[Modernman]

ROFL.. he went to a socialist Canadian school where no one had an agenda... beyond making slavery, and thus America as a whole, seem much worse than it was.

My school certainly wasn't socialist, for what it's worth.

We were taught that the Civil War had a lot of underlying causes, from economics to shifting demographics, but that, at the end of the day, the flashpoint was the question of slavery. If there had been no slavery, there would have been no civil war.

And I find your comment about "beyond making slavery, and thus America as a whole, seem much worse than it was" interesting. So, slavery wasn't really all that bad, in your opinion?

[WindOracle]

I never claimed it was not bad, but it was certainly nothing as portrayed in Roots, which is what comes to most peoples minds when they think of slavery. I also try to place things in perspective, and feel slaves had it better, in many respects, than indentured servants. States such as Virginia had laws protecting slaves in such instances as when they became old or infirm, in which cases their masters were required to provide food, shelter, etc, whether they made you any money or not. Indentured servants, on the other hand, were basically enslaved through their most productive years, then freed. This freed the "owners" from any further obligations to them, and they were free.. to starve if they could not feed themselves.

I will not contest the evils of slavery in any way, but I prefer a clear and accurate portrayal, not distortion of reality such as was done by movies like Roots, or Amistad.