in Alabama (around $30,000 in today’s dollars).** The equivalent laborer can be had for around $100 today. That payment might be made as part of a “loan” or as a “fee” to a trafficker. A young woman in Southeast Asia or eastern Europe might be sold several times, through a series of brokers and pimps, before she ends up in a brothel.
>
> One should not read too much into these specific dollar amounts, because what the slaveholder purchases is somewhat different in each case. The basic point is that forced labor represents a much smaller percentage of business expenses than it used to. It took 20 years of labor for an antebellum American slave to repay his or her purchase price and maintenance costs; today it takes two years for a bonded laborer in South Asia to do the same. This fall in price has altered not only the profitability of slavery but also the relationship between slave and master. The expensive slave of the past was a protected investment; today’s slave is a cheap and disposable input to low-level production. The slaveholder has little incentive to provide health care or to take care of slaves who are past their prime.
Pay attention to the second paragraph: the author seems to indicate that life as a slave in the South was actually _better_ than that of “bonded laborers” today. The author estimates that there are _27 million people_ enslaved via debt bondage in the world today.
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/7 "2004-06-01T05:28:33Z")
It also depends on where you were talking about, and when. Prices were higher in some place like Texas than in Virginia or the Carolinas. In fact, you could make decent money buying slaves and shipping them west.
---
### Author:  [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/8 "2004-06-01T11:22:07Z")
I don’t know about the Antebellum south but in the September 2003 there is a story about [21st Century Slaves](http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/index.html) that is quite eye-opening. It has a link to a 2003 US State Department report Trafficing in Persons that I am sure you will find appalling.
---
### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/9 "2004-06-01T14:52:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _astro_
> what a slave might cost in 2004 dollars.
I’m not at all sure what to inflate by. The answer’s going to be different depending on whether the slave is a consumption item (in which case you should inflate by something like the CPI) a general production item (the IPD, an implicit price deflator) or a type of labour (some index of labour costs). It’s hard to say what the appropriate comparison is, and it’s not all clear to me what the “1998 dollars” in samclem’s link are.
---
### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/10 "2004-06-01T16:31:00Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#):
>
> From a [disturbing article in Scientific American](http://www.mit.edu/people/etekle/Index/) comparing modern “debt bondage” with slavery (bolding mine):
> Pay attention to the second paragraph: the author seems to indicate that life as a slave in the South was actually _better_ than that of “bonded laborers” today. The author estimates that there are _27 million people_ enslaved via debt bondage in the world today.
I can believe it. A slave was a major investment; bonded laborers are, comparatively, cheap and disposable.
---
### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/11 "2004-06-02T00:54:44Z")
_Roll, Jordan, Roll_, by Eugene D. Genovese, gives some prices for different classes of slave, but I don’t know what the inflation-adjusted figures would be. The book mentions that while a prime field hand might sell for about $1,800, and a first-class blacksmith for $2,500, a young attractive light-skinned mullatto woman could go for as much as $5000. I leave it to you to figure out why :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/12 "2004-06-02T02:04:01Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#):
>
> The expensive slave of the past was a protected investment; today’s slave is a cheap and disposable input to low-level production. The slaveholder has little incentive to provide health care or to take care of slaves who are past their prime.
I’d say this also applies to your average corporation employee, given the changes to health & retirement plans at the last few companies I’ve worked at.
---
### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/13 "2004-06-02T13:54:52Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> _Roll, Jordan, Roll_, by Eugene D. Genovese, gives some prices for different classes of slave, but I don’t know what the inflation-adjusted figures would be. The book mentions that while a prime field hand might sell for about $1,800, and a first-class blacksmith for $2,500, a young attractive light-skinned mullatto woman could go for as much as $5000. I leave it to you to figure out why :rolleyes:
How lovely. And if massa and his boys, er, apply themselves, they can make even more stock of high-value “light” product… :eek: Peculiar Institution indeed.
If using the “1998 equivalent” used in one of the abovecited sites about the SC slave trade, that comes up to 30,060, 41,750, and as much as 83,500.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/14 "2004-06-02T14:12:03Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> How lovely. And if massa and his boys, er, apply themselves, they can make even more stock of high-value “light” product… :eek: Peculiar Institution indeed.
>
> If using the “1998 equivalent” used in one of the abovecited sites about the SC slave trade, that comes up to 30,060, 41,750, and as much as 83,500.
After the African Slave trade to the US was closed down in 1807 and fresh incoming supplies ended, slaves became far more expensive, even on a relative basis.
