Slavery (1786-1865)

I'm not sure that the term 'event' sufficiently covers a widespread practice that lasted 80 years, by this list's definition of the issue.

Leaves a big stain on our "freedom loving" rep.Everyone else did it,but that's a piss poor excuse.

This is a subject which typically elicits emotional knee-jerk responses, particularly from the legion of not-too-bright RIA posters who are not trained to think logically. As a few others have noted, slavery has been around a long, long time. Even today, there is slavery in many parts of the world, including right here in the good ol' USA. The problem with slavery is that it has always been a part of the Greek/Roman culture. The liberal enlightenment, which oohed and ahhed over the re-discovery of Greek and Roman philosophy and art neglected to address the problem with the political and economic structures in the Greek and Roman system. The Greeks, particularly in Athens, relied on slavery, especially the large class of slaves working the rich silver mines in south Attica, to produce the wealth they needed for the upper class to lie around and talk about philosophy. The Romans took the idea and expanded it, creating a severe class system with a small minority of the Ruling class and ... Read more

I don't like the fact that black people were doing other peoples work. I just wonder what made them think of treating someone like that. Honestly, Its wrong and whats worse is it is still going on... So heres a message to all of those racist fags. Its 2010 get with the program...everyone has moved on but you. If god only wanted whites in this world he wouldnt have made diffrent colored people...common since. How would you have felt if it was happening to you. And I hate how mexicans or latino's call blacks niggers. They were'nt treated any better. They aren't even aloud to cross our border...sure thats wrong to. But we as people, as an equal can stop all the hate if we all would take part and just let go of grudges and start talking to eachother. Do you understand that we dont like forever, so live for the moment. Everthing could be solved just by forgiving one another and talking 2 one another in a way we would like to be talked to. Same for how we treat eachother.

I think black people must not forgive this, and same must be done too to white man, to feel the sting. Update:Not all the white men like this of course, but I'm sure few like it. But as for me, it's a simple thing to get a back on to someone. So the nature knows who will be the next turn to work for the other who suffered. Nature has the hand above us all. It's a lesson any black man will NEVER forget. This time, America should stay away from any matters around the world. There is no a happy ending in it. Few say it will finish with a sweet ending, unfortunately, that philosophy is FADING.

How the hell is the enslavement and often premature death of millions less tragic than a few thousand civilian casualties? September 11th was indeed tragic, but not more so than the atrocity of slavery. Just because it happened elsewhere, does not make it somehow "less tragic" in the US.

Update: Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma City bombing, and 9/11 were tragic events. The existence of legalized slavery in this country was far more than just an "event." Slavery and the atrocities that come with it are as terrible as humanity can get. Labeling several hundred years of slavery as an event just doesn't seem accurate. 8/31/2003 - How anyone doesn't see slavery as a 5 on the most tragic events scale I don't know. It can't get any worse than this.

This blight on the history of mankind is not unique to the United States.

DrEntropy eloquently sums it up and I need to add little except invective.  Anyone who espouses the moronic notion that slavery was an American or Chrisian invention must get his news and history from the Daily Show and comic books.  Nobody really can be that stupid.

As Eschew notes below (though none of the other reviewers seems to have paid attention), slavery was a nearly universal institution for most of human history, and especially the 17th and 18th Century, when it was central to the British, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and French economies-certainly not just the Americans.  The 'Serfdom' of Russia and Medieval Europe was little more than slavery by another name.  Beyond Europe, the starveling peasantry of China and India had standards of living (if you can call it living) well below those of American slaves, and no legal rights whatsoever.  In the New World, American slaves were far better treated than in Latin America, where they were worked to death and had to be continually supplemented by new slaves from Africa.Slavery, not freedom, has been the norm in human history.  The abolishment of slavery was a great accomplishment, an achievement made possible by European/American Enlightenment and Christian (mostly Quaker) ideas (as depicted in ... Read more

Slavery anytime, anywhere and for any length of time is an abomination.

Slavery was indeed taking place all over the world, in fact it still exist in some countries today. However that does not diminish our role in slavery. We are not responsible for what goes on in other parts of the world, but we are responsible for what has happened in America.

