[AlanD]

You seem to be missing my point. In 1860, Slavery was hugely profitable for the South and it was mere chump change for the North.

[lentulusgracchus]

The Atlantic slave trade was always highly profitable to its participants. That's why it persisted, and nobody knows how many Buzzard's Bay and Boston Bay ships were converted from the declining whaling business to slaving. But it happened -- sub rosa, and therefore w/o adequate documentation.

Lerone Bennett made waves when he charged that numbers of prominent Jewish East Coast families were involved in the slave trade. Scholars looked into it, and whaddayaknow ....

Hey, business is business. It has no morality and no allegiance except to the bottom line. That's why the values of the forum have to be checked by "blue laws". Otherwise, the Chicago Board of Trade would be trading virgins right along with their other commodities.