Many conversations concerning slavery in American history do not begin until 1776, selectively omitting over 250 years of transplanted, coerced slavery that predated the Declaration. This context is critical in understanding the Founding and establishing an informed understanding of the institution and its major players at the time. Ultimately, the colonies that would later form the United States were responsible for a tiny share of the larger slave trade, forced to maintain and support the slave-trade by its mother nation, the British empire.