ABSTRACT
Charleston merchant Josiah Smith (1731-1826) kept up a regular correspondence with fellow merchants throughout the Atlantic world. Since eighteenth-century shipping could succumb to piracy, foreign warships and hurricanes, it was normal practice for merchants to retain a copy of every letter they sent so they could send a replacement if the original was lost. Several of the letters contain lengthy descriptions of legal cases concerning Austin’s property, the problems associated with employees, and market reports, all which have been omitted from these extracts. Many letters like these would have been written either by overseers or managers to enable owners to keep track of the progress of their property. While only a small number survive, they are evidence of the normality, even mundanity, of slavery for most whites. The letters from Josiah Smith to George Austin thus remind people that slavery in colonial North America was primarily an economic system designed to enrich whites at the expense of Africans.
