If the south had not had slaves to do their work for them, they would have become ingenious and inventive like the north, and would have enlisted the vast forces of nature in their service,--wind, and fire, and water, and steam, and lightning, the mighty energies of gravitation and the subtle forces of chemistry.
Editor's note · Context
Mann argues that the South's reliance on slavery stunted its innovation and progress compared to the North.
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