Pre Civil War Era
Before the civil war, there was slavery in the United States. Since the sixteenth century, a trade triangle formed between Europe, Africa and America. Europeans would bring weapons and trinkets to the Africans in exchange of slaves. The slaves were brought to America and exchanged for cotton, sugar and other plants in America. Sailors would then bring these back to Europe and sell them for a lot of money. Slaves would work on the fields in exhausting conditions.