Answer:
As British colonists became convinced that Africans best served their demand for labor, importation increased. By the turn of the eighteenth century AFRICAN SLAVES numbered in the tens of thousands in the British colonies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Slaves provided free labor to those who owned them. The increased demand and prices for cotton led to plantations owners to search for land in the west. The invention of cotton gin in 1793 allowed for much greater productivity than the manual separation of cotton. The result was an explosive growth in demand of slaves for cotton cultivation.
Slave trade had become a major economic activity in the south. French Louisiana already had sugar cane plantations and after the 1803 purchase, Americans rushed to establish their own plantations and profit from free labor that slaves provided. The slave population increased from around 10,000 to 45,000 from 1810 to 1830.