1776 and Slavery

[elleng]

[brush]

1. The word hypocrisy comes to mind

Jefferson never freed his slaves. He did however, bed one.

Tsk, tsk. How we try to whitewash certain founding father's unflattering blemishes.

[Arby]

2. The 1776 Virginia Constitution

listed in the grievances to Britain and the King ...

Britain was already abolishing slavery:
- By prompting our Negroes to rise in arms against us, those very Negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he has refused us permission to exclude by law;

Britain had denied expansion into native territories:
- By endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence;

It's clear the 1% in rule over the colonies wanted no interference in their quest for capital (through slave labor) or in their expansion in the new land. Same as it ever was...

[mrr303am]

3. Finally someone who knows the history of this country they left out of the history books.

I was beginning to think I was the only one who knew the true history.

[BlueStateLib]

4. Slavery was legal in Britain until 1772

but didn't become illegal for British people to own a slave working in the Caribbean islands till the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

Middle class Britons

Slave-ownership wasn't confined to the upper classes: an enslaved person was considered a sound investment. In 1833, middle class people including clergymen, naval personnel and people who had returned from the colonies were all slave-owners. Some purchased enslaved people, others acquired them through inheritance or marriage. Their value was based on skills, gender, age, health and the profitability of the plantation where they worked.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zw8dq6f