There certainly would have been trade

Posted on: August 22, 2018 at 12:11:36 CT

and it may have even been of a similar level, but the input costs (labor) would have been substantially higher and they'd have to have been filled by other groups (Europeans, Chinese, who knows). If you don't have labor in the pre-Industrial agricultural world, then production would have certainly been diminished, but it may have also pushed the need for tech advancements in farming at a faster pace. Need trumps all.

But let's say it's lessened. If we aren't a major supplier of products to certain nations, do we get their assistance in certain wars? Maybe, if it's a common enemy, but you certainly don't have the economic incentives to partner up. Would it have required a different trade (land rights, let's say, instead of product). Would we have had the funds to make the Louisiana Purchase or other similar deals? In short, it could have altered history altogether. The possibilities are endless.

As to the last question, I think race relations are impacted as much by post-slavery conduct by whites, especially in the South, as it was slavery. It's certainly your last statement, but slavery has existed in other cultures as well, without the permanency or pervasiveness of the issue.