LogFAQs > #945875213

It would be far too different to be able to tell.

For example, a solid part of the Bible deals with how the jewish people were enslaved in Egypt and their escape from said slavery to head to Israel. If slavery never existed the Judeo-Christian faiths would be radically different. Ancient Egypt would be likely unrecognizable as they'd no longer have a slave caste for labor. While you might still get things like the pyramids the society would be different at its core. Ancient Greece would be extremely different as would Rome. In fact you could say in general that every culture would be different at its core since almost all of them were affected by it or its absence in some way.

But the one I know most people are thinking of is American Chattle slavery.

First off the South would have been much worse-off from the start. Cotton wasn't a good cash crop initially for a multitude of reasons and it was tobacco that was the main one. Likewise in the Caribbean there'd be a lot less people since one of the main drives was sugar. Slavery provided for a relatively cheap way to get the labor to staff those places and make those colonies profitable. So without it you'd probably see Europe simply exploit and pillage the Caribbean and Central America with only token colonies in what is today the Southern colonies. The northern colonies would likely remain similar culturally for the most part. However even there you'd likely see fewer numbers as moving out to the colonies would be seen as less of a chance at a future and more like an exile to a giant island where you make your living trapping beaver. When the revolution happened the South, while it might join, wouldn't be anywhere near as committed as they were in reality (that Britain might outlaw slavery making cotton and tobacco effectively wastes to grow for most people wouldn't be a threat). It's hard to say if this means the revolution would succeed or not. If it failed you'd likely end up with an America divided up into four to six sparsely-populated nations with the only large cities on the coasts. Colonial England, followed by French Louisiana, then arguably a Spanish/Mexican Texan area with a Native nation on the great plains and either Russia, Japan, or Spain claiming the territory to the west of the Rockies (and only sparsely populated at BEST). It would likely be seen as being akin to Australia. If the Revolution WON you'd likely not see a civil war and, instead, see the colonies slowly fracture apart to become 13 small nations with maybe a loosely-binding government keeping them as 'technically' one nation. They'd likely be unable to afford buying Louisiana from France and, thusly, wouldn't move west and remain probably about as important as the nations on the African Ivory Coast more or less on the global scale.

---

I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage