What would America be like if there never was slavery?

wow, this is one of the most intelligent topicsive ever seen on GS.

to answer that perticular question, we would have to look at the norms of society at that time. simply, if no one recieved slaves from africa, then slaves would have been brought in from somewhere else. every nation that conquers another either lets them rule (under supervision), imbue them into their society, or enslave them. thats it. if early america never had slavery, then there would be no prominent southen colonies and there for no prominent southern states. the north would continue to proper as the shipping industry of the great ports increased, yet the south would be unable to truly flurish. you couldnt really expect a handful of people to farm hundreds of acers, numerous times a year, it would be impossible, so there are many things that would happen

a. the us population cannot be sustaned as lack of food from the south staves the agricultural poor north, and the american population remains relatively small for a time

c. the lack of hands to farm the south forces the nation to create new technologies to assist in agriculture, (necessity is the mother of all inventions) and us sparks the first true industrial revolution, opening up many possibilites and many problems

c. the us is forced to import food from other nations, with the us still being a minor power (or not a power at all) there could be little done to change this, and other welthier empires colonize north america, pushing the weak and small americans back to britan or merging them into their own nation (imagine the entire north america being called the united europeain colonies nation)

d. but the most likey thing that would happen is slavery would occur, just with a diffrent people, maby hispanics, asians, or europeins them selves. we them to think of slaves as african american, but that is hardly the case (also it would have been far to easy to turn indentured servents into slaves. if they owed you a crossing debt, land or what not, you could make them work to pay it back and not pay them any wages) slavery had been the answer to agricultural, military, defensive, and many other problems (got alot of land and money? need to build an empire? get some slaves)

so really the thought of americans having no slaves is almost impossible, the may not have come from africa, but they would have been slaves non the less. that what i think anyway

[QUOTE="tocool340"]No Klu Klux Klan, less prejudice people, and more positive black communities would most likely be some of it's side effects. But then again, I'd would probably be born in the most remote areas of Africa since the white man wouldn't have came and took my ancestors to america.....martialbullet

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I obsess about alternate timelines.

If you are really interested in "What If" theories, than I recommend checking out this book.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Collected-What-If-Eminent-Historians-Imagine-What-Might-Have-Been/Robert-Cowley/e/9781435118256/?itm=22

No Klu Klux Klan, less prejudice people, and more positive black communities would most likely be some of it's side effects. But then again, I'd would probably be born in the most remote areas of Africa since the white man wouldn't have came and took my ancestors to america.....tocool340

The "White Man" didn't take you from your home, your fellow Black Man did.

Good thread, America would most likely be less developed. At the same time Africa might be better off. Even though they had slaves they were treated better. But this is all speculation, but as a black person in America I wonder how the world would have played out. Also if the world would still have many of its advancements.

Also has anyone here read slave narratives.

[QUOTE="collegeboy64"]

[QUOTE="Engrish_Major"]However, Western Africa would probably be a much better place. We utterly destroyed communities there for centuries.TBoogy

How do you figure this? The vast majority of slaves taken from Africa by Europeans were already slaves of the tribe they were bought from.

I'm not justifying slavery or trying to diminish the evil of what was done, but all the colonial powers have been out of Africa for over 40 years. Shouldn't Africans take some responsibility for their condition now?

1. Not sure what your point is here. My point is that most of the slaves were already slaves when the europeans purchased them.

2. Apartheid ended almost 20 years ago. Again,not sure what your point is here. Apartheid in South Africa was the LAST vestige of european colonialism in africa. And lets look at Zimbabwe, the former Rhodesia. Since apartheid ended there almost 30 years ago, that country has gone down the crapper. Mugabe got in and now they are starving and dying. Rhodesia was the bread basket of southern africa. Did the europeans take the rich soil with them?? NO. Hell, most of the white farmers stayed after apartheid ended, and the country continued to prosper. But then the blacks voted in Mugabe cuz he promised them "land reform", i.e. take the land from the whites and distribute it to the blacks. The whites had their land taken from them, so they left. So, now the natives are in control of it all. What happened? Why are they going down the crapper? Curious to hear how this is the fault of the evil whitey.

3. Most of the african nations that were former colonies have nationalized their natural resources. They then contract outside companies to come in and harvest them. Then the corrupt people in the govt steal all the money paid by the outside companies while their population suffers. And the continent has not been stripped of all its worth. I just heard a story on NPR the other day about a big oil discovery in Uganda. Africa is still very rich in resources. Unfortunately most african nations have reverted right back to the tribal society they were before colonialism.

Its time for Africans to start cleaning up their own corrupt governments and societies and quit spending their energy blaming it all on whitey. They are in charge now.

It would be poorer and have much less black people