Doug Deal wrote, "As abolitionist attacks on slavery grew more insistent, 
proslavery apologists tended to shrink the meaning of the term "slave" from 
ownership of or property in the whole person to ownership of just that 
person's capacity to labor and the expectation of general obedience in that 
context."

This remains the view of a great many people in the U.S., both North and 
South.

Historians need to relate just how degrading slavery as real estate or 
property was, while still reminding readers as Brent Tarter said, "the 
people being written about were not slaves by choice or by nature."
Paul

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html