Prejudice Vs. Slavery, The Egg Before the Chicken
             A chicken's egg is round, soft, white, and extremely delicate. The egg holds within it the power and necessary components to manifest a healthy, able-bodied creature. The egg might be weak in the sense that its structure is fragile, however, the strength of the life inside is overwhelming. Prejudice holds with it an omnipotent strength as it is hatched in the privacy of the weak minded. The power of prejudice is quite strong in comparison to the force of slavery. In order for slavery to prevail as an institution, physical force is necessary, whereas no such force is needed to sustain ideas of prejudice. Since the mind is stronger than might, prejudice has had a longer lasting affect on American life, whereas slavery has drawn to a close with the legislation of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution under the United States central government. When a physical catalyst is added then to the power of racial prejudice, such epochs as slavery result. Carl Degler presents such!
             a theory in his article, "Slavery and Race Prejudice," which provides a critique of Mary and Oscar Handlins', "Origins of the Southern Labor System." A close examination of Degler's critique clarifies the belief that racial prejudice existed before the enforcement of slavery in America.
             The Handlins' argument discusses in detail the economic gains of slavery, and how slave trade and labor are means for success in the new world. The thesis of the Handlins' argument states, "[slavery] was not a response to any unique qualities in the Negro himself. It emerged rather from the adjustment to American conditions of traditional European institutions"1. The European institutions to which are referred are institutions of indentured servants. Servitude was the economic institution that instilled the first ideas of slavery in the colonies and this derived fr...