> Why not point out that in the long run it made the individual
> slaveholders worse off?
Because I don't think this is necessarily true. According to Jeff
Hummel, author of "Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men," slavery
provided a return to the slave owner that was comparable to, say,
investments in Northern textile mills. Slave holders also had part of
the cost of slavery socialized in the form of mandatory unpaid service
on slave patrols for all white males.
I can't believe slavery would have persisted for as long as it did if it
was really a bad deal (in the short or long run) for most of the
individual slave holders.
Mark