How Did Slavery Change America

In the year of 1619 something truly radical happen in Virginia, something that changed the United States of America. Something that could cause a civil war, and something that still plagues, our world today. This something is slavery. Slavery is a person being treated as if they were property, and to be used as a free labor source by another person. Although, slavery was thought to be abolished 1865, slavery still exists in many different forms and aspects of everyday life. In 1619 in Virginia, the American colonist were introduced to African slaves. A Dutch slave trader offered his slave cargo in order to obtain food. However, when the colonist first took the slaves captive, they were indentured servants and were able to acquire their freedom (Becker). However, when the Virginians saw that the indentured servants could be used as a free labor source human greed took over and soon the United States was part of the slave trade (Boyd). By the year of 1680 in Virginia slave trade was a way of life. (Becker) …show more content…
As the North went through its industrial revolution the South began producing cash crops, for example Cotton which they called Cotton King (Manjarez). The South soon realized the free labor could be used to plant and harvest the cotton. Slavery became even more popular in the South when Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. The Cotton Gin was a contraption that cleaned the seed of the cotton faster that any slave. This invention did not make slavery obsolete, in fact, it made slavery increase at a higher rate because the more cotton could be clean, therefore more could be planted (Manjarez) (Eli Whitney Museum and