Re:Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market
by logfromblammo on Monday October 17, 2016 @03:13PM
(#12728303)
Interesting choice of statistics, there. Most of that third of all households kept fewer than 10 slaves, if they even had more than just one. The majority of all slaves were held by a relatively small number of households representing the richest people in the South.
The history of the Underground Railroad and Caribbean slave rebellions shows that it was, in fact, possible for slaves to escape slavery. Smuggling yourself to Canada won't get you away from Experian et al.
But if you had read my post more carefully, you might have noticed that I did say that most people would share the opinion that slavery is worse, and those who did not were probably just doing it for rhetorical effect. It's the same sort of behavior as saying someone is "literally Hitler"--extreme hyperbole.
Your post is also bad history.
Firstly, a full third of households held enslaved people in the south. Not just the rich elites.
Secondly, enslaved people couldn't just run away. Of course some tried but the risk of getting caught was very high and the consequences dire:
> The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 strengthened provisions for the recapture of slaves, and offered them no protection in the justice system. Bounty hunters and civilians could lawfully capture escaped slaves in the North, or any other place, using little more than an affidavit, and return them to the Slave master.
> Many escaped slaves upon return were to face harsh punishments such as amputation of limbs, whippings, branding, and many other horrible acts
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_slaves_in_the_United_...)
Not exactly comparable to the burden of college debt, wouldn't you say?