Yes, ending slavery would have bankrupted the plantation owners, because the North was not going to pay any more for their cotton, but the land owners would have had to pay more to keep the workers.
Basic economics. Wages becoming more costly in relation to flat revenues results in bankrupt operations. Bankrupt plantations means plantations that can be bought up. Think of it as inhousing the growing of cotton for the Northern textile mills.
“ Yes, ending slavery would have bankrupted the plantation owners, because the North was not going to pay any more for their cotton”
What?
That doesn’t make any sense.
Slavery didn’t have to end to not buy cotton.