Slavery, in ancient times, was part of human history because slaveowners wanted to advance themselves as much as possible without doing all the hard or dirty work. Mesopotamian slaves were captives, war survivors, or even criminals, who, though enslaved, could fulfill their designated duties to their master in the hope of one day gaining freedom. Most importantly, Mesopotamian slaves were not the slaves of exclusively one race or culture. A Mesopotamian slave could gain their freedom and possibly return to their homeland without having to bear the stigma of being forever identified as a slave because of race.
The foundations of early slavery in the United States of America rested primarily on the assignment of Black Africans and their descendants to the role of the enslaved. Post-Revolutionary American history gave rise to philosophical thinkers such as de Tocqueville, who observed that Blacks, by their skin color, would remain relegated to the class of slaves. The evidence of de Tocqueville's revelations have revered itself all throughout American history, up until a point in time today, where the election of a Black man to the White House was declared on the cover of the New York Times as "Obama: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory".
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