The complexity of race influenced the Jacksonian era through the cunning of the white man's desires for economic expansion. Democracy, during its infancy in early 19th century America, considered all “people” equal. However, this designation of "people" excluded Africans and Native Americans. The institution of slavery was a return investment venture for Southern planters in their greed for the production of more basic crops. Many white Americans led extravagant lifestyles thanks to the large incomes they received from working their estates. Furthermore, the controversy over the removal of Native Americans from their lands depicted the voracity with which European Americans plagued native civilizations during the antebellum United States. The Indian Removal Act and slavery, along with all its conflicts, led to vile race relations in the Jacksonian period and can still be seen in the twenty-first century. The controversial events mentioned above had a direct correlation with the economic development of the United States and brought the inherent altruism of democracies to a history marked by racial inequalities. The proto-industrialization of the textile industry in the northern part of America led to the emergence of cotton as the main crop. Cotton was grown in the Southern states and was the most valuable export commodity in the antebellum period. Plantation agriculture with its inherent system of slavery was used in the early 19th century to meet the high demands of the growing economy. The issue of race was linked to slavery as the easily recognizable skin color of Africans was used as a sign of their oppression. According to Harry L. Watson, European races placed stereotypes at the center of the map... property multiplied following the removal of Indians from their homelands in the South. More slave ownership was demanded of Southern planters from the acreage newly acquired by the controversial Indian Removal Act. The evils of expansionism further divided politics and caused many difficult relations between the races. Even as politicians worked hard to keep race out of the headlines, economic expansion was inevitable. Slavery and the abstraction of Native Americans were a crushing inequity that ultimately caused the fall of the Union and fixed race relations into an insoluble entity. (W- 57 & d- 3, 12, 13) Works Cited Watson, Harry L. Andrew Jackson v. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America. New York: Bedford/St. Martin, 1998. ix + 262 pp. Index, illustrations, selected bibliography