"Slavery came to the English colonies in North America in the 17th century because the colonists found themselves in possession of a vast continent, needing only cultivation to make it the homes of millions of free, prosperous, God-fearing human beings. Those who came from Europe would be refugees from the tyranny and oppression of feudalism, divine right monarchy, and religious intolerance. But converting this vast wilderness into cultivated lands required labor. It was nearly inevitable that someone would turn to tribal Africa for some, at least, of this labor. It is paradoxical but true that a large measure of the labor that turned America into a sanctuary for freedom came from slavery. The slave trade that developed between North America and the west coast of Africa is one of the great horror stories of western civilization. It resulted also from the unlimited greed of the African chiefs who enslaved their brother Africans, and then sold them to white slave traders. They in turn sold them, for vast profits, into the new world."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesJews from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_V._Jaffa
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Harry V. Jaffa
Harry Victor Jaffa (7 October 1918 – 10 January 2015) was an American historian, writer, and collegiate professor from New York City, known for his writings on the American Civil War.
171 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Harry V. Jaffa →
Related Quotes
"[T]he generation of the Founding Fathers, who certainly knew the story of Noah and his sons, nonetheless believed in …"
"That one man can run faster than another is no reason to prevent the latter from entering the race. Indeed, until the…"
"[S]laves are never referred to in the Constitution as anything but 'persons', a characterization that is perfectly ne…"
"This remarkable address conveys, more than any other contemporary document, not only the soul of the Confederacy but …"
"According to Davis it did not require a Galileo or a Harvey (or a Darwin) to discover the natural inferiority of the …"
"In 1860 Senator Wilson, like Lincoln, could not ask for recognition of more than the black man's natural rights. But …"
"And it’s important to understand the sequence of events, and the ideas that accompanied that sequence of events that …"
"[S]lavery existed among the Americans largely because of the action of the crown. For the king to have been complicit…"
"The paradox of calling the same human beings persons and property brings the cause of the Civil War into the sharpest…"
"South Carolina cites, loosely, but with substantial accuracy, some of the language of the original Declaration. That …"