Slavery

By 1690 there were slaves in all the English colonies. The peculiar institution, as some slaveholders called it, was firmly fixed in American society. It was to last for another 175 years.

Slavery was not unique to America.  Many societies – the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, some African tribes -  enslaved prisoners of war. Many came to look on their slaves as members of the households. But American slavery was different. It was based on race. Americans considered Africans inferior, and slaves as property rather than human beings.

It is hard for persons in a free society to conceive of what it was like to be a slave. We must use historical imagination carefully. The idea that slaves were constantly beaten or worked to death like

prisoners in a concentration camp is incorrect. Slaves were too valuable to be treated like that – unless they refused to work or rose up against their owners. They were usually given adequate food, clothing, and shelter, again because they were expensive property. But slaves had absolutely no rights. Not only could they not vote or own property, their owners had complete control of their lives.  An owner could separate a husband and wife, or sell a child and keep the child’s parents. Slaves worked for the exclusive benefit of their owners. Slavery was inhuman, but those who were enslaved were human beings.