Largely, this was due to a shortage of European indentured servants, an end to the Royal African Company's monopoly over the slave trade (competition among slave traders led to a decrease in slave prices), and a realization among the colonists that slaveholding was far more profitable than the employment of indentured servants. ... Unfortunately, the stunning economic growth of 1680-1770 was not experienced by all early Americans. ... Economic opportunities for many were increasingly found in the undeveloped, peripheral regions of the colonies where economic stratification had not yet sol...

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• Grade Level: Graduate