In this essay from his 1814 book Arator; being a series of agricultural essays, practical & political, a collection of essays about agricultural reform, politician John Taylor of Caroline argues that agricultural advancements to support the growing of wheat and other grain crops would sustain enslaved labor rather than undermine it. While some Virginia planters hoped the transition to less labor-intensive wheat would result in the decline of slavery, many continued their commitment to enslaved labor during the conversion from tobacco to wheat cultivation.
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