--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Slavery's fundamental offense against…" description: "\"“Slavery's fundamental offense against human rights was not that it took liberty away (which can happen in many other situations), but that it excluded..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/hannah-arendt-610_1967_slavery-s-fundamental-offense-against-hu_1017746.jpg" --- # Slavery's fundamental offense against human rights was not… ![“Slavery's fundamental offense against human rights was not that it took liberty away (which can happen in many other situations), but that it excluded a certain category of people even from the possibility of fighting for freedom—a fight possible under tyranny, and even under the desperate…” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/hannah-arendt-610_1967_slavery-s-fundamental-offense-against-hu_1017746.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/hannah-arendt-610_1967_slavery-s-fundamental-offense-against-hu_1017746.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/hannah-arendt-610_1967_slavery-s-fundamental-offense-against-hu_1017746.jpg) > ““Slavery's fundamental offense against human rights was not that it took liberty away (which can happen in many other situations), but that it excluded a certain category of people even from the possibility of fighting for freedom—a fight possible under tyranny, and even under the desperate conditions of modern terror (but not under any conditions of concentration-camp life). Slavery's crime against humanity did not begin when one people defeated and enslaved its enemies (though of course this was bad enough), but when slavery became an institution in which some men were "born" free and others slave, when it was forgotten that it was man who had deprived his fellow-men of freedom, and when the sanction for the crime was attributed to nature. Yet in the light of recent events it is possible to say that even slaves still belonged to some sort of human community; their labor was needed, used, and exploited, and this kept them within the pale of humanity. To be a slave was after all to have a distinctive character, a place in society—more than the abstract nakedness of beig human and nothing but human. Not the loss of specific rights, then, but the loss of a community willing and able to guarantee any rights whatsoever, has been the calamity which has befallen ever-increasing numbers of people. Man, it turns out, can lose all so-called Rights of Man without losing his essential quality as man, his human dignity. Only the loss of a polity itself expels him from humanity.”” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Slavery’s worst harm is not just loss of liberty, but the denial of a community that guarantees rights, reducing people to mere property. **In simple terms:** Loss of community, not just freedom, dehumanizes. Key Takeaway Cultivate inclusive societies that protect all rights. Themes human rights community justice dignity Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical political When to use this quote - legal reform - education - policy making - activism Key Concepts social contract systemic oppression Questions to Reflect On - What does community mean for rights? - How can societies rebuild inclusive bonds? A Different Perspective Addressing systemic oppression requires deep structural change, not just legal fixes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Born free](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/born-free/) [Concentration-camps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concentration-camps-2/) [Crimes against humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crimes-against-humanity/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Human dignity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-dignity/) [Human rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-rights/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Rights-of-man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rights-of-man/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) ## Related quotes > [Slavery's crime against humanity did not begin when one people defeated and enslaved its enemies (though of course this was bad enough), but when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/slavery-s-crime-against-humanity-did-not-begin-when-one-people/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“We were born to serve humanity, not to slave for society”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephan-attia/we-were-born-to-serve-humanity-not-to-slave-for-society/) [Stephan Attia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephan-attia/) > [“A circular letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to all German authorities abroad shortly after the November pogroms of 1918 stated: "The emigration…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/a-circular-letter-from-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-to-all-german/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Modern slavery - be it bonded labor, involuntary servitude, or sexual slavery - is a crime and cannot be tolerated in any culture, community,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/modern-slavery-be-it-bonded-labor-involuntary-servitude-or-sexual/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [It is troubling that modern slavery is a crime that can be hidden in the supply chains of the goods and services we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-rudd/it-is-troubling-that-modern-slavery-is-a-crime-that-can-be-hidden-in/) [Amber Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amber-rudd/) > [The true story is that black people need to tell their history. Very few films are made by black people about slavery. That itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haile-gerima/the-true-story-is-that-black-people-need-to-tell-their-history-very/) [Haile Gerima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haile-gerima/) > [“Lee had a low opinion of black abilities, and thought that Virginia would be better off it its freed black population now migrated south…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bracelen-flood/lee-had-a-low-opinion-of-black-abilities-and-thought-that-virginia/) [Charles Bracelen Flood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bracelen-flood/) > [Slavery as an institution that degraded man to a thing has never died out. In some periods of history it has flourished: many civilizations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-meltzer/slavery-as-an-institution-that-degraded-man-to-a-thing-has-never-died/) Milton Meltzer > [There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-e-lee/there-are-few-i-believe-in-this-enlightened-age-who-will-not/) [Robert E. Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-e-lee/) > [A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/a-life-of-reaction-is-a-life-of-slavery-intellectually-and/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [I love life and want to hold onto it. But my passion for justice for my tormented people, for their dignity and freedom, must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-love-life-and-want-to-hold-onto-it-but-my-passion-for-justice-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Slavery is an institution for converting men into monkeys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/slavery-is-an-institution-for-converting-men-into-monkeys/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Liberty is life; slavery is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandre-vinet/liberty-is-life-slavery-is-death/) [Alexandre Vinet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandre-vinet/) > [In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-e-lee/in-this-enlightened-age-there-are-few-i-believe-but-what-will/) [Robert E. Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-e-lee/) > [“Life is slavery if the courage to die is absent.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucius-annaeus-seneca/life-is-slavery-if-the-courage-to-die-is-absent/) [Lucius Annaeus Seneca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucius-annaeus-seneca/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More 1967 quotes > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“The society whose modernisation has reached the stage of integrated spectacle is characterised by the combined effect of five principal factors: incessant technological renewal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-debord/the-society-whose-modernisation-has-reached-the-stage-of-integrated/) [Guy Debord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-debord/) > [“Then every man would be as a god, you see. The result of this, of course, would be that there would no longer be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/then-every-man-would-be-as-a-god-you-see-the-result-of-this-of-course/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [“I will be glad to go. There is no poetry here. It is as I have always set forth: joy comes of its own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-vance/i-will-be-glad-to-go-there-is-no-poetry-here-it-is-as-i-have-always/) [Jack Vance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-vance/) > [“This new situation, in which "humanity" has in effect assumed the role formerly ascribed to nature or history, would mean in this context that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/this-new-situation-in-which-humanity-has-in-effect-assumed-the-role/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“If it will give you any satisfaction in the end, I still care for you. Either there is no such thing as love, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/if-it-will-give-you-any-satisfaction-in-the-end-i-still-care-for-you/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [“That concentration camps were ultimately provided for the same groups in all countries, even though there were considerable differences in the treatment of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/that-concentration-camps-were-ultimately-provided-for-the-same-groups/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Rule by decree has conspicuous advantages for the domination of far-flung territories with heterogeneous populations and for a policy of oppression. Its efficiency is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/rule-by-decree-has-conspicuous-advantages-for-the-domination-of-far/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Darwinism met with such overwhelming success because it provided, on the basis of inheritance, the ideological weapons for race and well as class rule…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/darwinism-met-with-such-overwhelming-success-because-it-provided-on/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Naturalization, on the other hand, also proved to be a failure. The whole naturalization system of European countries fell apart when it was confronted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/naturalization-on-the-other-hand-also-proved-to-be-a-failure-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Call themselves?" asked Yama. "You are wrong, Sam, Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being. One does not achieve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/call-themselves-asked-yama-you-are-wrong-sam-godhood-is-more-than-a/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [“Only the unlimited accumulation of power could bring about the unlimited accumulation of capital.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-the-unlimited-accumulation-of-power-could-bring-about-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [You are a fool to speak of last great battles...for the last great battle is always the next one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/you-are-a-fool-to-speak-of-last-great-battles-for-the-last-great/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [“Which one is the right way?" "Huh? You're asking me that ? How should I know?" "Mortals call you Buddha." 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Slavery's crime against humanity did not begin when one people defeated and enslaved its enemies (though of course this was bad enough), but when slavery became an institution in which some men were \"born\" free and others slave, when it was forgotten that it was man who had deprived his fellow-men of freedom, and when the sanction for the crime was attributed to nature. Yet in the light of recent events it is possible to say that even slaves still belonged to some sort of human community; their labor was needed, used, and exploited, and this kept them within the pale of humanity. To be a slave was after all to have a distinctive character, a place in society—more than the abstract nakedness of beig human and nothing but human. Not the loss of specific rights, then, but the loss of a community willing and able to guarantee any rights whatsoever, has been the calamity which has befallen ever-increasing numbers of people. 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