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The point I was trying to make is that most other countries didn't build themselves from the ground up the way the US did when it declared independence. And still, the founders of the country built in the system of human slavery, while claiming "all men are created equal" and the inherent rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These were not uneducated, unethical people. They did know better, even though they were the products of their time.
Let’s consider the economic reality of colonial Virginia if you were a planter like Washington or Jefferson. Even if they were opposed or at least uncomfortable with slavery, they were competing with other planters who were fully into it, with no qualms or concerns about slavery. If Jefferson decided not to use slaves he would never have been anything but a small dirt farmer or a country lawyer. Hiring workers would have driven him out of the market. We likely would not know his name. The economic situation in New England would have possibly supported him. It was more urban and small farms were common. If he was able to establish a mill or some local industry or practice law, he could have prospered. But Jefferson, in spite of his many interests, had an agricultural “planter” self-image — landed gentry, a gentleman of the enlightenment. The system Washington and Jefferson were born into, as abusive and horrific as it was, enabled them to devote attention to other pursuits. We, as a nation, benefited from their efforts.
John Jay, from New York, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was an avowed abolitionist. He outlined his view of the hypocrisy in his statements in 1774-1786:
“We perceive that a great breach has been made in the moral and physical systems by the introduction of moral and physical evil; how or why, we know not; so, however, it is, and it certainly seems proper that this breach should be closed and order restored.
That men should pray and fight for their own freedom, and yet keep others in slavery, is certainly acting a very inconsistent, as well as unjust and, perhaps, impious part.
It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused". (This one quote seems to be a composite of three statements from three sources but, taken together, outlines his position)
John Jay owned 17 slaves but during his term as Governor of New York, the state began the process of gradual abolition that was finalized in 1827.
Slavery was standard operating procedure before the first ancient Sumerian city state conquered and enslaved the others in 5000 BC.
African tribes were capturing and enslaving each other long before a single white man was involved.
It was African warriors who captured and sold other Africans to European and Middle Eastern slave traders destined for Europe, America, and the Carribean. It is not as if Indy Jones dove into the middle of darkest Africa to harvest black slaves. They were captured by other black African warriors and then sold to middle men of the slave trade. How about asking why that was necessary? It was just common practice and had been for many thousands of years.
Was slavery necessary?
Nope. It was just accepted as historically "normal".
Many white slaves were captured by Muslims during the time of the crusades and Holy wars. Many white slaves were captured for thousands of years before that.
Businesses always try to reduce labor costs, and slavery was a prime way to do that back to circa 10,000 BC or earlier. It was standard operating procedure, especially before the time of Christ.
Black Africans got their turn because during the movement toward the enlightenment of man, the idea came about that people should not be slaves. It was wrong to own another human being, and so white people came to stop owning other white people in slavery. Sadly, black people were seen as sub-human rather than just normal human, and as such it did not offend people's morals during this era to own black human beings.
Slavery is always and everywhere evil, but that is just how it was.
The practice of white people having white slaves went on for many thousands of years. The practice of white people having black slaves went on for about 250 years. If you ask me, they got off easy.
Slavery has always been evil. It just took forever for modern man to universally accept that.
And oh by the way, illegal slavery still exists today -- much of it currently in Africa. That is something you might want to check into.
The thing is, white people owning white slaves didn't chop off a foot of their white slaves, or create grotesque iron collars for them, with bells on them to make it more difficult for them to escape. Probably Arab slaveowners didnt do that to their slaves, either.
White "slavery" among Whites lasted into the colonization of North America, with Irish and other indentured servants. Indentured servitude, AFAIK, wasn't as brutal and exploitive as the slavery of imported Africans. How the Irish were treated might be worth investigating.
The thing is, white people owning white slaves didn't chop off a foot of their white slaves, or create grotesque iron collars for them, with bells on them to make it more difficult for them to escape. Probably Arab slaveowners didnt do that to their slaves, either.
White "slavery" among Whites lasted into the colonization of North America, with Irish and other indentured servants. Indentured servitude, AFAIK, wasn't as brutal and exploitive as the slavery of imported Africans. How the Irish were treated might be worth investigating.
Here are two things I remember about indentured servitude. Often times when the contract was over between the two parties, the end date was not honored. The other was the treatment of the servant was worse than an owned slave in many cases.The incentive was to exploit as much as possible the servant in order to maximize profit before the contract was over. Food, clothing, lodging was worse in many documented cases, not all of course.
