Revolution, Reaction, Reform

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The best example of 'Revolution, Reaction, Reform' is the Trade Triangle and the pervasive abolishment of slavery. The Trade Triangle was the name coined to describe the flow of European goods to Africa, to African slaves to America, to American goods to Europe. The Triangle Trade can be well exemplified by lyricist Sherman Edwards's quote in 1776, "Shall we dance to the sound of the profitable pound in Molasses and Rum and Slaves?" In this quote, he refers to the product of the slaves' work, the molasses and rum--both by-products of sugar cane. Eventually, there were calls for abolishment of slavery. Along with this came the end of the European reign over the sugar industry. "The Haitian Revolution abolished slavery there and led to the establishment of the first black republic in the Americas. It also ended Haiti's dominance of world sugar production. Cuba assumed this position during the 19th century, and even after slavery was abolished there in 1886, sugar remained the foundation of its economy and its primary export commodity throughout the 20th century. Sugar was also produced by slave labor in the other Caribbean islands as well as in Louisiana in the United States. During the colonial period in the United States, tobacco was the dominant slave-produced commodity. Concentrated in Virginia and Maryland, tobacco plantations utilized the largest percentage of enslaved Africans imported into the United States prior to the American Revolution." (National Geographic) From the existence of the Trade Triangle and use of slave labor there were revolutions for freedom, European reactions including either granting or oppressing plantation colonies the right to a free state and the reforms of paying for the labor of the producers of the sugar crop.