Sir Thomas More Argues Only Criminals Should be Enslaved
Sir Thomas More in his book Utopia argues that his ideal society would have slaves, but they would not be ‘non-combatant prisoners-of-war, slaves by birth, or purchases from foreign slave markets.’ Rather, they would be local convicts or ‘condemned criminals from other countries, who are acquired in large numbers, sometimes for a small payment, but usually for nothing.’ (Trans. Paul Turner, Penguin, 1965).