Regrettably, slavery was once legal within the United States. Additionally, to this point, those that were in bondage to others, were somehow seldom able to utilize their own wherewithal, desire, and strength to successfully overcome those that enslaved them, primarily because those that have critical knowledge as well as weapons, even when few in number, are always in the catbird seat in controlling those that are ignorant, because knowledge is a very potent power. This is also the salient reason why slave owners made sure to pass legislation making it illegal to teach their slaves reading and writing, because slave owners recognized that those that were illiterate were always going to be easier to control than those that were literate; because independent thinking, and the ability to gather and to implement knowledge is dangerous to those that desire to remain dominant and in command, for it is far easier to control the narrative when there is only that one voice, thereby leaving those that are enslaved, enthralled to those that have enslaved them.
In order to have and to maintain control over other people, slaves or not, this is always more readily accomplished, when there are only just a few that are masters of the necessary powers, knowledge, and influential positions, needed to mold the population to their desires. After all, those that do not have the ready ability to properly discern what they see and what is occurring and further are not able to correctly process such, are at a massive disadvantage, which thereby leaves them quite susceptible to manipulation. This signifies that those that are most aware, are also the ones that are most awake; whereas those are least aware, are those that are the least informed.
Any country that claims it is governed of, for, and by the people, must as a prerequisite to such, make sure that all of the people are fundamentally gifted with the necessary tools for this to be true; of which therefore literacy as well as the ability to actually think for one's self, are critical components to anybody truly desiring to have an independent mind. All those that are not independent in their thinking, for whatever reasons, are thereby dependent upon others to do their thinking for them, of which, most governments, corporations, and powerful people, want that to be the case, because this thus allows them to not only maintain their power over those people, but makes those people, dependent upon them for their daily sustenance; of which, those that are dependent upon some other entity, such as a country or corporation to provide them with their daily bread, are the very same people, that have traded their freedom, wittingly or not, for that security.
So then, it must be said, those that are independent are typically those that have diligently applied themselves to their tasks, and have garnered knowledge and thereby utilized such to better their own situation as well as to keep abreast of all that is happening around and to them, good or bad. On the other hand, those that are dependent, typically have forsaken knowledge for whatever handouts that they can readily get, leaving themselves vulnerable to those that often see them as a resource to be exploited for their exploiter's continual benefit, leaving them thereby bereft of all of that which really matters, and definitely without many good options, let alone their freedom.