Slavery and the Enlightenment

The issue of slavery has been mentioned numerous times throughout history. Slavery is when an individual is sold and bought by another person. He or she is held against his or her will and is forced to participate in unpaid labor. Slavery became a great issue during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Europeans decided to address this issue during the French Enlightenment. An unknown author voiced his or her opinion about slavery in a document called, Slavery and the Enlightenment. The document was later published in the Encyclopedie. Slavery and the Enlightenment is a very important document because it addresses the issues with slavery and helps establish the true definition of freedom vs. the inhumane terms of slavery.

The Slavery and the Enlightenment document was written by an unknown author around the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. This document, which is found in our history book, discusses of how everyone is supposed to have freedom but man has tried to take that away by creating slavery. Slavery and the Enlightenment is important because it address the most common issues presented by those looking into events of slavery throughout history. In the document, it states, "--who does not have the right to be declared free, since he has never lost his freedom; since it was impossible for him to lose it; and since neither his ruler nor father nor anyone else had the right to disposed of his freedom..." This shows how there is an "understood" law that all men are free. A man's freedom cannot be taken away but a man who feels superior to another will try to oppress another. It also brings up the term "natural rights". The document says, "...this Negro does not divest himself, indeed cannot under any condition divest himself of his natural rights..." Natural rights are basically rights given to us by nature. Neither government nor law can change it or dictate what happens. Ultimately, the document is completely anti-slavery. The author uses word like "inhumanity" to describe the idea of slavery. He or she writes, "Therefore, it is a clear case of inhumanity on the part of the judges in those free countries to which the slave is shipped, not to free the slave instantly by legal declaration, since he is their brother, having a soul like theirs." This shows that all man are not equal even though they all have natural rights and their natural freedom cannot be taken away but another man can make an individual feel as if he is not free by enslavement. Slavery crushes that individual's dreams of freedom and liberty.

The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture is an important book referring to slavery during the time of the enlightenment. The author, David Davis, is addressing some of the same issues presented in the document, Slavery and the Enlightenment. Both sources disagree with slavery as a whole. The term "natural rights" is introduced in both writings. Davis writes, "Nature could not create masters