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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Eh. Slavery is as old as time. Slavery was found in just about every civilization and society and culture globally. The ancient civilizations were built upon the backs of slavery.

Do you stare at the pyramids and demand that they should be demolished because god knows how many thousands of slaves died in constructing the pyramids? Or the Roman forum (or what's left of it?). Or the Mayan pyramids? Or the Great Wall of China?

The peculiarity of American slavery, which, by the context of slavery historically, was not quite as bad as it could have been, was that it was race based and it violated the notion of free-will and self-determination that the US had enshrined as a principle founding concept for our country. Historically, the idea that a man's free-will and self determination needed to be respected is actually a very recent concept. Prior to the 1800s it was not something practiced or believed in by most cultures, which is why the crime of slavery was not seen as such in the past. That slavery was racially based was also a relatively new concept, in the ancient world slavery was multicultural and of course in other cultures slaves were of the same race as their masters. It seems to me that the sheer anger towards the existence of slavery in America's past has less to do with that it was slavery, per se, but that it was a racially based institution.

It's also interesting how we've swung from the happy clappy slaves tripe of the 1930s movies to Django perspective of today where it's akin to the holocaust. The reality is that American slavery was was a much more muddled institution somewhere in between the two. [b]I've read the fascinating accounts of slave survivors in the LOC and for every ex-slave who talked of a cruel master who beat his slaves, there's another one who talks of a kind and benevolent master.[/b] American slaves were extremely expensive, the average white American could never afford one. The typical slaveowner was a farmer who owned 2-3 slaves to help out on his farm and who worked alongside the white family in the fields and at the endless chores. The typical slave was owned on a plantation but the typical plantation was a smallish affair with 2-3 dozen slaves. Only a tiny minority of planters had 100+ slaves like Washington. And while we can stare at the few surviving slave cabins and be appalled by living in shacks with dirt floors, but in 1860 so did a lot of poor whites....

What's also fascinating is how many southerners did not see the institution as immoral. At all. Many thought they were being benevolent and responsible. Yes, I know, I know. It's perverse to think of slavery as such these days, but that was the perspective back then. I've struggled to understand the mindset myself but I am coming from the 21st century. And the North was only marginally better, it may not have approved of slavery but it also did not see African Americans as equals as white. The state of New York was firmly abolitionist but in the 1860 election, while voting for Lincoln, the state also rejected, by a thumping majority, granting the right to vote to all free blacks.

Complex world. Complex history. 
[/quote]

Why'd you even take the time to type out this BS?  Sounds like you were educated using Texas history books.[/quote]

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