See Encarta Africana’s [Transatlantic Slave Trade](http://www.africana.com/research/encarta/trading.asp)
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/15 "2004-06-02T15:02:16Z")
## ===BEGIN QUOTED=== Quote: Originally Posted by Lumpy Roll, Jordan, Roll, by Eugene D. Genovese, gives some prices for different classes of slave, but I don’t know what the inflation-adjusted figures would be. The book mentions that while a prime field hand might sell for about $1,800, and a first-class blacksmith for $2,500, a young attractive light-skinned mullatto woman could go for as much as $5000. I leave it to you to figure out why
How lovely. And if massa and his boys, er, apply themselves, they can make even more stock of high-value “light” product… Peculiar Institution indeed.
If using the “1998 equivalent” used in one of the abovecited sites about the SC slave trade, that comes up to 30,060, 41,750, and as much as 83,500.
===END QUOTED===
I like to use the following site for economic comparisons. It provides several different viewpoints, based on different inflation perspectives…
[http://www.eh.net/hmit/compare/](http://www.eh.net/hmit/compare/)
Using it, a Grade A field hand worth $1,800 in 1857
In 2003 the value of $1,800.00 in 1857 is worth:
CPI (Consumer Price Index) $37,700
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Deflator $28,800
Unskilled Wage $273,300
GDP Per Capita $442,000
GDP $4,420,000
Wow. Interesting.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/16 "2004-06-02T15:16:56Z")
> [@Jonathan Woodall](#):
>
> ## ===BEGIN QUOTED=== Quote: Originally Posted by Lumpy Roll, Jordan, Roll, by Eugene D. Genovese, gives some prices for different classes of slave, but I don’t know what the inflation-adjusted figures would be. The book mentions that while a prime field hand might sell for about $1,800, and a first-class blacksmith for $2,500, a young attractive light-skinned mullatto woman could go for as much as $5000. I leave it to you to figure out why
>
> How lovely. And if massa and his boys, er, apply themselves, they can make even more stock of high-value “light” product… Peculiar Institution indeed.
>
> If using the “1998 equivalent” used in one of the abovecited sites about the SC slave trade, that comes up to 30,060, 41,750, and as much as 83,500.
> ===END QUOTED===
>
> I like to use the following site for economic comparisons. It provides several different viewpoints, based on different inflation perspectives…
> [http://www.eh.net/hmit/compare/](http://www.eh.net/hmit/compare/)
>
> Using it, a Grade A field hand worth $1,800 in 1857
>
> In 2003 the value of $1,800.00 in 1857 is worth:
>
> CPI (Consumer Price Index) $37,700
> GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Deflator $28,800
> Unskilled Wage $273,300
> GDP Per Capita $442,000
> GDP $4,420,000
>
> Wow. Interesting.
This confirms my suspicion that slaves were priced then, like cars are today, in relative terms.
---
### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/17 "2004-06-02T17:08:05Z")
I’m going to have to chew over those numbers a while. They’re really interesting.
Thank you, **Jonathan Woodall**. That is a truly _ **sensational** _ link. Woo, and furthermore hoo.
---
### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/18 "2004-06-03T01:46:09Z")
How about the gold standard? How much would the amount of gold that would buy a slave in the 1850s be worth today? (let’s say 2004 =~ $250. per troy ounce.)
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/19 "2004-06-03T02:39:42Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> How about the gold standard? How much would the amount of gold that would buy a slave in the 1850s be worth today? (let’s say 2004 =~ $250. per troy ounce.)
The price of gold this year has varied between $350-425/ounce. I’d use $350 as it represents the average price over the last 20 years or so. That’s just my opinion of what to use.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980/20 "2004-06-03T03:09:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> How about the gold standard? How much would the amount of gold that would buy a slave in the 1850s be worth today? (let’s say 2004 =~ $250. per troy ounce.)
Well at Sam’s quote of 350/oz X 16 oz = 5600/lb and @ $37,700 for a number one man in 1850 to 2004 conversion numbers, you’d have to have about 6 and 3/4 lbs of gold in 2004 dollar gold equivalent for a first class male field worker.
See [Central Bank Gold Reserves - An historical perspective since 1845 by Timothy Green](http://www.gold.org/pub_archive/pdf/Rs23.pdf)
A fascinating document. It details the decisions made by various countries about what monetary standards they shoud use.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-it-cost-in-2004-dollars-to-purchase-a-slave-in-the-antebellum-south/247980.md?page=2)