Excellent point - slavery was far from 'free labor'. There was a huge amount of overhead with 'owning' slaves, when compared against machinery. Think of it this way - McDonald's pays maybe $8.00 an hour (at least for a short while longer) - does that employee really cost McDonald's $8.00 an hour, or more, far, far, more - given all of the overhead that goes with that employee - such as sick time, SS payouts, unemployment insurance, threats of lawsuits, etc.? Now think of a machine.
Excellent point - slavery was far from 'free labor'. There was a huge amount of overhead with 'owning' slaves, when compared against machinery. Think of it this way - McDonald's pays maybe $8.00 an hour (at least for a short while longer) - does that employee really cost McDonald's $8.00 an hour, or more, far, far, more - given all of the overhead that goes with that employee - such as sick time, SS payouts, unemployment insurance, threats of lawsuits, etc.? Now think of a machine.