The United States would never have become the economic power that it is today without the advent of slavery. Since the colonies were founded indentured servitude, and black slavery played a major role in the economy. "By the time of the American Revolution, slaves comprised about 60% of South Carolina's total population and 40% of Virginia's and in cities such as Boston and Newport, 20-25% percent of the population consisted of enslaved laborers. "1 Evidently slavery was not not an institution of only the south and was in fact quite commonplace in the early years of the United States. Therefore I would argue that: slavery was a lucrative economic enterprise that jump started the United states economy through quickly providing an able bodied workforce, establishing a system where northern goods could be converted into cash crops, and creating a wealthy upper class which could devote time to running the country. .
In the early days of the United States there was an extremely high demand for workers in almost every industry; slavery provided these workers when indentured servants and free immigrants could not. "When the North American continent was first colonized by Europeans, the land was vast, the work was harsh, and there was a severe shortage of labor. "2 At this point indentured servants and bond workers were introduced to the colonies. However, these "white bond servants, from Europe eased but did not solve the problem. [So] early in the seventeenth century, a Dutch ship loaded with African slaves introduced a solution. "2 Since the limiting factor in the colonies was labor, it soon became apparent that the amount of tobacco produced was "directly proportional to the number of slaves that the planter owned. "3 Before true industrialization slavery is quite common in almost every society. Societies that are today regarded as highly sophisticated such as the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all allowed for slavery and before the enlightenment, most european lords had slave like relations to their serfs.