The fact, then, of his barbarism is sustained, fully,-by his normal condition in Africa; his condition of Retrogradation in Jamaica and San Domingo, where the experiment of emancipation has proved a failure, where the relapse into barbarism is sure and irrevocable; and in this country, where common sense and public opinion and public law, both North and South, hold him in the condition of social, moral, and physical vassalage and servitude, and confine him effectually within certain prescribed limits, or hold him in that marked estimation of inferiority which makes him forever conscious of his own degradation.
"The Right of American Slavery"
True Worthy Hoit
In some cases the habits of life adopted being simpler than before, a less heterogeneous structure will result: there will be a Retrogradation.
"Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I"
Herbert Spencer
It were enough, if what there is yet opportunity of examining were accurately inspected, and justly represented; but such is the laxity of Highland conversation, that the inquirer is kept in continual suspense, and by a kind of intellectual Retrogradation, knows less as he hears more.
"A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland"
Samuel Johnson