The practice of slavery in the colonies, and later in the United States before it was abolished, will forever be a black mark in our history. It is easy now to look back and realize the hypocrisy of a society striving for freedom to practice slavery, the same way we also pass judgments on societies who had practiced human sacrifice. However, it is important to understand the reasoning that would lead normal people to condone …showed first 75 words of 507 total…

…showed last 75 words of 507 total…would increase over time as the slaves created their own families. Of course it was still possible that the owner could destroy loving relationships by selling away spouses, children, brothers, and sisters (Ayers et al, p.101). In the end, what we find is that through society's mental conditioning and with economic justifications, otherwise rational societies can find themselves participating in inhumane acts such as slavery, or as in the case of Nazi German, the Holocaust.