peculiar institution

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun[edit]

the peculiar institution

  1. (euphemistic or derogatory) slavery
    • 1855, Peter Randolph, Illustrations of the 'Peculiar Institution':
      He became a great drunkard and a great gambler (vices intimately connected with the "peculiar institution,") and was obliged to give up his business.
    • 2001, John C. Inscoe, Appalachians and Race, Introduction, page 3:
      He documents the extensiveness of the peculiar institution's presence throughout the region and establishes a much more realistic context for the emergences of abolitionist sentiments and the various forms it took.
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