Banking on Slavery

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Introduction : banking in the nation's largest slave market -- Part I. Financing southwestern expansion through the 1810s. The limits of early bank financing of slavery -- Adapting slave financing to the needs of the frontier South during the nation's first boom and bust -- Part II. Financing an empire of slavery in the 1820s and 1830s. Old South banks and frontier finance -- Pushing financial boundaries with traditional banks -- Reimagining banking for a slave economy -- Part III. The collateral damage of the Panics of 1837 and 1839. Foreclosing (or not) on delinquent slaveholders -- Escaping debt : bankruptcy, fraud, and going to Texas -- When banks fail -- From commercial banking to private finance -- Epilogue : banks, debt, emancipation, reparations, and memory