Oh no, it did happen that way!
This is a true story, my friend. Completely true, and Mumbet really did get her freedom with the help of Mr. Sedgwick. It's all true!
The issue is that we let ourselves back into the mindset of slaves and subjects. We began to believe that someone else had more authority than we ourselves did.
It happened slowly, bit by bit. Just little tiny things, over decades and decades. And now we're just about back to where we started.
Seems odd that no one has ever challenged the exception in the 13th Amendment that continues to allow slavery in the US of A for 'conviction of a crime', particularly since the land of the free holds more people in captivity per capita than any other country in the world, ever in history.
Anyway, Sen. Jeff Merkley emailed me touting the Abolition Amendment he claims seeks to end that exception, which I am all for.