Paul, I thank you covered all the bases with this one. Anita >From: Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history > <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Madison's slaves (and black descendants?) >Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:42:37 -0400 > >Of course, with the except of a few Quakers here and there, no one (except >the slaves themselves) before about 1750 ever asked the question of "why is >this justified." Slavery existed everywhere in the ancient world and in >most of Africa and the Middle East and Southern Europe (including Spain) in >the late 1400s. The first slaves in the transatlantic slave trade were >Carib Indians brough back to Spain. > >Most southern whites accepted most or all of the following justifications >for slavery. For an easy read on this I (self-servingly) recommend my >little book Defending Slavery: Proslavey Thought in the Old South (Bedford >Books). > >Here are the major proslavery arguments and justifications: > >1) people captured in war can be killed (on Geneva Convention on POWs at >that time) and thus it is more humane to allow them to live as slaves. >This is true for soldiers, but also captured towns. This was a common >justification in Rome, Greece, Carthage, Egypt, the ancient middle east and >Sub-sahara Africa >2) people who cannot pay their debts can be enslaved or they can give away >a child or even a wife as a slave. Common in Rome, Asia and Africa. Debt >slavery (illegel of course) is found in India and other parts of Asia to >today) >3) in a world with no jails or prisons, slavery is an acceptable form of >punishment, since the only alternative is to execute the person. >4) ethnic enemies are always enslaveable, and again it is more humane than >killing them. >5) Europeans argued that slavery was a way to spread Christianity * those >"lucky" Africans got to become Chrisitans! >6) They are not Moslems so it is ok to enslave the infidel * common >throughout North African and Middle East. >7) I bought the slave from someone else and it is not *my* problem how the >person became a slave >) this person was born a slave and that is the law >and most importantly for the US context >9) Cotton is King and without slaves the American economy will collapse >10) slavery allows for democracy because it elevates all white voters and >removes the lowest classes from the political process. >11) God ordains slavery. The Bible supports it >12) God made black people be slaves * the story of Noah and Cannan (the >curse of Ham) >13) Africans and African-Americans cannot live as free people among us * >Jefferson said they are "pests on society" * and so we *must* keep them as >slaves. > >Paul Finkelman > >Paul Finkelman >President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law > and Public Policy >Albany Law School >80 New Scotland Avenue >Albany, New York 12208-3494 > >518-445-3386 >[log in to unmask] > > >>> [log in to unmask] 6/11/2007 12:45:23 PM >>> >I don't understand the justification for slavery, whether it was European >or >African slaves. It is pure and simple a means of taking from one group for >the economic benefit of another. Those who owned slaves are now facing the >God they claimed to worship. These learned men had to have known that >slavery was immoral, and enslaving another human being was not something >that any God sanctioned. To bring suffering to another living creature is >an >abomination (IMHO). All we can do is look back and continue to learn from >those past mistakes. _________________________________________________________________ Make every IM count. Download Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now. It’s free. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_June07