But that so-called empire arguably was the global rules-based system, committed to abolishing slavery and to free trade and free movement on the seas.

WSJ: The Weekend Interview with Charles Hill: The Empire Strikes Back

In the American system built around that creed, the monstrous original failing and contradiction was the institution of slavery.

FORBES: It's Time To Restore Liberty

In one case, there is triumph over a bitter caste and class system marinated by certainty and cruelty, and in the other, over the aftermath of slavery in which some people who were white legally owned others who were black.

FORBES: Magazine Article

AD, Ulpian was expounding Roman law as a system based on the Stoic idea that we are all born free and equal, that slavery is against nature, and that all people, including slaves, possess a dignity that can be vindicated in legal proceedings.

ECONOMIST: Letters