Slavery’s expansion drove scientists toward polygenesis more than arguments did

Evidence

The advance of slavery, possibly more than the persuasive arguments of Lord Kames, Charles White, and John Augustine Smith, caused intellectuals long committed to monogenesis to start changing their views. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 353

Categorization

• XREF: Direct instance of Kendi’s core inversion: material/economic conditions precede and cause the racist ideas that then justify them — connects to the reader’s stated goal of mastering policy-before-ideas.
• SEED: Angle: social/economic institutions shift ‘neutral’ scientific consensus faster than evidence or argument ever does — a modern case study in how funding/professional incentives track policy.