Facts about Slavery in America

Here are some facts about slavery in America from The Patriot’s History of The United States. (2004) by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen:

1. Although slavery was profitable, profits and property rights alone did not explain its perpetuation.
2. The same of free market that allowed Africans to be bought and sold at the same time exerted powerful pressures to liberate them.
3. Southerners needed the force of government to maintain and expand slavery, and without it, a combination of the market and slave revolts would have ultimately ended the institution. [my emphasis]