Ghastly. It happened here, and don't ever forget it. The most interesting question for me is this: when that first slave ship sailed up the James River in the second decade of the 17th century--with its cargo of nine slaves--(ALL were sold) --what was it like? Was there any discussion, any disagreement, any moral disapproval? Did the stress of trying to perform impossible amounts of work to survive influence the better judgement of the Christian settlers of Jamestown? Did they automatically consider the nine black men in chains to be inferior and deserving of their fate? What exactly were they thinking, and did any of them understand the terrible consequences of their actions, which we feel to the present day? I suspect--but will never know--that they didn't think too hard about it; they were adventurers by nature, work-hardened, exhausted, and not exactly a sample of the intellectual and moral elite of the time; they had come to Jamestown to get away from something, for the most part,... Read more

It's true that this system is very ancient and has happened all over the globe. But I can't see how anyone can give this evil, and national embarassment, less than a 5.

but not initially americas fawlt

Salvery was an act against a group of people by another group of people that are "supposedly intelligent," but treated people inhumane "only" because of the color of their skin. In all their intelligence they raped the women, made the women breast feed the babies, etc., etc.

any country that would find it okay to think they can own another human being and treat them so horrible is wrong.

In my opinion, the most tragic of all mistakes made by our forefathers. An absolute travesty that was the central issue in the worst tragedy of our country's history, the Civil War.

Regardless of which part of the country started it, kept it going, or fought for it, I find the idea of one American owning another as pretty tragic.

1786? - wow, could've fooled me. The most tragic by far. Aside from the moral issues, the ENTIRE reason why southern areas were so poor for so long. To get off the subject for a second, I can't stand how some northerners/historians/idiots act like this was the reason for the Civil War. How many would've fought for the north if they thought their deaths were for blacks? Thought so. Slavery was awful, but don't play high and mighty on us. But yes, this is the most tragic part of American history in my opinion. And aside from the slavery and deaths, the religious conversions of native Africans is as tragic as anything else. Actually, at the root of things, Christianity was the ENTIRE reason for slavery. Enslave and convert, enslave and convert, enslave and convert! Greedy Christians, son. Work for free and believe what we believe. EVIL!

Yes, slavery no matter where institued, is evil, wrong and against the laws of nature. I wholeheartedly agree. However, we must think of this. Where would African Americans be today without slavery in America's history. In Africa. They would still be living in the most war torn, famine ravaged, misguided, broken place on the planet. Even in some of the more developed countries like South Africa people die and go hungry by the thousands. Thousands die everyday from AIDS, starvation, war, genocide, you name, Africa's got a problem with it. That is where African Americans would be. In Africa. Instead they live here, in the United States of America, free and prosperous. Even if you don't have a house to live in, poverty in the United States is a heck of a lot different than it is in Africa. Most people have shelter, enough food, and most babies live, not so in Africa. Just something to think about.

As a child, I believed everything I was taught in school, so I had this image where just about everyone in the south owned (and mistreated) slaves, while everyone in the north nobly fought against slavery until those people were set free. It didn't dawn on me how ludicrous such an idea is. In the real world, there are good people and bad people in all areas of this country. The fact is, history is written by those who win the wars. Thus, pretty much anything the north did is put in a positive light, while about the only thing good said about the south is that Robert E. Lee was a real genteman. The fact is that there were slave owners all over the country. There were also those in both the north and south who opposed slavery, and there were northerners and southerners who opposed the war. Furthermore, the war was not entirely about slavery, and I suspect slavery wasn't even the main issue. It would be a great thing if history could overcome the stereotypes and myths that are con... Read more

Obviously a black eye in our history. What differentiates slavery in America opposed to slavery in other parts of the world is the fact that the country was founded on, among other things, freedom and all men being created equal. The simple fact is that the United States has a bit of a hypocritcal history, and slavery is part of that. This said, slavery is over and has been for more than a hundred years. I've never owned a slave, I've never even so much as seen a White only drinking fountain or a White only public school.It is part of our past, but it is just that, the past. Let's leave it there. These ARE the good old days.

Still makes me sick.

The Shame of America that has had lasting repurcussions to this day.

