Slavery Revealed

The colonial United States was founded by men who argued for freedom for all but, nonetheless, allowed the practice of slavery. The system became the core and strength of the economies of some areas of the young nation. All residents of the colonies, including the slaves, affected the development of the culture. Slavery had a negative impact on the culture and economy of the colonies. In areas that relied heavily on slave labor, the economy became too narrowly focused on agricultural activities and industrialization was delayed. Slavery had limited opportunity to contribute to the culture, which slowed progress. Colonial people had differing opinions about the institution, which adversely affected the development of a unified identity. All people and institutions in early American history were impacted by slavery. Where slave owning was accepted, the local economy soon looked very different from a region where slavery was less common.

The economic impact of slavery differed between regions. Distinct economies developed in different areas of early America. The South focused on the production of food products and raw materials, such as sugar, tobacco, rice, hemp, and cotton. The Northern regions grew a strong manufacturing and commercial based economy as the country was not well suited to the production of staple crop. The South became the source of a wide array of agricultural products for many reasons, including the longer growing season, soil which was most compatible with certain crops, and the abundance of land available for agriculture. The most important reason was the availability of slaves as a large, inexpensive work force. Yale University Professor, David Davis points out that slavery was essential to the growth of commercial capitalism in the New World. While the Northern regions of America did not have a large number of slaves, many areas were dependent on Southern slave owning regions for raw materials and for markets.The demand for these crops increased in both the North and in Europe.As a result, Southern plantation owners made significant profits selling their goods.With the introduction of new methods to manufacture cotton, the value of slaves was increased. The strong markets for their products created substantial wealth for the plantation owners, and a captive labor force, so there was very little reason for the slave owners to want to change a system that was working for them. The initial positive results achieved with the use of slave labor, eventually resulted in the South suffering economically. At times, overproduction of cotton actually decreased the price of cotton. With an economy based substantially on production of agricultural goods and raw materials, the South became very dependent on continuing demand from the North and on international markets. When that demand was decreased, whether as a result of economic problems or wars, the South suffered as it did not have other industries to provide jobs. It was also this type of dependency and restriction on activities that delayed the cultural progress of slaves.