Here are two things I remember about indentured servitude. Often times when the contract was over between the two parties, the end date was not honored. The other was the treatment of the servant was worse than an owned slave in many cases.The incentive was to exploit as much as possible the servant in order to maximize profit before the contract was over. Food, clothing, lodging was worse in many documented cases, not all of course.
I saw a reference to a case in southern Illinois where a young free black man became indentured to a local farmer for a certain number of years under contract. I'm not sure if he was a farm hand or was learning some skill. At the final months at the end of the contract the farmer sold the indenture contract to a Mississippi planter and the free black worker was cast into slavery.
How would it feel if someone came by ship with rope and enslaved you or me?
African peoples had tribal nations and traditions. They respected forests and earth’s natural resources and had dances and chants and didn’t bother anyone. They rejoiced in the biodiversity of the African continent.
Then suddenly these ships came to Ivory Coast and other West African shores and they took ropes tying up innocent people …. I watched the movie series “roots” and I saw Amistad…. And I see what they did to Kunta Kinta and others like him. It was terrible.
These people never did that to Europeans ever . Never did they send boats to UK or America with ropes … then tell you you’re going to be auctioned off to some plantation owner , whipped and beat, and then forced to plow fields for all of life and the slave kids never get to be free and where in the Bible was this in scripture that this is how you operate as a human being?
Doesn’t it even get told in the Bible that Moses freed the Hebrews… the ancestors of the original covenant with God that freedom from slavery was celebrated with the parting of the Red Sea ? And the land of milk and honey
And then these kind folks who were racistly discriminated against just because their natural skin pigment is better suited for equatorial UV rays with more melanin so they don’t die of melanoma or squamous cell skin cancer , Were callously just slurred at, deprived of their education , forced into slavery . It’s very hypocritical that Jefferson was also a slave owner
It was and is very definitely NOT just the province of the evilll white honkies trading in poor black folks who were, like the Native Americans, living At One with Mother Nature and God and who were essentially sin-free until sullied by the Evilll White Devils.
Reportedly, there are as many as 40 million people living in some form of slavery today in global terms. About half of those are people who have fallen into debt bondage. There are countries that accept it, and some just turn a blind eye. It has nothing to do with right, left, or centrist. It transcends capitalism, feudalism, and most other "isms". It seems to outlast it all. Debt bondage was a common way that Roman plebians fell into slave status.
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I see that you have a high level of outrage in your mind.
The children of today, of any race in any country, are innocent of what their forefathers did, and I wonder if you want anyone to feel guilty for or to make them pay up for something done by their great great (+great) grandparents.
Slaves were emancipated in the USA, by the administration of prez Abe Lincoln, upon the signing of the Proclamation of Emancipation in 1863, ratified during the ongoing Civil War that killed and wounded a terrible number of immigrant European and African soldiers.The British outlawed slavery in their homeland and their colonies in 1833.
If former slaves wanted to escape USA there were opportunities to resettle back to their native Africa as early as 1787, to the country of Sierra Leone or to the country of Liberia which offered free land to African-American settlers during the 1800s. The Underground Railroad took them to safety in Canada as well.
Some of the first records of slavery date to 3,500 BC in Mesopotamia. Throughout history being a slave has involved all races and ages of humans. And all races of people have practiced slavery.
Slavery is currently rampant in the Western World in the form of sexual slavery. Young men and women are being abused to the death from this practice.
The reasons for this violation of humanity are the same throughout history but by no means has it ever been the sole burden of Black people.
The thing is, white people owning white slaves didn't chop off a foot of their white slaves, or create grotesque iron collars for them, with bells on them to make it more difficult for them to escape. Probably Arab slaveowners didnt do that to their slaves, either.
White "slavery" among Whites lasted into the colonization of North America, with Irish and other indentured servants. Indentured servitude, AFAIK, wasn't as brutal and exploitive as the slavery of imported Africans. How the Irish were treated might be worth investigating.
Ah yes, revert to “milder, kinder slavery” when “there was no slaveREEEEE” argument no longer works…
It takes 10,000 years to turn your skin from black to white.
I wonder where did those people go as back in those days people make a living-fishing,hunting and farming in daytime not at night?
Did they go inside the earth OR do they come from another planet?
Interesting...I wonder how anyone was and is ever able to "pass" as white if they started as "black" a mere 500 years ago?
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