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Title: Slave Escape, Prices, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: In the antebellum South, slave transport between the Upper and Deep South was profitable due to a persistent gap in slave prices between the two regions. The gap has been attributed to agricultural productivity differences. This paper examines another potential explanation: regional variation in the chance of successful escape. To do so, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is exploited as a natural experiment. The Act strengthened slaveowners property rights reducing the likelihood of successful escape. Providing identification, the Act had a bigger impact in border states, where escape to the Free states was arguably easier. Using data from probate records, estimates suggest a large fraction (between 23 and 27% depending on specification) of the observed price difference disappears after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. Interestingly, because the Act reduced rather than eliminated the potential for successful escape, the estimates provide only a lower bound on how escape contributed to regional price differences. The findings imply that even if productivity were somehow equalized across regions, a higher likelihood of escape in the Upper South may still have resulted in transportation of slaves between regions.

Url: http://www.conorjlennon.com/uploads/3/9/6/0/39604893/slavery_spring_2015.pdf

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Authors: Lennon, Conor

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other, Race and Ethnicity

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