system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
The elites thought that all working class people were of a lesser status than them; when slaves first arrived in the Americas their status was that of the labourer.
It’s only when the idea of claiming the country for ‘the people’ that the notion of race came into it, so that the ruling class could keep some free labour.
gpt
The conceptualization of “race” and slavery go much further back than the USA