STAAR 8th Grade Social Studies Practice Test

The growth of slavery in the colonies was driven by the need for a large, reliable labor force to run plantation economies. Plantations produced labor-intensive crops like tobacco, rice, and indigo, so owners needed many workers over long periods. Paying wages or relying on indentured servants didn’t provide the same steady, long-term labor, and as demand grew and costs rose, enslaved Africans became the permanent labor force that could be bought and controlled as property. The southern colonies, with their warm climates and expansive fields, depended most on this system, while the North did not rely on slavery to the same extent. The other options don’t fit because there weren’t policies promoting slavery from Britain, city migration didn’t drive plantation labor needs, and a free wage system would reduce slavery rather than expand it.