You really don't get it -- or really don't want to get it.
Of course I think it was the South's money. They produced it didn't they?
By that logic it really was the slaves' money.
No, I really don't get how a section of the nation that produces 28% of the total export value for a nation can buy more than 28% of the products from Europe, (your investment argument notwithstanding) unless they somehow get that money from the people who produced 72% of the total.
And the evidence indicates that's what they did. They got that money from the South.
By that logic it really was the slaves' money.
I agree. Absolutely. The money rightfully belonged to the slaves, but the laws of that era made the slave's money into the master's money.
It was wrong and immoral, but that is the way it was. Washington DC didn't seem to have a problem with the money being taken away from the slaves and put into their own pockets.
Even today, Americans buy slave made products from China.
I have come to realize, a lot of people will support slavery if they are benefiting from it.