Created repression and distrust that would continue for YEARS. Overall, one of the darkest marks in the nation's history.

REQUIRED READING: PBEAVR's comments below. Don't bother reading any comments until you consume his wisdom. For my part, I don't consider slavery an event because it is a system of supplying cheap labor to (primarily) southern farmers. It was a part of the economic system in the colonies under British, French, Dutch and Spanish rule and continued once the Revolution was won and the USA was an independent nation, because southern farmers (among others) did not think they could turn a profit without slave labor. They clung to the system jealously because most other societies and economic systems allowed for it. It certainly was part of the economic fabric of the world economic system until the mid-19th century. And anyone who thinks that it doesn't exist today, think again. It was bad, it was wrong and it took some time, as most moral, societal evolutions do, to abolish the wrong. Many dedicated and sincere anti-slavery crusaders incurred mockery, physical abuse and death from pro... Read more

This was a horrible tragedy, and still is in some places. I think instead of calling it an American tragedy, it should be called a WORLD tragedy. Slavery is one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard about in my whole life time, and I can't even imagine what those people had to go thru. And I never will. We are all created equal.

People should never be considered property. All men are free now. It's sad that so many black people were oppressed for so long.

Not the first country to use slaves but one of the last, America's wealth was built by slaves. Almost as bad as slavery is how long it took to give blacks basic human rights post- slavery.

One of the most horrible acts ever commited by man. Definitely a low point in this country's history. Slavery existed for more than 200 years in the United States with minimal efforts to abolish it. I cannot begin to fathom the hundreds of thousands of blacks that perished because of slavery in this country over it's two century reign. The torture, explotation and murder of man by his brother is completely unconscionable. Slavery is definitely not an American thing obviously, but it did endure in the U.S. for a long time and since we are talking about United States history here, I think that American slavery is an appropriate term. Slavery was definitely abolished and that was a major step up for this country, but it would be a sham not include slavery as one of the United States most tragic events because they were people and they were in the U.S. and that made them Americans. They suffered savage treatment at the hands of so-called fellow Americans, that has genocide written all over... Read more

I've always disliked the implication that the US invented slavery. Even in some of the comments here, there is an underlying tone that slavery was an idea pulled out of the air by Americans and Europeans 500 years ago. What a crock of crapola. Slavery had existed since man lived in caves and carried clubs. It had been going on for 50,000 years or more. I rate American Slavery a 3, because I think most people have a poor perspective on the issue of slavery as a whole. How many of you realize that the Founding Fathers wanted to ban slavery, and place that ban into the Constitution? The reason they did not was to keep support from southern states who would not have joined the Union in the first place if they couldn't keep their slaves. Was this right? No, it wasn't. Why didn't they just incorperate the non-slave states into the Union and leave the rest out? Military security. The southern borders were essential for keeping out enemies out, and believe me there were plenty of rivals in Nor... Read more

The institution of slavery existed nearly eighty years after the signing of the Constitution. It stood in direct contradiction of everything that the United States stood for: liberty and justice for all. The period of American Slavery is a dark period in our history- a dark period of ridiculously inhumane treatment of our fellow man.

This is the ultimate. September 11, 2001 was extremely tragic, but this was over 140 years of institutionalized blatant oppression. Nothing in the history of this nation was for so long darker or accepted.

The slavery practise of the last centuries makes leaders like Pol Pot, Stalin and nearly even Hitler look like angels. Slavery marks the darkest chapter of the human history, even below the athrocities of the second world war. The fact that the Europeans and Americans practising slavery were nearly all Christians, makes Chrisitanism the most brutal religion of all times. Of course it doesn't help that Hitler and his German supporters also sweared to their Christian God... The history of slavery should make everyone, especially the Americans of today, more humble, and lead to a more human foreign policy where the so-called American interests are not placed above the needs of the people of other nationalities, especially when they are (in most cases) much worse off than the great majority of Americans.

I cant begin to even fathom the amount of arrogance, stupidity, and appalling lack of character it took to come up with this system in the first place. So much avoidable suffering - so little compassion and empathy. How it was kept alive in the U.S. for almost another century after the Revolutionary War is the height of hypocrisy and one of the most shameful aspects of our history.