This paper examines specifically a frequently employed purpose of accounting on slave
plantations in the antebellum US and the pre-emancipation British West Indies (BWI)
-the evaluation of slaves as assets. We attempt to explain why this exercise was
undertaken and the processes involved. Slaves were paraded past plantation managers
and overseers, often in the company of appraisers and bookkeepers, where narrow
distinctions were made on the basis of qualitative information such as physical
characteristics and productive efficiency. The paper considers certain comparative
features between the two slave environments, such as the greater concern in the BWI
with linking valuations to the skill sets of slaves and a valuation premium on male
slaves in the US which did not exist in the Caribbean. The paper concludes with a
consideration of certain moral issues of slavery, such as the potential implication
of accounting and accountants in a repressive regime and the attribution of
contemporary morality to an historical epoch long past.
Ballard (Rice C.) Papers, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
2.
Metcalfe Family Papers (Grove Plantation), Mississippi State Archives, Jackson.
3.
Perrin Family Papers, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
4.
Prudhomme (Phanor) Papers, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
5.
Vidal (Joseph) Papers, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
6.
Codrington Papers, Antigua and Barbuda National Archives, St. John's.
7.
Colleton Plantation, Barbados Museum, Bridgetown.
8.
Cottage Grove and Foster Hill Plantations, Barbados Museum, Bridgetown.
9.
Derry Pen, Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town.
10.
Lyons (James) Papers (Holland Plantation), University of the West Indies, Kingston.
11.
Newcastle, Bissex Hill, and Hopewell Plantations, Barbados Museum and
Barbados Archives, Bridgetown.
12.
Newton Plantation, Barbados Museum, Bridgetown.
13.
Old Montpelier Plantation, National Library of Jamaica, Kingston.
14.
Tudway Papers, Antigua and Barbuda National Archives, St. John's.
15.
Wakefield Plantation, University of the West Indies, Kingston.
16.
Worthy Park Plantation, Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town.
17.
Albany and New Hope Plantations, Bristol University Library, Bristol.
18.
Blubber Valley Plantation, Bristol University Library, Bristol.
19.
Brooke of Mare Papers, John Rylands Library, Manchester.
20.
Cammac Estate, Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
21.
Codrington Papers, Gloucester Record Office, Gloucester.
22.
Crawford Muniments, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.
23.
Fitzherbert Collection, Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
24.
Gale-Morant Papers, University of Exeter Library, Exeter.
25.
Grange Estate, Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
26.
Newton Plantation, University of London Library, London.
27.
Nisbet Papers, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.
28.
Stapleton Manuscripts, John Rylands Library, Manchester.
29.
Stothert of Cargen, National Register House, Edinburgh.
30.
Tharp Papers, Cambridgeshire Record Office, Cambridge.
31.
Tudway Papers, Somerset Record Office, Taunton.
32.
Wallens Papers, National Register House, Edinburgh.
33.
West Indies Original Correspondence, Public Records Office, Kew.
34.
Affleck, T.
, (1854), The Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book,
New Orleans: B.M. Norman
.
35.
Barney, D.
and
Flesher, D.
, (1994),
"Early Nineteenth-Century Productivity Accounting: The Locust Grove
Plantation Slave Ledger"
, Accounting, Business & Financial History,
Vol.4, No.2, pp.
275-294
.
36.
Baxter, W.T.
, (1999), book review of Bell, P.V., (1997),
Towards Greater Logic and Utility in Accounting
,
New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.
, Accounting, Business & Financial History,
Vol.9, No.2, pp.
255-256
.
37.
Blackburn, R.
, (1988), The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery 1776-1848,
London: Verso
.
38.
British Parliamentary Papers
, (1837-38), Papers Relating to the Abolition of Slavery in
Jamaica Barbados and British Guiana, Vol.85,
Shannon: Irish University Press
.
39.
Burrows, G.
, (2002),
"The Interface of Race and Accounting: A Comment and an Extension"
, Accounting History, NS Vol.7, No. 1,
pp.
01-13
.
40.
Carnegie, G.D.
and
Napier, C.J.
, (1996),
"Critical and Interpretive Histories: Insights into Accounting's Present
and Future through its Past"
, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal,
Vol.9, No.3, pp.
7-39
.
41.
Cook, E.M.V.
, (1997),
"Assessment of 1783: Legal Requirements and their Application in Montgomery County"
, The Archivist's Bulldog, Vol. 11, No.4,
found at http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/refserv/bulldogIbull97/htmllIbull1-4.html
42.
Craton, M.J.
, (1994),
"Reshuffling the Pack: The Transition from Slavery to Other Forms of Labor
in the British Caribbean, ca. 1790-1890"
, New West Indian Guide, Vol.68, No.1/2, pp.
23-75
.
43.
Crawford, S.
, (1992a), "Problems in the Quantitative Analysis of the
Data Contained in the WPA and Fiske University Narratives of
Ex-slaves", in
Fogel, R.
,
Galatine, R.
and
Manning, R.
(eds.), Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American
Slavery,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.331-371.
44.
Crawford, S.
, (1992b),
"Punishments and Rewards"
, in Fogel, R. and Engerman, S., (eds.), Without Consent or Contract:
The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, Technical Papers, Volume
II,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.
536-550
.
45.
Douglass, F.
, (1845), Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave,
Boston: Antislavery Office
.
46.
Fleischman, R.K.
and
Oldroyd, D.
, (2001),
"An Imperial Connection? Contrasting Accounting Practices in the Coal Mines
of North-east England and Nova Scotia, 1825-1900"
, Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.28,
No.2, pp.
31-62
.
47.
Fleischman, R.K.
and
Tyson, T.N.
