Decade: to 1775* (South) Tip: Plantation economic system and indentured servitude The economy of the Southern colonies was based on large, scattered plantations devoted to the export of commercial agricultural products. The cultivation of staple crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco was essential to the economic prosperity of the Southern colonies. However, the widespread distribution of plantations, caused by the ongoing need to combat soil erosion, has slowed the growth of cities in the region. To operate large plantations, Southern settlers acquired a large workforce of indentured servants as colonial populations slowly increased through natural reproduction, Native Americans died rapidly upon contact with Europeans, and the importation of African slaves was too expensive . Popularized by the right-head system, indentured servants migrated to the Southern colonies, expecting land at the end of their servitude. However, as the amount of available land increased, indentured servants were not granted access to it, as previously promised. Frustrated with lack of land and low wages, 1,000 Virginia indentured servants went on a robbery and pillaging spree in what would be known as Bacon's Rebellion. After Bacon's Rebellion, tension between landowners and former serfs led to the search for a new manageable workforce: African slaves. Since the African royal colony had lost its monopoly on the slave trade, prices for African slaves were no longer expensive but rather affordable. The supply of slaves was also able to meet the needs of Southern plantation owners as Africans were sent through the Middle Passage under the triangular trade scheme. By the late 1750s, African slaves were a staple... at the center of paper... the growth of the steel and oil industries made rapid growth inevitable. By 1900, the United States would emerge as the world's leading industrial power, with manufacturing output exceeding that of Great Britain, France, and Germany. The economy has grown on average about 4% per year, due to various factors. The growing population, combined with an advanced transportation network, meant an abundant supply of labor for industries. Natural resources also played a role in enabling large-scale industrialization. Businesses flourished thanks to government property protection policies and various loans, grants, and tariffs. The 19th-century belief that government regulation of business was foreign contributed to the idea of ​​"laissez-faire," originated by economist Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations.