Final answer:
The forced labor of African and Indigenous people in the Americas led to economic benefits for Europe, causing an influx of wealth and goods that influenced European economies and societies, and contributed to systemic racial divisions. It also made certain goods more accessible to the working class but potentially harmed European craftsmanship due to mass-produced goods from the plantations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The forced labor of African and Indigenous people in the Americas had significant repercussions for the lives of working class Europeans. At the core, the plantation agriculture and the slave labor that supported it led to an influx of wealth and goods in Europe, which in turn affected European economies and societies.
This system economically benefited European merchants and the overall economy, but with the prosperity came moral, philosophical, and political debates about slavery and human rights, which reverberated throughout European society.
Additionally, the legal distinctions drawn by European colonies between people of European and African ancestry helped to create systemic racial divisions, laying the groundwork for the racism that continues to affect societies globally.
Moreover, the labor of enslaved Africans and indigenous people on plantations producing cash crops like sugar, tobacco, and cotton, meant that European markets were flooded with these goods, reducing prices and making such goods commonplace even among the working class. However, the increase in available goods did not necessarily improve the working conditions or class status of the European working class. Instead, the influx of goods sometimes resulted in the devaluation of European craftsmanship, as mass-produced plantation goods took precedence in trade and commerce.