To Start slavery in any form is immoral and needs to be abolished from every corner of the globe.
I am asking this because I heard somewhere that a big factor for the banning of slavery in these industrialized areas of the world (I.e Britain and the Northern US) was motivated by profits because it was better on profits to have paid workers rather than slaves.
That could also be 100% wrong but if it is true then wouldn’t slave labor bring more profit than a paid worker?
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150 years ago the economy was very different. The vast majority of manual workers were poor, with barely enough to live on, eg, in the UK, several families shared one small house. You could hire a worker for a few weeks.
A large cost was food, and workers needed a lot calories.
Slave owners needed to buy the slave (large cost) AND provide food and shelter. And if the work is seasonal, you still have to provide food.
Plus, slaves would either be born in the US and have minimal education, or come from Africa, where their skills would have little use.
Slave owners knew that slaves from Africa would take several years to become ‘acclimatised’, meaning able to provide meaningful with without disruption.
Finally, free men would work harder to ensure the got another day’s work or build up their money.
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