The antebellum South saw a great rise in the agriculture industry. This profitable commerce needed a labor force for working the fields, cooking and serving the meals, and for general labor. Slaves from Africa bore most of the burden, but slaves from countries like Ireland were also used. Irish slaves came to America and the West Indies as early as 1625 when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 Irish men, women, and children were transported to the colonies as slaves.
Not to be called racist, Britain, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was an equal opportunity exploiter of human flesh, having sold over 600,000 Irish, Scottish, and Catholics into slavery. In early America, slavery was not a race issue, it was primarily a financial one. It was not until well into the 19th century, when the fusion of race, slavery, politics, and with the beginning of the ascension of the former white slaves, that people of African origin began to be known as Negros.
Slavery in America was not unique to this continent. It was almost universal at the time and goes as far back as 3,500 B.C. It was a way to get a cheap and plentiful labor force. It is only in recent human history that slavery has become totally illegal, at least on the books.
While liberals like to castigate Americans as inventing racism and human servitude, they fail to mention that slavery in early America is not American history at all, it is English history. Before 1776, there was no United States or United States law. It was a British colony under British law. In 1772, the Emancipation Act freed slaves in England, but with no thanks to Britain, it did not include its colonies.
The United States began with the idea that slavery would soon have to end. Ben Franklin was active in the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery and became its president in 1787. It was relatively early in the history of the United States that slavery was made illegal, and enforced in blood.
Today, the aristocrats of industry, the rich Hollywood types, the technocrats of Silicon Valley, demand the same advantages as the plantation owners of the 19th century…inexpensive labor…labor to work the fields, toil in their factories, clean their mansions, cut their lawns, cook their meals, or even fill their date books. These same people that donate millions to political parties expect something in return. For many, it is an open border…a plentiful supply of inexpensive labor.
For many Republicans, labor costs have been cut to the bone, or as President Bush said, “They do what Americans won’t do.” What he means is, Americans can’t live on those wages, but illegal immigrants can and will.
Democrats also want the cheap labor, but they are smart enough to see a new voting bloc in their future should they be successful in getting amnesty passed. If you can’t convince voters, get new ones.
Since the middle class has largely left the Democrat Party, new voters are needed to fill in the gaps. Locking in voting blocs is nothing unusual for the Democrats, after all, it was LBJ that used his ‘Great Society Program’ to lock in Black votes. According to...
