Despicable advertisement from 1859

[albear.livejournal.com]

*****PLEASE NOTE: I do not believe in this, I think it's god damned awful and really not cool, this is Vintage ads,
and sometimes ads that offend people show up from time to time. Once again I do not condone this but sadly, it's history.
Well, it's a good thing it's history and thankfully the civil war got rid of this foolishness.*****

Comments

[67threnody.livejournal.com]

How depressing.

[albear.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[mantriddrone.livejournal.com]

wow. some crazy stuff took place in the old days

[seamusd.livejournal.com]

It is depressing and deplorable, but it is not something we can afford to forget and look away from. Thanks for posting this bit of history.

[fj.livejournal.com]

Yup, when people were part of a frickin' yard sale, next to the 1859 version of the office futon and the folding card table.

[spyderfyngers.livejournal.com]

Good lord. People were living in my house when this was happening.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

But just think, if we restored our country to follow the constitution that our Founding Fathers drew up, all black people would be slaves, and women wouldn't have the right to vote.

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Change, in this case, is DARN GOOD.

[3cthelion.livejournal.com]

i'm assuming you aren't trying to bash the founding fathers, but just for accuracy's sake, they wrote the constitution with the allowance for amendment, the first ten of which were proposed only a year after the constitution was ratified.

as for the "right to vote," the purpose of setting up landowner voting was not necessarily to exclude specific intelligent adults from voting, but to give only one vote per family unit. this encouraged families to discuss political issues and come to agreement as a family. it also discouraged larger families from dominating local elections in a time when our country wasn't so populous.

i'm not saying i agree or disagree with any of this (well, i'll happily say i disagree with the typical slavery), just making some historical clarification.

[astartesyriaca.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating, thank you for posting.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's quite a find! D: It's terrible that it existed, but if we forget...

[misstia]

i'm a history major and this is just appalling...it's just so despicable that this country did this...

**note to albear, this ad is sized just fine and thanks for not having a clickable link!

[je-reviens.livejournal.com]

fascinating -- thank you for posting it

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

What did Santayana say, those who fail to learn the mistakes of history are condemned to repeat them? Good post; thanks.

[minniemousegirl.livejournal.com]

The amazing thing about this is that, in some European countries African "slaves" were treated very well and they were dressed nicely. They were more like "companions" for the rich than property to be sold and degraded like animals. Only in America...

[evilrob.livejournal.com]

Actually, they were sold and traded there as well, they just had fancier auction houses, unlike the colonies that started their trade in the town square and never kept it out of a public venue.

By the ad, it should be noted that Mr. August Jr., apparently thought highly of them as well, based on his descriptions, and that he made it clear they hadn't done anything wrong to be sold, he was just moving.

I'm just disturbed that the guy owned 70+ slaves under 12 years old.

[garden_hoe21]

I can't find the bit where it says 70+.

[evilrob.livejournal.com]

Laugh. My bad. It was 8, not 80. No wonder I was stupified. I can't read. :) That would have been why he was so kind in reference to them to boot though.

[stothechizo.livejournal.com]

i guess then that wherever you're from slavery is OK cuz, y'know, they got really kewl clothes and everything.

[bougieman.livejournal.com]

Haha it's an odd disclaimer there at the beginning. Why would anyone assume that you felt the same way as this ad? (Anyone who wasn't a moron, I mean. Maybe I give people too much credit..)

[albear.livejournal.com]

Well, I was afraid of offending folks and. I was paranoid I suppose.

[misstia]

i would have probably put a similar disclaimer....there's too many peoples who would 'assume' things without the disclaimer (sadly)...

[albear.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of another post I made in another LJ community I frequent, [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] I had to make another disclaimer there too, check it out. http://community.livejournal.com/randompics/2244545.html

[shep-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that those days are gone!

[cynica.livejournal.com]

I'm so sad for those people. While we read it, it's almost as if we can detach -- but that really happened for them.

[dazedpuckbunny.livejournal.com]

:( A garage sale that includes humans. Thanks for posting, but omg this is so sad.

[dazedpuckbunny.livejournal.com]

Also! Where did you find this ad?

[albear.livejournal.com]

New York Public Library Website


http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=581472&imageID=1232775&parent_id=581452&word=&snum=&s=¬word=&d=&c=&f=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=27&num=12&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=17&k=0&print=small

[evillart.livejournal.com]

The only plus I see, considering the date on the ad, 1858, is that the people sold in this sale were freed a few years later.

[evillart.livejournal.com]

I mean 1859. War was over in 1865.

[misstia]

well i just took a reconstruction history class last semester and depending where the slaves where they were not freed....the owners kept them enslaved in some parts and when federal agents came to enforce freedom that is when the south came up with 'black codes' which was just about as bad as slavery....