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Slavery is very misunderstood. People in general did not have universal rights nor did they have jobs until the last few centuries. Before that, which accounts for most of human history there was might makes right. And those who owned and controlled armies, land and wealth pretty much owned those around them. A serf in Russia had no rights and was responsible for work and taxes of harvest. They were not allowed to leave the land. And if they were not called slaves it was just a word.

Slaves were just part of society almost everywhere until the 1800’s at that time wages became popular and especially in England employees were preferred because you could pay an employee without housing them and you could fire them when they were no longer needed.

Its true that several countries forbade slaves earlier but even English colonies had slaves and England itself had several forms of indentured workers.

What most people don’t seem to realize is that Africa still has slaves. The concept of African slaves comes from Africans. They caught and sold slaves to the rest of the world. It was their best selling commodity. And Africans were getting rich on the proceeds.

Another fact left out of the history books were the dates where Northern States stopped allowing slaves. Yes there were slaves in the north. New York City was said to have a slave in 42% of the households. In fact New York State only made slavery illegal a few years before the civil war. In 1827 all slaves were freed in New York. But many were just sold down south, not actually freed.