The current wealth of the USA is inextricably linked to the practice of domestic slavery. It is almost impossible to measure the value of slavery as a whole, but slaves bolstered the economy of the United States by creating wealth, helping settle the frontier and tame the land, and through the direct sale of their bodies, which was a key element of the mid-19th century economy. Millions of slaves were sold and moved from the Upper South to elsewhere in the United States in the years before the civil war.

Not every American owes their prosperity directly to a slave owner, but they certainly owe something to slaves. It is impossible to imagine an America as wealthy, powerful, and prosperous as ours without the extreme financial advantage provided by slaves who worked the most valuable cash crop of the 19th century.

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Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told