Review

General Books

T. Stephen Whitman brings slavery clearly into focus as both an economic institution and a social world. He illustrates the dollars and cents dimensions of slavery, that is, as a profitable labor system and a form of property and source of investments for many, particularly women slave holders. The manner in which slavery shaped the social relations between whites and blacks, as well as white attitudes about race, is also presented. The conclusions presented are based on examinations of patterns of slavery and manumission in Baltimore and two rural Maryland counties, Dorchester and Prince George, in the early national period.	1
The comparison of term slaves and lifelong slaves is particularly illuminating. Term slaves were those people held in bondage for a particular period, usually individuals who had been promised their freedom after a specific number of years, or allowed to purchase themselves. Term slaves were more likely to be found in the city. Owners experienced challenges and opportunities for economic advantages resulting from term slavery. Term slaves, who could be sold before the period of their bondage ended, were valued at lower prices than lifelong slaves. Therefore, their sale and rental yielded lower profits. However, because term slaves had more concrete opportunity for legal freedom, they were less likely to run away resulting in lost investments. Also, often term slaves maintained themselves allowing owners to spend less on their living expenses. Whitman offers evidence to support the abolitionist assertion that gradualism perpetuated rather than ended slavery. Many term slaves never achieved freedom. Also, the longer the institution lasted, the more ways were found to use slave labor. However, too many factors mitigated against the widespread use of slaves in the burgeoning factory system. Some term slaves worked hard and were able to raise enough funds to emancipate their families. Others ran away or were a constant source of frustration to factory owners in regards to productivity as workers. Free white foreign-born workers were a more amenable and profitable source in the new industrial order.	2
The Price of Freedom also stresses the ongoing struggle of slave and free black families for autonomy and economic survival. Whitman reveals how blacks negotiated advantages for themselves and why whites accommodated them due to economic rather than humanitarian concerns. As an incentive to remain in bondage for a period, many slaves were given the opportunity to purchase themselves and family members. Parents usually purchased young children (under five) first. They were the cheapest because there was a high mortality rate among the very young and they were too young to work and generate a profit for owners. Because their labor yielded the highest profits, males ranging from adolescence to early adulthood were the most expensive. Females of the childbearing age were valued less. Not only was their work not as profitable as the boys and young men, but the labor of young women could also be interrupted by pregnancies, resulting in more mouths to feed for owners.	3
Free black labor was a cause of concern for both working class and more affluent European Americans. Many whites felt that black people would not be an asset to the new American republic. The growing presence of free African Americans (who outnumbered slaves three to one in Baltimore by the early nineteenth century) reinforced racial fears and prejudices. Working class whites did not want to compete with blacks for jobs or work with them as equals. Employment discrimination and additional financial burdens of purchasing family members kept most African Americans enslaved by poverty. To the middling and upper class whites, widespread black poverty was proof that African Americans did not possess the industry, frugality and acquisitiveness essential to the new nation and economy. The economic exploitation of black people reinforced antebellum racism.	4
Essentially, The Price of Freedom is an excellent text for upper division and graduate history students. In this study Whitman provides instructors and students with greater insights into the economic mechanics of slavery and manumission, particularly in an urban setting. The Price of Freedom constitutes a very important contribution to the study of slavery, race relations and the social history of the early national period. In addition, readers acquire an understanding of the complex relationship between economic factors and race in contemporary America.	5
University of North Florida   Carolyn Williams

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