The
Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book
is a best-selling and pioneering guide to farm accounting in the
antebellum
cotton
-producing regions of the
United States
. It was first published in 1847 or 1848 by
Thomas Affleck
(1812?1868), a Scottish immigrant and owner of the
Glenblythe Plantation
in
Gay Hill, Washington County, Texas
. The book contains a detailed system, including blank tables to be filled in, that allowed
plantation
owners to track the efficiency of their production. It also includes essays on various aspects of plantation management, such as the proper care and discipline of
slaves
.
History and influence
[
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]
Thomas Affleck published the first edition of the
Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book
in 1847
[1]
or 1848.
[2]
In 1842 he established a plant nursery and experimental cotton farm near
Washington, Mississippi
.
[3]
Later, discussing the origin of his Account Book, Affleck wrote:
During my first year's planting, I prepared two books with the pen, almost identical to that now published for the cotton plantation, and gave one to each of my next year's overseers, making it a part of my contract with them, that these books were to be correctly kept and returned to me at the end of the year. And, with a little assistance and encouragement, it was done. And what a satisfaction it was to me! Soon after that, at the suggestion of a New Orleans Publisher, I prepared him a transcript of the plan for publication.
[3]
Affleck published new editions every year thereafter until the
American Civil War
of 1861-1865.
[1]
After the war, the name of the book was changed to
The Farmers' Record and Account Book
and the scope widened to include "any system of husbandry, ... the products of any climate, and ... farms of any extent."
[2]
Affleck's book was a consistent
antebellum
bestseller
[1]
in the cotton-producing states
[4]
of the lower
Mississippi River Valley
.
[1]
Historian
Mark M. Smith
has noted that "it was precisely on plantations that masters employed the most rigorous, capitalist management techniques," which created a need for specialized ledgers and accounting techniques, Affleck's being "one of the most popular [of these] record book brands."
[5]
By the end of the 1850s, his Account Book had sold over three thousand copies, contributing to his powerful influence on the direction of the "plantation economy into scientific and systematic channels."
[6]
According to historian Robert Williams, Affleck's manual included "a number of other forms which marked an improvement in the system of rural book-keeping. The record forms were essentially consistent with the intent and purpose of modern cost-accounting, and followed the best and most advanced principles of efficient administrative management."
[7]
Contents
[
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The book contained a detailed system which allowed plantation owners to record and track the accounts of their plantations, including pounds of cotton produced per slave, per acre, per bale of
cotton
, and the
gross
and
net
value of production.
[1]
Space was also provided for recording births and deaths of slaves, their clothing and tools, and other such assets and debits.
[3]
Unlike many contemporary systems of agricultural book-keeping, Affleck's book took account of
depreciation
, the costs of labor, and other "often neglected factors."
[7]
According to historian
Walter Johnson
, the book "provided a convenient table by which slaves' annual increase in value could be tracked in the same set of tables as their daily cotton production, and a page at the back where the planter could fill in the value of his slave force, and calculate "interest on the same at ten percent.""
[8]
It was published in four numbers for plantations with fewer than 40, 80, 120,
[9]
and 160 "hands," which
retailed
for $2.50, $3.00, $3.50, and $4.00 respectively.
[3]
It also contained advertising for the slave markets of
New Orleans
.
[5]
Affleck's book also contained essays and advice on slave management, including, e.g.,
George Washington
's instructions to his own slave overseer
[4]
and instructions for managing the health of slaves.
[10]
The Duties of an Overseer
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]
The Account Book included Affleck's essay,
The Duties of an Overseer
, which noted that one of the most important aspects "of a fine crop is an increase in the number and a marked increase in the condition and value of the
negroes
."
[11]
Slaveowners, for various reasons, were willing or eager to allow their slaves to attend religious services
[12]
and Affleck, in
The Duties of an Overseer
, agreed with this practice:
You will find that an hour devoted every Sabbath morning to their moral and religious instruction would prove a great aid to you in bringing about a better state of things amongst the Negroes. It has been thoroughly tried, and with the most satisfactory results, in many parts of the South. As a matter of mere interest it has proved to be advisable, to say nothing of it as a point of duty. The effect upon their general good behavior, their cleanliness, and good conduct on the Sabbath is such as alone to recommend it to the Planter and Overseer.
[12]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
- Duties of an Overseer
from Affleck's
Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book
, reprinted in
The American Cotton Planter
Vol.2, no.12, December, 1854, pp. 353?6
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