Talk:List of presidents of the United States who owned slaves

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There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of Vice Presidents of the United States which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:02, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

(Tyler considered slavery evil,[citation needed] but he never freed any of his slaves and consistently supported slavery and its expansion during his time in political office.) This Piece of information doesn't make sense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zzendaya (talk • contribs) 00:06, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

This topic was vandalized to add Donald Trump to this list. Funny as a parlor game but not appropriate here. I tried to fix it back but my Wiki skills are not up to snuff. I hope someone else will complete it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:2C3:897F:A018:CE2:78E6:B011:75EE (talk) 03:26, 3 March 2019 (UTC)

Proposal to change "slave" to "enslaved" person.
I would like to propose that we change the article to use "enslaved person/people" instead of "slave". ZappoMan (talk) 18:53, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Here are some references discussing how and why historians are moving toward this language convention.

http://www.buffalolib.org/sites/default/files/exhibit/pdf/Vocab%20&%20Key%20Concepts%20-%20mc.pdf

"Enslaved vs. Slave: Today, most historians speak of “enslaved people” instead of “slaves.” This language separates a person's identity from his/her circumstance.

Enslaver vs. Owner/Master: The usage of “owner” or “master” empowers the enslaver and dehumanizes the enslaved person reducing him/her to a commodity rather than a person who has had slavery imposed upon him or her." ZappoMan (talk) 18:57, 2 July 2020 (UTC)


 * That's not a WP:RS. Here are a few more sources (also not necessarily reliable, but they show the debate is complex and far from over):
 * Chicago Tribune article, 2019
 * Slate article, 2015
 * Reddit r/AskHistorians thread, 2014
 * Blog post & comments, 2011
 * H-Slavery (academic mailing list), 2010 (also see previous messages)
 * book by Eric Gander, 2003
 * Some say (convincingly, I feel) that enslaved person emphasizes personhood. Others argue (also convincingly) enslaved person is a euphemism that hides the dehumanizing brutality of slavery. I didn't find a source that provides (or at least tries to provide) evidence for the claim that "most historians" use one term or the other.
 * Wikipedia uses common terms. We do not establish terms. See WP:NPOV and WP:NOT. If slave is more common, we should use slave. If enslaved person is more common, we should use enslaved person.
 * Chrisahn (talk) 00:23, 3 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Chrisahn makes an important point, Wikipedia uses common terms. This article's use of the words/terms "slaves" and "owned slaves" reflects that practice. (See also: List of slave owners) Drdpw (talk) 03:36, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

Enslaving vs owning
Also change "own" to e.g. "kidnap". You cannot own a person. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mdaviscs (talk • contribs) 13:45, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

In looking at User:ZappoMan's change on July 2 (this one: Special:Redirect/revision/965671557), it seems less controversial than the proposed noun change from "slave" to "enslaved person". Rev 965671557 changes the verb from "owning" to "enslaving", which seems like a legitimate shift. Does anyone believe that the financial aspect (ownership) is more significant than the resulting captivity (enslavement)? -- RobLa (talk) 01:36, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
 * The word "enslave" doesn't quite fit: "enslave" doesn't mean "own someone as a slave", but "make someone a slave". It doesn't describe an ongoing state, but an action at a point in time. Example: "George Washington enslaved 317 people" would mean that the people were free before he made them slaves. (Another minor point: ownership is not necessarily a financial aspect. For example, many societies have a concept of ownership although they don't have a concept of money.) -- Chrisahn (talk) 11:00, 6 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Different societies have different definitions of what can and cannot be owned. Some say that you cannot own land, or the rights to a song, or a lake, or a factory. In many societies, including pre-1865 US, you can definitely own a person.Sheila1988 (talk) 20:09, 12 May 2024 (UTC)

To not mention that Thomas jefferson forcefully fathered the children with sally is a disgrace
so i've changed it accordingly — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.167.232.5 (talk) 06:11, 21 May 2022 (UTC)