How did the philosophes reconcile their ideas about human equality with their support of slavery?
What will be an ideal response?
Answers will vary. This situation created one of the great contradictions within the philosophes' debates. Previous intellectual thought justified the subjugation of other humans on the basis of religious adherence; European colonizers in the Americas justified enslaving the indigenous peoples because they were not Christian, and even if they converted, they were still held to be lower in worth than Europeans. However, as the Enlightenment began to discuss the value of humans in all categories, sweeping declarations were made about human rights, equality, and universality of the human condition. Philosophers such as Thomas Jefferson wrote about the inalienable rights of all mankind, but they kept slaves and did not differentiate among Africans, Native Americans, and other non-Europeans as deserving of citizenship or civil rights. This was largely because the African slave trade had existed for centuries within the European market and was considered an essential part in maintaining colonial interests. The slave trade rose in conjunction with slave-produced commodities. At the time, slavery had been justified in modern Europe on the basis of biblical passages. However, the Enlightenment in many cases consciously rejected organized religion, so that justification no longer could be given much weight. This was a substantial contradiction in Enlightenment thought.
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The issue of how to account for slaves for purposes of establishing a state's representation in the House of Representatives
A) was left unresolved by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention. B) was resolved by the three-fifths clause compromise at the Constitutional Convention. C) was an issue in which northern and southern delegates immediately agreed because of their common economic interests. D) was resolved by counting each slave as if he or she was a "white or other free Citizen or inhabitant" of the United States.
The Peace of Augsburg recognized Lutheranism as a religious option within the Holy Roman Empire.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)
The English East India Company and the VOC were privately owned companies that enjoyed all of the following advantages EXCEPT
A) funds to outfit ships and hire crews. B) commodities and money for trade. C) direct government supervision. D) the potential for tremendous profits. E) heavily armed ships to back up their demands.
In the years following the Communist victories in Indochina, the non-Communist states of Southeast Asia
A. were conquered one by one by Vietnam's army. B. largely embraced leftist policies to placate its populations. C. became satellites of the Soviet Union. D. fell like a row of dominoes to internal insurgencies. E. enjoyed unprecedented levels of stability.