J South, I don't see that people "whine" about slavery, so much as I hear a continuous "whine" about the Civil War, the actions of the north necessary to end that conflict, and the effects of reconstruction which led to a backlash known as Jim Crow which dragged the issue of slavery into the 20th century, and which is still a factor today, in the 21st century. Anne Anne Pemberton [log in to unmask] http://www.erols.com/apembert http://www.educationalsynthesis.org ----- Original Message ----- From: <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:30 PM Subject: Re: [Bulk] Re: [VA-HIST] Richmond and VA slave Traders, plus Africa > 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. > > ______________________________________ > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions > at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > > > > > **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for > fuel-efficient used cars. > (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) > > ______________________________________ > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions > at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html