Chapter 30 Conditions

After listening to Constantine's purpose, Chester remained silent, picked up the pipe with his right hand, and raised it in front of Constantine.

"It's okay, you can do whatever you want," Constantine said.

Then Chester lit the pipe and took a deep breath.

"Hush..."

The room was filled with smoke and silence.

After smoking a pot of tobacco leaves, Chester said; "So, what can we get in return for the support of the United States?"

Constantine Constantine said: "I heard that the racial situation in your country is not optimistic. If the blacks in the United States want to return to the land where their ancestors have lived for generations since ancient times, then the Congo Commission will actively cooperate."

To put it bluntly, if Americans want to solve the problem of the large number of blacks in the country by moving them back to Africa, then the Congo River Basin controlled by the Congo Commission will open its mouth to accept American blacks.

Speaking of which, the solution to the problem of blacks has been the most troublesome chronic disease for the American elite since the independence of the United States.

The economic system of the southern United States is a slave plantation economy, while the north is a capitalist industrial and commercial economy.

By the 1860s, this contradiction became increasingly acute and unavoidable.

On the surface, the contradiction between the North and the South of the United States seems to be only about the abolition of slavery, but in fact, the essence of this contradiction is the contradiction of the choice of economic system.

The plantations in the southern United States use a large number of cheap black slaves, which makes them more inclined to develop agricultural plantation economy.

The agricultural plantation economy needs to export raw materials to European industrial countries, such as cotton. Cotton in the southern United States is exported to Britain in large quantities to earn foreign exchange, which makes cotton exports play an important role in the economy of the southern United States.

If such an economy is to be maintained, it is necessary to reduce tariffs by the US Customs, import industrial products from Britain, and complement the British economy.

As for the capitalist industrial and commercial economy in the north, the British Empire, which had completed the industrial revolution at that time, had unprecedentedly improved production capacity and its products were of good quality and low price.

In order to find markets for its products, Britain advocated free trade and encouraged countries to reduce tariffs.

If a low tariff policy is adopted, the fragile factories in the North will be squeezed out by British goods due to their weak foundation and short development time, and the development of industry and commerce will become a bubble.

This is the root cause of the contradiction between the North and the South.

The slavery system has become the focus of the debate between the two sides. Both the North and the South can see clearly that as long as there are no cheap slaves in the South, the plantation economy will not be able to continue to develop.

Even after the Civil War, although Lincoln issued the Abolition Proclamation and promised to give black slaves the rights of American citizens, Lincoln was highly praised.

However, the status of blacks is still low, racial discrimination is serious, and the idea of ​​moving blacks back to Africa still appears frequently.

This idea is not just empty talk, Americans really did it.

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, the number of free blacks in the North increased sharply, which caused a common panic among abolitionists and slaveholders.

They were worried that blacks would cause white workers to lose their jobs, that urban crime rates would increase, that free blacks would incite black slave riots in the South, and even that "uneducated blacks" would "devalue" American society.

In short, the whole society formed an atmosphere that was favorable to the "Black Homeland Party": send the blacks to where they should go as soon as possible, no matter how much it costs.

The first person to put this idea into action was Paul Cuffy.

Cuffy was an ocean-going shipowner with African and Native American ancestry. He had a wide range of contacts and had many contacts with US congressmen, black leaders and even the British government.

He formulated a plan that seemed feasible: transport black slaves from the southern United States to the British colony of Lion Rock in West Africa to settle there, and then use the original ship to ship local products to the United States for sale. The profits were used to subsidize the cost of transporting blacks, and the surplus was distributed among everyone in proportion.

His plan was soon taken seriously by all parties.

The plan to reverse the relocation of blacks was originally going smoothly, and a large number of blacks were sent to West Africa.

However, as the number of blacks increased, the contradictions between them and the local indigenous people became increasingly serious.

On the one hand, American blacks were incompatible with the cultural customs of the local indigenous people. After living in the United States for many years, most of them had already converted to Christianity.

On the other hand, the increasing number of black Americans has led to an increasing demand for resources. The settlements have begun to have friction and conflict with each other in order to compete for land and water sources.

In order to maintain local order, it is necessary to increase investment. Long-distance shipping, a large amount of settlement and resettlement costs, and huge military expenditures have overwhelmed the finances and made society increasingly dissatisfied with this.

In this situation, both the US government and the American Colonization Society are eager for a permanent solution: to merge those settlements into an "independent" country, so that exporting blacks there is not "sinful colonization", but a normal population flow between countries.

In 1847, this African country officially became independent. It is Liberia, which means the country of freedom.

This country completely copied the American political system, with separation of powers, a presidential system, the Senate and the House of Representatives, etc., and is a replica of the United States.

The reward proposed by Constantine is lip service, but it is actually unlikely that the United States will immigrate a large number of blacks to Africa.

After the Civil War, the United States had completely abolished slavery, and the basis for a large number of black immigrants no longer existed.

Although there is racial discrimination, blacks do not want to return to the primitive society of Africa.

Chester certainly understood Constantine's tricks, but the United States did not have a strong voice in Africa, so Greece could not pay too much to win over the United States.

Constantine chose the United States as a breakthrough point because of this.

Europe is the one that can really decide the ownership of Africa. The worst result is that even if the Americans do not support it, as long as they do not oppose it.

They did not expect them to make much effort.

"If there is only this condition, it is impossible for the United States to support the Congo Commission to manage the Congo River Liquor Area," Chester said bluntly.

"After the Congo Commission obtains management rights, it will adopt a free trade policy, and American goods can enter freely," Constantine sighed in his heart.

Although it is known that sooner or later, the trade monopoly will be given up, it is still depressing to give it up at the first diplomatic negotiation.

Although the United States is rich in various industrial resources and does not lack any raw materials.

But as long as it is a capitalist country, it cannot refuse the commodity market. No capitalist would dislike making too much money.

Thinking about the situation in Greece, it is relieved. Anyway, Greece does not have any industrial products to show off. If the market is not given to the Americans, it will belong to others.

"Woo", Chester was very satisfied with this condition.

The Congo River Basin is vast, more than 2 million square kilometers, with nearly 20 million blacks. Although they are all primitive tribal residents and have low market value, it is also a considerable market.

The United States, which is in the Gilded Age, protected domestic industry and commerce through high tariff policies, and production capacity grew rapidly. Factories were established rapidly like mushrooms after rain.

A large number of commodities also need more markets to digest.