The first slaves to be used in an English colony arrived at Virginia in 1619.
During the nineteenth century Britain's relationship with the growth and economic factors relating to sugar became complex. Several changes have arisen in understanding this period. For instance there were two viewpoints about the period. One was that humanitarian ideology triumphed in connection with the use of slave labor, and this undermined the production of sugar cane. Another viewpoint was that slavery became economically unsound, and it was this that really undermined continued use of slave labor. While many traders would claim to frown on slavery, there were many ways one could deal with this issue to escape with a clear conscience. One British man says to a Brazilian sugar supplier who employs slaves, "We have plenty of ships and they are at your service. It is true that slave labour would contaminate our warehouses, but ships are different things it is sinful to consume slave grown sugar, but there can be no harm in refining it" (Mintz 63-63). Money was the true king of the sugar industry and slavery would have to be accepted by many in order to continue profiting from the crop. But slavery was an abhorrent practice to many and it's abolishment would put a squeeze on sugar production all over the world.
Another factor was that the cultivation of sugar beet became more extensive in this period, possibly escalated by the conflicts between Britain and other European countries. When Nelson was victorious at Trafalgar in 1805, a blockade followed, cutting off supplies of cane sugar to continental Europe. Napoleon had heard that a new technique had been developed for extracting sugar from beet. He therefore decided that sugar beet should be the source of sugar for Europe. This meant that sugar cane and sugar beet were developed in parallel, and often in a competitive manner. Some idea of this is gained from statistics on sugar production.