Is Modern Day Slavery a Private Act or a Public System of Oppression?

Abstract

This article examines the use of the rhetoric of slavery by the United States government and advocates for immigrant workers to determine how the Thirteenth Amendment is perceived and used in contemporary society. A survey of popular usage revealed that the government focuses on trafficking as the definitive form of modern day slavery. In so doing, it portrays modern day slavery as a private act with identifiable wrong doers and victims who have been forced or coerced into involuntary servitude. Immigrant workers advocates, on the other hand, portray modern day slavery as a systemic form of oppression, supported by governmental immigration and labor policies. A historical analysis of slave codes and court cases suggests that chattel slavery was a system of private acts supported by the state, and the Thirteenth Amendment was meant to overturn both aspects of the system. Post-emancipation courts, however, used the Thirteenth Amendment to reach private acts but not state sponsored systems of class oppression. Modern day advocates can utilize this analysis to create an effective agenda for worker protection. The article is part of a symposium titled "The Thirteenth Amendment Through the Lens of Class and Labor."

Keywords: slavery, modern-day slavery, Thirteenth Amendment, immigrants, immigrant workers, class, class oppression, labor