, (1997),
"Archival Researchers: An Endangered Species?"
, Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.24,
No.2, pp.
91-109
.
48.
Fleischman, R.
and
Tyson, T.
, (2000),
"The Interface of Race and Accounting: The Case of Hawaiian Sugar
Plantations, 1835-1920"
, Accounting History, NS, Vol.5, No.1, pp.
7-32
.
49.
Fleischman, R.
and
Tyson, T.
, (2002),
"The Interface of Race and Accounting: A Reply to Burrows"
, Accounting History, NS Vol.7, No. 1,
pp.
115-122
.
50.
Fleischman, R.
and
Tyson, T.
, (2004), "Accounting in Service to Racism: Monetizing
Slave Property in the Antebellum South", Critical Perspectives on
Accounting, forthcoming.
51.
Flesher, D.
and
Flesher, T.
, (1981),
"Human Resource Accounting in Mississippi before 1865"
, Journal ofAccounting and Business Research, Vol.10
(supplement), pp.
124-129
.
52.
Fogel, R.
and
Engerman, S.
, (1974), Time on the Cross, 2 vols.,
Boston: Little, Brown and Co
.
53.
Forrester, D.A.R.
and
Vangermeersch, R.
, (1996), "Scotland: Early Writers in Double Entry
Accounting", in
Chatfield, M.
and
Vangermeersch, R.
(eds.), The History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia,
New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
, pp.520-521.
54.
Friedman, G.
, (1992), "Sources of Data on Slave Occupations: Their Uses
and Limitations", in
Fogel, R.
,
Galatine, R.
and
Manning, R.
(eds.), Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American
Slavery,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.69-77.
55.
Funnell, W.
, (1998),
"Accounting in the Service of the Holocaust"
, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.9,
No.4, pp.
435-464
.
56.
Heier, J.
, (1988),
"A Content Comparison of Antebellum Plantation Records and Thomas Affleck's
Accounting Principles"
, Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.15,
No.2, pp.
131-150
.
57.
Hening, W.W.
(ed.), (1969), The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of
all Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature in the Year
1619,
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press
.
58.
Holt, T.C.
, (1992), The Problem of Freedom, Race, Labor, and Politics in
Jamaica and Britain, 1832-1938,
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press
.
59.
Juchau, R.H.
, (2002),
"Early Cost Accounting Ideas in Agriculture, the Contribution of Arthur Young"
, Accounting, Business & Financial History,
Vol.12, No.3, pp.
369-386
.
60.
Kotlikoff, L.
, (1992),
"Quantitative Description of the New Orleans Slave Market, 1804-1862"
, in Fogel, R. and Engerman, S. (eds.), Without Consent or Contract:
The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, Technical Papers, Volume
I,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.
31-53
.
61.
Lascelles, E.
et al., (1786), Instructions for the Management of a
Plantation in Barbadoes and for the Treatment of Negroes, etc., etc.,
etc.,
London: no publisher
.
62.
Laughlin, R.
, (1999),
"Critical Accounting: Nature, Progress and Prognosis"
, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal,
Vol.12, No.1, pp.
73-78
.
63.
Loudon, J.C.
, (1831), An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture,
London: Longmans, Green
.
64.
Mair, J.
, (1763), Book-keeping Methodiz'd, seventh
edition,
Edinburgh: Sands, Kincaid, Bell and Donaldson
.
65.
Manning, R.
, (1992), "The Gang System and the Structure of Slave
Employment", in
Fogel, R.
,
Galatine, R.
and
Manning, R.
(eds.), Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American
Slavery,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.119-140.
66.
Mepham, M.J.
, (1988),
"The Scottish Enlightenment and the Development of Accounting"
, Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.15,
No.2, pp.
151-176
.
67.
Oldroyd, D.
, (1999),
"Through a Glass Clearly: Management Practice on the Bowes Family Estates
c. 1700-1770 as Revealed by the Accounts"
, Accounting, Business & Financial History,
Vol.9, No.2, pp.
175-201
.
68.
Olson, J.
, (1992), "The Occupational Structure of Southern
Plantations during the Late Antebellum Era", in
Fogel, R.
and
Engerman, S.
(eds.), Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American
Slavery, Technical Papers, Volume I,
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
, pp.137-169.
69.
Parker, R.H.
, (1997),
"Roger North: Gentleman, Accountant and Lexicographer"
, Accounting History, NS Vol.2, No.2, pp.
33-51
.
70.
Razek, J.
, (1985),
"Accounting on the Old Plantation"
, Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.12,
No.1, pp.
9-36
.
71.
Trevelyan, G.M.
, (1945), Illustrated History of England, third
edition,
London: Longman
.
72.
Tyson, T., Fleischman, R. and Oldroyd, D., (2004a), "Accounting for Labor
Structures on U.S. and British West Indian Plantations", unpublished working paper.
73.
Tyson, T., Oldroyd, D. and Fleischman, R.K., (2004b), "Accounting, Coercion,
and Social Control during Apprenticeship: Converting Slave Workers to Wage Workers
in the British West Indies", unpublished working paper.
74.
Vollmers, G.
, (2003),
"Industrial Slavery in the United States: The North Carolina Turpentine
Industry 1849-1861"
, Accounting, Business & Financial History,
Vol.13, No.3, pp.
369-399
.
75.
Walker, S.
, (2000),
"Encounters with Nazism: British Accountants and the Fifth International
Congress on Accounting"
, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.11,
No.2, pp.
215-245
.
76.
Winjum, J.0.
, (1972), The Role of Accounting in the Economic Development
of England: 1500-1750,
Urbana, IL: Center for International Education
and Research in Accounting
.
