Ahh, yes, that makes sense that it would have been the country sort of discretely shoving the dirty laundry into the closet when company is coming over. Then, once LDS leadership threw in with being “properly” American around the turn of the 20th century, they went HAM on the baseball and apple pie.

Also, I agree that if American slave holders talk about slaves, they probably mean slaves. Antebellum southerners tended not to be shy or subtle. At an absolute minimum the term would have evoked Key’s own attitudes about the slaves he knew.