XPost: talk.politics.drugs, talk.politics.guns, alt.current-events.usa   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa.republican   
   XPost: alt.politics.bush, alt.law-enforcement   
   From: drp@drproctor.com   
      
   On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 04:39:22 GMT, "_ G O D _"    
   wrote:   
   .   
   >White People are a Free People in the U.S. White People have never been   
   >slaves by U.S. Constitutional Law. White indentured servants were given   
   >their liberties on July 4, 1776 (see Article I, Section 3, The Constitution   
   >of The United States). .   
      
           Uh,  Art 1, sec 3 relates to the selection of senators...   
   Slavery is a complicated historical mess.    In early America,  the   
   term of indenture of whites was normally no more than 7 years,  likely   
   following the biblical injunction that Hebrew slaves must be released   
   following this time, while non-Hebrews could be enslaved for life..   
      
           Otherwise,  there was not a lot of socil difference between   
   white indentured servants,  apprentices, and negro slaves.    That is,   
   the institution lacked its later strong racial component.   
      
          E.g.,  Sam Adams Boston mob included all three and they   
   interacted socially.      Similarly,  Negro's ( both slave and free )   
   served along with whites in the Continental army---something that did   
   not happen again until after WW2.   
      
         Most notably   Ben Franklin came to Philadelphia as a run-away   
   apprentice.     Ironically,   the US constitution would have required   
   the local authorities to cooperate in his apprehension.  Sic:   
      
   US Constitution, Art 4,  sec, 2   
      
   " No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws   
   thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or   
   regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but   
   shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or   
   labor may be due. "   
      
        Note that this des not specify negro slaves only.  Perhaps   
   Franklin's own escape from involuntary servitude prompted his later   
   antislavery views.   
      
             By the 1820's white involuntary servitude had been mostly   
   swept away.  For one thing,  hoaw would you distinguish a run-away   
   apprentice from the general white population      That is,  it was   
   only after the Revolution that slavery became a racial institution per   
   se.   
      
   PHP   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)