[ExI] Markets and slaves

[Damien Broderick]

and speaking of slavery:

<http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/3010/slavery.htm>

<The Emancipation Proclamation may have been one of the great 
landmarks in American history, but it was also the cause for perhaps 
the greatest instantaneous loss of property in American history, in 
terms of the wealth of the day.  The first time I saw a tax roll for 
a Florida county, I was shocked at the value placed on slaves.   Five 
hundred dollars each was about minimum, and it was not uncommon to 
value some slaves at $1,000 or more.   This was a time when land 
could be purchased from the Federal government for $1.25 per acre, 
and in some cases for as little as 12.5 cents per acre.   One slave 
was worth as much as hundreds and even thousands of acres of land. >

<To put the economic importance of slaves in West Florida into 
perspective, let's look at the 1863 Walton County tax roll.   The 
total of the property values in the county was distributed as follows:



                                              Real 
estate......................14%
                                              Farm 
animals...................24%
                                              Money and notes.............11%
                                              Other personal property...6%
                                              Slaves..............................45%  
Slaves..............................45% >