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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 4056474" data-attributes="member: 25619">Happy Presidents DayFeb 18th is the day when American celebrates President's Day, the day commemorating the February birthdays of our slaveholding first President, Washington, and the man who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation (ending slavery in areas in rebellion as of mid-1862), signed the 13th Amendment (banning slavery everywhere in the US), and was assassinated for leading the Union to victory over the slaveholding Confederacy.February's also Black History Month in America . . . So, anyhow, I went to an exhibit today at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry about Lincoln and the Constitution (interesting -- after all, they had his hat) and the Civil War in the Northwest (I was curious about this, but it's only of local interest).It had one startling thing to say about the value of slaves.  As of the beginning of the Civil War, slaves were the most valuable form of "property" in the US -- worth more than all the real estate put together, or all the factories, etc.  I forget the exact figure, but I think it was something like worth 1/3 more than all the property -- which would be the same US as now, minus Hawaii, Alaska, and 150 years of development.  So, slaves were valuable, I'd say.A few people have mentioned the British navy ending the slave trade.  From a global perspective, that's true.  But from a US perspective, it's not.  The US ended the importation of slaves on Jan 1, 1808, the earliest date allowed according to the compromise constitution Americans accepted 20 years earlier and still live under.  The British navy began anti-slave-traficker patrols in 1807, but it didn't stop Brazil and other countries from importing slaves for many more decades.As for the value of slaves in D&D . . . I remember in the "Temple of Elemental Evil" computer game, someone in Nulb was selling a slave.  I bought them, to release them of course.  I forget their stats -- I believe Commoner or Rogue 1 -- but I believe the slave was a young adult human female.  There were also prisoners of various genders, classes, levels, and races in the Temple itself.  Too bad TOEE doesn't seem to work with XP SP2.  Not at all . . . I assume it's no better with Vista.Anyhow, the slave in Nulb costs 500 gp, in the TOEE computer game, if I recall correctly, and for some odd reason, I usually do.</blockquote>

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