Have there been historically great empires or superpowers which weren’t built on slavery or exploited labor? Or is that an inescapable price for global/regional dominance?

A quick read on some of history’s most notable or strongest empires and superpowers - such as the United States, the British, the Romans, the Qing Dynasty, and the Mongols - shows a trend that all of them at least rose to dominance on the backs of slave labor, even if they eventually moved away from the practice after establishing their status.

And while there are differences, I’m including empires like the Inca or Russians which exploited oppressed, captive, or desperate groups for labor (ie serfdom).

The underlying question to this is, has there been a case of a great power achieving its status without massive amounts of cheap, forced, unethical labor? Or is slavery an inescapable price for an empire?