1. Slavery
Credit: Rischgitz/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
It can be argued that a good deal of American power today was built on the backs of slaves. A large part of the economy of the South before the Civil War revolved around the cotton industry which was dependent on the labor of many of the South’s 4 million slaves. America’s racial dynamics are still colored by the effects and implications of the institution, even 150 years after its abolition.