Unlikely though it seems, the potato promoted economic development by underpinning the industrial revolution in England in the 19th century.

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As the U.S. declared independence, the Industrial Revolution launched in England.

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One of the great puzzles of the industrial revolution is why it began in England.

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He also describes inventors in England who brought about the Industrial Revolution by making incremental improvements rather than grand inventions.

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And while there was a strong abolitionist movement in England, it was the Industrial Revolution, and its mechanization that did away with the need for vast amounts of cheap labor in the colonies, that eventually turned England against the slave trade.

WSJ: Human Transactions | Spirits of the Passage | Frazier History Museum | By Mark Yost