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Godfree Roberts's avatar

Perhaps out of nostalgia, we still keep 600,000 slaves quite legally, since the law still permits enslavement of incarcerated persons.

Talk about retro America!

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Karl Polzer's avatar

Excellent piece. But I think the conclusion goes overboard. Slavery eg was abolished by state legislatures in the US North slowly over a period of years. During the American Revolution a substantial portion of NYC residents were slaves and Alexander Hamilton's powerful in-laws were slaveholders. Northern states were able to get rid of slavery peacefully because industrial development dwarfed the slave economy there.... So maybe not so black and white?

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