Resolved: A truely capitalistic system would be detrimental to slavery, even if it were permitted t

Violation of rules: I have discussed this with my opponent outside of this debate and he has decided to drop this argument so we may continue debating. Therefore, I would like to ask the judges to not account for Pro's demands for 7 points . However, to be as fair as possible I would like to drop my rebuttals to commonly argued points. On the other hand, I will be keeping my mercantilism contention. Now let's finish this debate. Contention 1: King Cotton and Slavery My opponent offers a lot of interesting facts that are definitely useful to know, but those facts do not prove that capitalism would be detrimental to slavery. Some of the facts he offers are why cotton was so popular as a crop and some of the critical errors of the time. Then Pro explains why this would be harmful to slavery, "When we observe the above graph we can see that the prices of slaves would rise dramatically and continue to do so. Many have even gone as far to state that slavery would end itself" So once slavery stops being profitable, slavery stops being done. Pro claims part of the reason is overproduction. " This was done by more and more plantation holders and this caused overproduction of cotton which caused a price failure. With that mixed with the soil deplition issue we can see that it would only spell disaster for slavery." So now let's ask the important question, does this mean that today if slavery was allowed under a system of capitalism would slavery be done. The answer is no. This argument fails to prove that for a few different reasons. 1. The fall of slavery was caused by a few problems that are purely caused by very poor economic and agricultural practices. In the modern age this could easily be avoided. 2. This is a very historical argument and while it is good information to know a lot has changed in the past 100-200 years. We have developed new technology and more advanced practices, which could clearly change the outcome of slavery today. 3. Some of the ways this mistake could have been avoided would be by diversifying crops and/or markets. You could also produce livestock and minerals. This would solve both of the main issues highlighted by Pro. This would solve soil depletion by using crop rotation to help make a healthier soil. This would also solve for the issue of overproduction, because when you have diversified your business you have a few other markets to fall on. You also would make overproduction a much smaller problem because if you are diversified as oppose to not being diversified you are producing much less of a single resource and more of others. You also have the problem solving ability of switching markets while one market fails until said market recovers. Contention 2: Mercantilism and Capitalism " merchantilism which was a key economic system in which the South was rooted in for a long time" That is true, for those don't know mercantilism was an economic system formed slightly before the colonial period and was largely responsible for said period. Pro states that Mercantilism has tariffs which was the problem with the system. Pro also admits that Mercantilism is a very capitalistic system. "Merchantilism is an economic system in which although capitalistic, it still has barriers to free trade. A key barrier to this system was that of tarrifs" Pro then makes a large jump and asserts that without said tariffs cotton and other key industries would fail and with it slavery. That just doesn't make any sense and it very contradictory to what Pro previously said. Just a few sentences before he was talking about how tariffs hurt the cotton industry and lowered the quantity of demand, for it increased the price while not increasing the amount of money the company got. In fact, raising taxes always hurts the economy.( http://www.redstate.com... ) It's just a simple fact, therefore under a system of true capitalism with complete free trade there would be little to no tax and a flowing economy. This would do the opposite of decimate cotton and other industries and instead cause them to grow, therefore causing slavery to grow as well. So onto the next argument. Pro gives a lot of information here, but a lot of it isn't relevant and does not improve his argument. However, some of his arguments were relevant and I will address them now. Pro says that under slavery there is no incentive for slaves, therefore the produce they produce has a lower quality. He ended with the quote "Why trust American cotton why you are paying for some one who has done a better job, due to incentive, from India." Well let me answer that question. The same reason people buy lower quality products for a lower price as oppose to higher quality products at higher prices. Pro's argument does not prove the resolution to be true for a few reasons. 1. The incentive of slaves will either be very close or the same to the incentive of those working in waged slavery. They are both working for survival and nothing more. Survival is one of the greatest motivators one can experience. The desire to live is the force that drove early humans to find food and keep living their difficult lives. If you are faced with a life or death situation believe me, you will do whatever you can to survive. Maybe, that's also what just makes slavery so brutal. They take advantage of and exploit the slaves very will to live and work them until the point where that will is gone. 2. Lower quality of product does not necessarily mean low profit. Lower quality products sold at cheap prices is great for reaching out to lower income and younger customers. This can be seen with the corporation McDonald's. They produce low quality food at low prices and they are the largest fast food corporation in the world. If McDonald's or similar corporations like Burger King, White Castle etc. had slave labor their production would shoot up even higher than it is now and give them the ability to make even more money. 3. Many customers are very low income and will buy the cheapest product regardless of the quality of the product. This would be especially useful for slave holders considering it would mostly be their job to produce common resources and products in bulk.