The Study On The “Internal Economy” In Slavery Plantations In The Southern United States

The "Internal economy" is a concept first developed by American scholars to describe the various economic activities carried out autonomously by slaves on slaveholding plantations.With the permission of their owners,slaves were allowed to engage in a number of productive activities,including crop cultivation,hunting and fishing,livestock rearing,and forest harvesting.On weekends and holidays,slaves could sell their surplus at the market to earn income,or they could barter for needed goods.However,slaves did not have full control over all production surpluses,some of which had to be surrendered or submitted to the slave owner for sale.In engaging in various productive activities,slaves acquired a wealth of survival skills and knowledge about their surroundings.Local slave communities were also established as a result of the frequent economic activities.With the help of the accumulated environmental knowledge and slave communities,many slaves managed to escape from the plantation to escape from the plantation.The specific scale and impact of the "Internal economy" is difficult to estimate.The interaction between the "Internal economy" activities and the natural environment in the south is more extensive.Therefore,a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the "subsidiary economy" and its impact can be obtained from the perspective of ecological history.The "Internal economy" was not only a complement to the slave plantation economy,but also the result of the slaves’ struggle for economic freedom.By linking the closed plantation system to the broader southern environment,the "subsidiary economy" is an important insight into the economic history of southern slavery.This paper takes the lesser-known "Internal economy" of the slave plantations as an entry point to explore the economic activities of the slaves themselves and their relationship with the natural environment of the South,and to sketch a macro picture of the "subsidiary economy" in order to form a more complete understanding of the economic system of the slave plantations.The aim is to develop a more complete understanding of the slave plantation economy.The study of this paper includes the following three parts.The introduction mainly explains the relevant concepts,outlines the status of research on related issues by domestic and foreign scholars and the research features and innovations of this paper.The thesis is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1 analyzes the reasons for the emergence of the "Internal economy";Chapter 2 examines the main elements of the "Internal economy"-the "garden economy",the fishing and hunting economy,livestock breeding and forestry production-from both environmental and economic perspectives;Chapter 3 explores the decline of the "subsidiary economy" and its causes;Chapter 4 analyzes the nature and characteristics of the "Internal economy" and its effects.、In conclusion,it is argued that the "Internal economy" played an important role in the southern slave plantation economic system.Many elements of the slave plantation,market economy,and southern ecology were linked by the "Internal economy".The "Internal economy" shows us the unseen side of the slave plantation.Under the heavy economic oppression,the "subsidiary economy" not only improved the living conditions of slaves,but also gave them a more familiar knowledge of their surroundings,which helped them escape and gain their freedom.