What role has the slave trade played in the history of the American continent?

For the history of the American continent, the slave trade has played a decisive role. The thing is that the slave trade was popular there when most of the countries of Europe were moving from feudalism to capitalism. The industrial revolution was typical for the United States, but at the same time there was slavery. But the latter led to the fact that a civil war took place in the country, one of the goals was liberation from slavery. So that slavery led to the fact that the United States became a free and independent state with a democratic constitution.