[riverdawg]

“When slavery in the District was abolished, the owners were compensated ...”

This is the approach that Great Britain took. If the U.S. had done the same, it might have been cheaper than fighting a bloody Civil War.

[hanamizu]

This is the approach that Great Britain took.

---

I’ve thought about that. But the U.K. was the richest nation in the world and had a strong anti-slavery sentiment. I don’t know if northern taxpayers would be on board with the Federal government paying slave owners. There weren’t all that many who signed up to ‘free the slaves’ when the war did break out.

As it turned out it may well have been cheaper than the Civil War.