Reddit reviews Race: The History of an Idea in America:2nd (Second) edition

Chattel slavery gave a legal basis for ownership of another human on a racial basis, something that regardless of where it occurred developed a standing race theory that due to the color of an individuals skin they were inferior, or ‘heathens’. This distinction of the legality of slavery and the viewing of slaves as pieces of property influenced future thinkers to condemn those of African descent as inferior by nature. Individuals such as Thomas Jefferson, whose ideas were used in the future to justify slavery, described his doubts that Blacks could learn complex melodies, or have proper mental and moral characteristics (Gossett 42). I believe that chattel slavery induced these new types of theories individuals were generating about the race of African Americans, therefore constructing a race theory. Their inferiority and comparison to cattle or property made it easier for white individuals to deem them as an inferior race in general, and therefore generate a new race theory about their status within society and as humans. I think that the "pro-slavery" arguments you are referring to are much constructed from the race theory created by inferiority in slavery, especially between slaves whose close ancestors were enslaved alongside whites in the United States. The distinction between an African American and white "indentured servant" and in United States history wasn't actually made into law into the 1660s (Gossett 30). The book I am referencing is the second edition of Race: The History of an Idea In America by Thomas Gossett. A long (but great) read, and you can find it on Amazon relatively cheaply digitally here.