The American Civil War: Original Sin (Part 1)

Point Comfort, Virginia, 1619. Twenty Africans step off the White Lion onto American soil, beginning slavery's integration into the colonial economy. We trace how temporary bondage becomes permanent racial slavery through court cases like John Punch and Elizabeth Key, how Northern colonies profit from the trade, and how the Founders embed slavery into the Constitution through the Three-Fifths Clause while proclaiming all men created equal. The foundational contradiction that will nearly destr...