Here we take another look at Mencius's discussion of human nature in association with his definition of ren/jen, and get at a better understanding of the Mencian approach to the human being. 1. Ren/jen (human heartedness/humaneness) as innate human nature
Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human chattel slavery that existed in the United States of America in the 18th and 19th centuries after it gained independence and before the end of the American Civil War.
Yet comparatively little is written about the 200-year history of Northern slavery. Robert Steinfeld's deservedly praised The Invention of Free Labor (1991) states, By 1804 slavery had been abolished throughout New England, ignoring the 1800 census, which shows 1,488 slaves in New England.