Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.
To say that "all men are equal" in 1716, when slavery
was flourishing in every corner of the world and most
eastern Europeans themselves were farmers who could
be sold along with the land they worked, was like
announcing that there was a new sun in the sky. In the
Age of Sugar, when slavery was more brutal than ever
before, the idea that all humans are equal began to
spread-toppling kings, overturning governments,
transforming the entire world.
Sugar was the connection, the tie, between slavery and
freedom. In order to create sugar, Europeans and
colonists in the Americas destroyed Africans, turned
them into objects. Just at that very same moment,
Europeans-at home and across the Atlantic-decided
that they could no longer stand being objects
themselves. They each needed to vote, to speak out, to
Which excerpt from the passage best states the
authors' claim? Most eastern Europeans themselves were farmers who could be sold along with the land. Europeans and colonists in the Americas destroyed Africans, turned them into objects. Why did people keep speaking of equality while profiting from slaves? The global hunger for slave-grown sugar led directly to the end of slavery.