Governor Henry Wise's Antebellum Oyster Quest to Make Virginia Great Again

All major oyster producing states, except Virginia, built packing houses and aquaculture farms before the Civil War. Instead, Virginia exported oysters to packing houses and aquaculture farms in Northern states. Governor Henry Wise proposed banning Northern oyster boats and taxing oysters in 1856 as a way to develop Virginia-owned aquaculture and packing. He also wanted to use oyster taxes for schools and infrastructure in his effort to modernize Virginia's economy while maintaining slavery. Wise's plan ultimately failed in the state legislature. Researchers often overlook failed efforts, as they leave fewer documentary traces, but understanding reasons for failure can be highly informative. This paper asks why Virginia's fishery was so different, and it looks at the debate over Wise's proposal. It closely examines the role of maritime slavery and shows how fear of slave rebellion and autonomy led coastal slave owners to develop an oyster industry quite different, and less productive, than their Northern competitors. It employs an Atlantic perspective, examining how the flow of ideas, people, and objects shaped Virginians' response to industrialization in the fishery. The paper also aims to show the relevance of Southern historical geography for understanding contemporary rural resentment.Todos los principales estados productores de ostras, excepto Virginia, construyeron empacadoras y granjas acuicolas antes de la Guerra Civil estadounidense. En cambio, Virginia exportaba ostras a empacadoras y granjas de acuicultura en los estados del none. En 1856, el gobernador Henry Wise propuso prohibir los bar-cos de ostras del norte y gravar las ostras como una forma para desarrollar la acuicultura y el empaque que formaba parte de la propiedad de Virginia. Queria usar los impuestos generados por la venta de las ostras para mejorar las escuelas y la infraestructura y para modernizar la economia de Virginia mientras se sostenia la esclavitud. El plan de Wise finalmente fracaso en la legislatura del es-tado. Los investigadores suelen pasar por alto los esfuerzos fallados, pero entender las razones de los fracasos puede resultar fructuoso. Este articulo pregunta por que la pesqueria de Virginia fue tan diferente y examina el debate sobre la propuesta de Wise. Examina la funcion de la esclavitud maritima y demuestra como el miedo de la rebe-liony autonomia de esclavos llego a que los duehos de esclavos desarrollaran una industria de ostras muy diferente, y menos product