The question of slavery seems quite orthogonal to government. It was, after all, the United States government that codified and made slavery law in the first pl

The question of slavery seems quite orthogonal to government. It was, after all, the United States government that codified and made slavery law in the first place. It was, after all, the southern governments that subsidized slave owners costs through police enforcement (by catching slaves), and courts (Dred Scott v. Sandford anyone?). It would arguably be quite difficult to have functioning slavery without it being subsidized (its usually cheaper just to pay people to do the work, unless someone else is paying to keep them in line). At the end of the day, the government is just the people. I don't "blame" the government for slavery in America anymore than I "congratulate" them for ending it. People at one point wanted it and thus the government unfortunately reflected that, and at a later point stopped wanting it and thus the government reflected that. Just look at your own interpretation here: it relies entirely on the historical accident that the north won. Had the south coincidentally won instead, which would have had little to do with which side was "right", would you think government doesn't work? Military force this time around thankfully was on the side of good, doesn't seem in any way guaranteed however. Not to mention the ways government continues to support slavery. It was only 50 years ago that we were interning the Japanese. And if you read the 13th amendment, you'll notice a peculiar exception: "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted". That's why you can have a profitable prison system in America, where the government picks up the tab of incarceration, while private companies are provided a below-minimum-wage workforce (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289?print=1 http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-unit...).