To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com

To: seanmbrook{at}aol.com [mailto:seanmbrook{at}aol.com]
> >
> > VH> The United States is like a child whose mother was at the verge of
> > miscarriage for nine months -- it's a miracle we're here.
> > >
>  A graphic metaphor!  Esp. when I recall I was three
>  months preemie! 
>
>  But it's true any number of chances might have
>  prevented a USA from arising.  The success of
>  the Armada, failure of Jamestown, etc.  We can't
>  know in THIS universe what might have taken its
>  place in parallel universes.  Some might be good,
>  others bad.

Imagine if Napoleon had had the good sense to send an army to New Orleans,
not to Haiti!
> >
>
> > VH> True.  It had to come about.
> > > >
>  DID slavery HAVE to be revived?  Not all in Spain
>  were happy about slavery.  Both the Crown and
>  the Church strove to at least put restraints on what
>  slave owners could do.

African slavery already existed -- the Crusaders had come into contact with
it, and the Moors in Spain had had Black slaves.

Even some European states imported slaves from Africa at that time -- it
was the world they knew, not the world they invented. It was part of the
natural order of things.

Recall that neither the Old of New Testaments condemn slavery, but rather
speak approvingly of it.  Saint Paul urges slaves to be obedient.

Saint Thomas Moore included slavery in "Utopia."  It was thought
to be part of Natural Law that some men should be subservient to others.

Do you recall our discussion on a Catholic order that can only be led by
members of the nobility?  That concept, that some men are born better than
others, is at the heart of slavery.
>
>  What might have happened if there had been a
>  determined policy by the Crown of opposing slavery
>  in the Spanish Indies?

There would have been independent kingdoms in the New World -- because the
colonists would have rebelled.
> >
> > VH> In a different age, Elizabeth would have been a serial
> killer -- she
> > was a
> > true sociopath.
>
>  An interesting thought!  But what made you think
>  Bessie was a sociopath?

A socio-path is amoral, self-centered, and justifies his own acts by
blaming his victims.  Didn't she do exactly that?
>
>  Bruce thinks the Privy Council, not Bessie, were
>  the real rulers.  I found it hard to believe she was
>  anyone's puppet!
>

Like saying the graphics card, not the Mother board runs your computer. :-)


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