Posted on 02/19/2021 7:49:50 AM PST by ProgressingAmerica
So now they're going to conduct a reparations commission in congress. Where is everybody pointing out that Britain's Empire was the one who brought the slaves here?
The Founders didn't ignore their role across the ocean. Why do we? Shouldn't we do what our Founders did? That's all.
The law originated in 1765, and took some time to be acted on.
By that time, yes, Hutchinson was indeed governor. I forgot to mention one piece.
“England ended the institution of slavery in 1772.”
Not true. England England ended the institution of slavery in England in 1772. And Benjamin Franklin was pissing mad because of it.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-19-02-0128
“Can sweetening our tea, &c. with sugar, be a circumstance of such absolute necessity? Can the petty pleasure thence arising to the taste, compensate for so much misery produced among our fellow creatures, and such a constant butchery of the human species by this pestilential detestable traffic in the bodies and souls of men? Pharisaical Britain! to pride thyself in setting free a single Slave that happens to land on thy coasts, while thy Merchants in all thy ports are encouraged by thy laws to continue a commerce whereby so many hundreds of thousands are dragged into a slavery that can scarce be said to end with their lives, since it is entailed on their posterity!”
Benjamin Franklin was correct. That’s the point I was making and will continue to make.
England did not abolish slavery in 1772, they didn’t even complete the job in 1833 either. They later had to come up with yet another bill to address slavery in (India I think it was).
Yes. 1843. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Slavery_Act,_1843
"Within 30 years the colony of Rhode Island, and in particular Newport, came to dominate the North American slave trade. Even though it was the smallest of the colonies, the great majority of slave ships leaving British North America came from Rhode Island ports. Historian Christy Clark-Pujara, in her book Dark Work, The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island, indicates that during “the colonial period in total, Rhode Island sent 514 slave ships to the coast of West Africa, while the rest of the colonists sent just 189.”
http://smallstatebighistory.com/rhode-island-dominates-north-american-slave-trade-in-18th-century/
I think we can all agree that Whitefield got that one wrong. A generation later though, several colonial legislatures were working to try to pass abolitionist laws and parliament/the king/colonial governors loyal to overseas were vetoing them.
And that’s the problem. Another user here floated the idea that Britain ought to be the one to pay reparations to African Americans, and there is some merit to that notion.
It’s specifically because of these motions. Had Britain not interfered, America would’ve started abolishing slavery PRIOR to Independence.
That’s a fact.
Agreed. I just made the point to another user that had Britain allowed the colonies to do their abolitionist laws instead of vetoing these laws, we might not be in this mess that we are in today. Americans would have begun abolishing slavery prior to Independence.
Agreed.
That’s why I record audiobooks and give them away for free as open source.
I know how smart you and others are. I just need to get the information out faster so we can push back against these falsehoods.
Africa certainly has its culpability. But Africans didn’t veto pre-Independence abolitionist laws in the 13 colonies and certainly would’ve been happy had those laws come to full fruition.
My first ship left Newport. 1/2/1968. Different task though. 🚢😄
Independence(The war, specifically) destroyed slave trading in British Rhode Island, Newport.
The timeline is everything.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/uEkEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&pg=PA535
Left column, just a little below middle of the page.
I do notice that over a million went to Jamaica. Anyone willing to call out commie-la and her ancestors on that? Guess that’d be racis’ and stuff.
How about acknowledging the Muslim’s part in capturing the slaves to sell to the slave traders? And how about acknowledging that practically EVERY civilization in history has owned slaves?
sic*(”whose”)
I’m aware MASSACHUSETTS ended slavery ITSELF by the time of the Constitution, but not all of New England.
England ended the institution of slavery in 1772. Massachusetts chose to keep slavery legal until court cases in 1781. Slavery was not completely abolished in the United States until 1865. And somehow England is to blame for decisions made over here?
Slavery existed in Africa for over 900 years before the first European set foot there. They did not hunt them, other tribes brought them in and got paid for it as well as the land the tribes got when the other one was sold into slavery.
Look, Franklin was an instrumental Founding Father, there is no denying that. And Franklin was a staunch abolitionist. Regardless of what Franklin thought of slavery, he was sadly unable to end it.
Because it doesn’t matter. We rebelled from the British but decided to keep slavery. Everything after the Revolution is on us.
It was easier for the British since the slaves weren't in England but in remote colonies.
It's easy to condemn slaveowners from a distance, but how can any of us know what we would have done if born into a slaveholding family? Would we have impoverished ourselves by freeing our slaves or would we have salved our consciences by telling ourselves that we were treating our slaves kindly, and we wished that the institution would be ended somehow before long?
I suppose 1781 or 1783 could be used. Because imo, attributing slavery in the colonies pre 1776 to what has become the US is inaccurate, the colonies only “control” was whether an individual purchased a slave or not. As another poster noted a couple states attempted to abandon slavery earlier, but were overridden by England.
I agree that the States are not responsible for what was imposed upon the colonies. The north did not exactly free those who were slaves. Largely, they sold them south. The 1860 census showed more free blacks in the slave states than in the free states. What to do with the slaves, if freed, was another problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.