Throughout history, slavery has been used to improve the demand for labor. Slavery has been illegal since 1865, when Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States, but it is still used in today's society in many forms. Before slavery became useful, colonists used indentured servants until it became more advantageous for them to rely solely on slaves for their labor needs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “Virginia would become the first British colony to legally establish slavery in 1661.” Slavery expanded in America because slaves were cheaper to meet settlers' labor demands, such as growing tobacco. Slaves were sent to America to work on plantations. The need for slaves increased when colonists realized they were best at meeting their labor needs for maintaining the plantations. The economy would not have survived without slave labor. Slaves were captured in Africa by African slave traders and sold to white slave traders who transported them on slave ships across the ocean called the Middle Passage. When they arrived in America, they were then sold to tobacco farmers if they managed to survive the long journey. All of British North America used slaves to meet its labor needs, but each region's labor needs varied. “Unlike the Central and New England Colonies, the Southern Colonies chose to export labor-intensive crops: tobacco to the Chesapeake (Virginia and Maryland) and rice and indigo to South Carolina, considered very profitable. Slavery was less used in the North, but involved a smaller slave population. In the North, slaves were primarily used as servants and worked on small farms. South Carolina and Georgia needed slaves for rice and indigo plantations, while North Carolina and the Chesapeake region needed them for tobacco plantations. Slavery in the North became illegal, but remained strongly in the South due to the demand for labor on large cash crop plantations. Slaves were brought to America involuntarily to be used as the colonists' primary source of labor. They were known as chattels and were marked as property, making them the lifelong property of their owners. They were traded as property to other settlers when needed. Slaves had no basic rights and were far more profitable than indentured servants. They were not given or promised anything in return for their work, which made them cheaper. Slaves could be better controlled. Slave owners punished or coerced their slaves if they did not obey orders or perform their jobs efficiently. According to Corbett, Janssen, Lund, Pfannestial, and Vickery (2014), slaves not only helped planters meet labor demands, but also served to assuage English fears of further uprisings and to ease the class tensions between rich and poor whites. “The engagement is an employment contract. that poor and often illiterate young English people, and sometimes English women, signed in England, pledging to work for several years growing tobacco.