[WalterBright]

> Note that the US did not industrialize equally - notably, consider the part where slavery-based agriculture was profitable

That's an astute observation. The slave based southern economy did not industrialize. Slavery is not a free market. I do not know of a free market economy that failed to industrialize.

As for slavery being profitable, one of the big drivers of the Civil War was it was becoming unprofitable, and the South needed to protect its inefficient economy. Separating itself from the North meant it could enact protectionist trade barriers (which were not allowed by the Constitution).

Like so many things in human history, the end of slavery came about less because of a moral awakening, and more because it didn't pay anymore.