uments in this area are, indeed, most vulnerable to criticism, primarily because he is dealing in what are inevitably speculations about a psychological, or even spiritual, matter. Elkins argues that the slaves were turned into docile, obedient, perpetual children by a system of slavery that simply allowed them no sense of self, no personality, even no soul separate from their role as slaves. Finally, whatever records, documents, accounts or analogies are used to bolster his argument, one simply cannot determine precisely how much self, personality or soul a slave maintained or lost, or what exact part pretense played in adopting a Sambo attitude.
With respect to the question of the origins of American slavery and the emergence of that inhumane institution from a system supposedly based on freedom, Elkins makes clear that the freedom at issue is economic and in no way related to democracy. In Latin America, slavery developed with less brutality and inhu
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