ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, more significant, system shift occurred when chattel slavery, a practice accepted since the earliest known civilizations, was universally abolished. The case of slavery and its abolition is worth pondering for a moment. Like war, slavery had been considered innate to the human condition and was taken by many to be morally sound. Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, like war in the twentieth, was integral to the vital economic interests of powerful and entrenched elements in the existing societies. In the eighteenth century the so-called “divine right of kings” was annulled, demonstrating that humankind could progress beyond social barriers that had long been accepted as givens. The case of slavery and its abolition is worth pondering for a moment. Like war, slavery had been considered innate to the human condition and was taken by many to be morally sound.
