There was no stable currency. The federal government…had no no ability to tax, and so it also could not act as a national state. That was until the Founding Fathers set a course to make slavery one of the engines of colonial economic growth in the New World, which would become The United States of America.
These words are from the pages of The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist.
Karen Hunter is hosting a one-person book club on her podcast breaking down one of the most quintessential books ever writing about the economy of the United States and how slavery was the catalyst to its greatness.
For anyone who has ever said, “Why are we still talking about slavery?!” or “My ancestors never owned slaves, so why should I be involved in any conversation about slavery?” or “Slavery was 200 years ago. Can we move on?”
The Half Has Never Been Told answers all. If you are living in America today you have been the beneficiary of an institution that allowed the United States to become a super power. There is no great America without slavery and the enslaved people who built the country.
This is a modern-day discussion that must be had and it goes beyond the notion of reparation. It goes straight to the heart of what is America today.
