Abstract: The paper traces the emergence and influence of a new movement in American historiography, the New History of Capitalism (NHC). Th e NHC is situated and analyzed in the broader context along with the development of historical science in the United States. Special emphasis placed by the NHC on the role of slavery in American economic development is examined. Concepts advanced by the NHC are scrutinized in light of the decades-long debates in American historiography considering the impact of slavery on the rise of capitalism, and the capitalist character of American slavery. 

Keywords: New History of Capitalism, capitalism, American historiography, slavery

Summary 

The notion of capitalism has experienced a reemergence as a historical concept. Propelled by political and economic developments, the history of capitalism emerged as one of the premier topics in American historiography. The movement centered around it was named the New History of Capitalism (NHC). The emergence of the NHC should be understood in light of the advance of cultural history and the divergence between historians and economic historians in the last decades of the 20th century. Th e NHC’s project is based on the idea of denaturalization and historicization of capitalism. It aims to provide a critical view of the economic development of the US. Although interested in topics like finance, risk, insurance, or conservative economic doctrines, the NHC is chiefly focused on the role of plantation slavery in the development of the 19th-century US. For the NHC, the history of American capitalism can only be understood through the prism of slavery. Perspectives of the NHC represent the reopening of two important debates on the relationship between capitalism and slavery, first dealing with the role of slavery in the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism, and second focused on the questioning capitalist character of US slavery. For the movement’s representatives, American capitalism was slavery’s capitalism, and American slavery was capitalist slavery. Th e NHC has been criticized from different perspectives. Still, the most thoughtful criticism argued that without a clear definition of capitalism, the NHC fails to achieve its primary goal – the denaturalization of capitalism.