In the London of 1700 an advanced place of learning, I buy the books. They did many great things.
10% lived well, 90% in total poverty. The consumption of Gin was a quart a day per man, woman, and child. Life was short, about 32. It took several hundred years till 90% lived fairly well, and 10% in total poverty. They lived to fifty. Hanging and transportation were the tools used.
Slavery was a system old. It goes back so far I cannot find a beginning. Most people enslaved their own, for there were always people who on their own would have to steal to eat. The other choice was to kill them.
Feudalism enslaved most of Europe. The Magna Carta marks the end of the time. It continued on a volentary basis for a few owned everything, and to eat you had to find a place. Those who had one of their own were attacked with the Corn Tax, followed by the Enclosure Laws, driving out the small holders and reducing all to workers to serve the Upper Class.
Most of the people sent to the Americas were Indentured Servants. Under most systems a slave could rise, buy their freedom, by proving they could support themselves. Under the French and Spanish, one day belonged to God. Slaves were free to work for themselves on that day, and by paying one sixth of their value could buy another day.
It was the English who came up with once a slave always a slave, and slavery by color. When they came to Louisiana, as Americans, they thought nothing of killing free blacks and taking their children for slaves. In Charlestown under the King it was different, black slaves could buy their freedom, buy land, buy slaves, and even pay taxes and vote. In some counties the free black vote ran 17%.
Raiding other lands for slaves is old, the English, Dutch, did not invent it, they did make it a major business transporting blacks to the plantations. There was no hope of freedom in the islands, you will work till you die and so will your children, and their children. This was new, every other culture had humane slave laws.
Under the Americans anyone with one drop of black blood was black, and any white person could enslave them. Anyone with one drop of Indian blood was not human. These Americans were the British lower class who being sent to America, the Prison Colonies, or as Indentured Servants did not want to work, but to go kill some Indians, take their land, enslave some blacks, and be like the Upper Class.
The word for this is Genocide. My family held land grants under the Spanish. The founder of our line was a Judge, Alcade, three generations later ten men, ten women, and fourty children were killed by their neighbors, as were all the free blacks, their children enslaved, and they moved upon our land. This was in 1840. Most of the family had gone to Texas for the Spanish wanted settlers on the new border with the Americans. Each group that stayed behind held title to one square mile of land. They were one quarter Native American.
Only my great grandfather survived, he was in New Orleans on business. No one would tell him what happened, and he was killed several years later.
Those who did this were proud of being English, White, Christian, though they were illiterate, of low intelligence, no culture, garbage, who would murder children to steal their life, land, wealth.
That is what England means to me.
26 Mar 2007, 11:36 am
