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Originally Posted by Armistead
You didn't have to buy them, they were the outcast of society up north, south as well to a point. I dare say more Irish died working the slum plants than slaves did. Sure, they had freedom, but the point was racism abounded all over the US. The Irish experience was much like the slave.
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Your argument is that more Irish died working the plants, mines and sweatshops than black slaves did in the course of their enslavement? I'll take that one. What are we wagering? We can have a third party get the stats, so that neither of us can claim bias.
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"As one southern planter explained to his northern visitor, the planter had hired an Irish gang to drain a swamp because "‘It’s dangerous work and a negroe’s life is too valuable to be risked.’"15"
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Key word: hired. And no, I don't give the plantation owner moral superiority for not wanting to risk what to him were his beasts of burden. Sorry Armistead, the moral equivalency argument just isn't going to fly.