What makes slavery a besieged institution?

Slavery is an old institution. ... A slave was not a commercialized commodity. A slave was regarded as a human being, but was placed in a very low social status. More often than not, the slave status was passed on to the future generation of the enslaved

Explanation:

a phrase from a poem by ralph waldo emerson about the battle of lexington and concord. emerson's words read, “here once the embattled farmers stood / and fired the shot heard round the world.”