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Date: | Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT |
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Of course involuntary servitude is immoral by 21st century standards.
However, I am really tired of Americans who continually whine about it as if it
has had some impact on their lives today.
JD Southmayd
a/k/a J South
In a message dated 6/26/2008 12:30:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
I don't think that any of us feel that slavery was a good thing. But
historically it was a fact of life. It should be remembered that
slavery was legal and practiced in the North as well. But the
economics in the North did not promote widespread slavery. It was
found in certain industries (like the iron industry) where large
numbers of the workers in places as far north as NJ, PA, and NY were
enslaved. The Saugus IW north of Boston used prisoners of war for
their workforce (not much better).
Most of us alive today wish that the Founding Fathers could have
figured out a way to abolish slavery. But they did not and slavery
continued to be a problem until it was abolished as a result of the
American Civil War (or whatever you choose to call it). The abolition
movement was a Christian movement. It took almost 2000 years, but
other religions were in no hurry to end slavery until Christianity
(supported by European navies and armies) appeared.
The fact remains that slavery as a world wide practice was ended by
the nations of Europe (and the US), often by force. It was the US and
British Navy that ended the West African slave trade by blockading or
embargoing the coast. The East African and interior slave trade (both
about equal in size to the West African trade) continued to flourish
until they were essentially ended as a result of European colonization
of Africa. Slavery continued to be legal in a number of countries
until well into the late 20th century. It is still practiced, albeit
illegally, in parts of Africa and Asia.
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