The History of America without Slavery

Had there been no slavery, the US would be very different; The American economy would not be what it is today; American agriculture would not have grown at the rate that it did; the civil war would never have happened; the influences of the jazz, RnB, hip hop, salsa, rock and roll would not exist; the US would be pretty much European descendant. This are just a few of the impacts of slavery that would be absent in American today. This paper analyses a possible America that would have been without slavery (Guelzo & Allen, 2-5). Firstly, without slavery the continental United States of America would probably still be divided between France, Spain and the new USA. It is the 1803 uprising of black slaves in Saint Dominguez in Haiti that prompted France to sell the Louisiana Territories to the US at a pittance.

Cotton “drove the US expansion, enabling the young country to grow from a narrow coastal belt into a vast, powerful nation with the fastest growing economy in the world. ”(Guelzo)Between 1800 and 1835, cotton production soared from 36 million pounds in1800 to 480 million pounds in 1835. The production further increased to 1. 92 million pounds by 1860. Cotton farmed by slaves constituted 72% of all the world cotton and 57% of all America’s export by 1860.  2014, pp 1-3). Fourthly, the cultural diversity that the US enjoys today would be absent. African slaves and slaves from Indian and Russia brought new foods, words and music with them to America. These new cultures were used to create a new culture in America. Without slavery, jazz, RnB, hip hop, salsa, Rock n’ Roll and country music would not exist and so would its influence.