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.
As far as the institution of chattel slavery â the treatment of slaves as property â in the United States, if we use 1619 as the beginning and the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment as its end then it lasted 246 years, not 400.