Developing the thought of the centrality of slavery with regard to the social and economic development of the United States further back in time is Gerald Horne, who argues that both the expansion of slavery and the slave economy (greater economic control of and profit from the slave trade) were leading stakes in the colonists’ fight for independence from Britain. Arguing that for many proponents the control over the “free market”, especially the opportunity in participating in the slave trade was critical to the state-building of the founders, Horne shows that the actions of the U.S. elite stood in stark contrast of the highly professed ideals of European enlightenment, at least with regard to African slaves and their offspring. Moreover,