In the book Making Race and Nation by Anthony Marx, he compares the development of three different countries which were major active members in the slave trade late into there development and into the modern era. Marx compares South Africa, Brazil and The United States. Marx's Thesis devises that each Nation though similar in the slave trade developed differently based on the control of an elite few, who in order to control the country economically and politically used the basis of race to divide or unite people to there advantage.
Using historical evidence Marx first gives a brief over view of the extent to which each country was involved in the slave trade comparing and contrasting both. Marx discusses the different view each country has toward there slaves. Marx found that Brazil thought of its slaves in a paternal sense. This idea that the slave holder was a sort of father figure developed due to the history of Brazil and it's colonial relation with Portugal. Brazil was for a long period of it's development under the colonial control of the Portuguese empire. While under the control of the empire brazil enjoyed the long standing stability of a stratified state. In which state and church were at the top and had complete control. This stratified idea that each person had there place in society helped to dim the light of brutality which is slavery. The ideas of the Catholic church also made it seem as though slaves were treated less harshly than else where. Marx finds this statement to be purely smoke and mirrors developed for pr purposes. The reality of the all inclusive Brazilian state was that it was just as brutal as any and the proof was in the pudding. Out of the three countries brazil had the most slave revolts and even had a city for run away slaves. Brazil was also forced to import 10 times the amount of slaves as the U.S. just to maintain a similar population. This was caused by the inability of it's slave population to reproduce.