I doubt Ben Franklin the abolitionist was slave driving in the 1780's. And even though he was old as hell he was probably one of the most functional human beings in history.
I just recently said something like this aloud in a casual conversation with a friend (Ad sales guy in NYC) and, through the awkward exchange that followed realized he thought emancipation was 300+ years ago. Given slavery is the most critical part of our nation’s history, I opted to not disctract with the dates of the revolutionary war.
This from someone from a wealthy family who attended private schools and has an MBA.
Nit: the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states rebelling against the union. Slavery was perfectly legal in Kentucky until December 18, 1865.
> [the former slave] died there in 1921, at the age of 67.
From a linked article. Especially as a Britisher, where 100-odd years seems pretty recent, it’s incredible to me that there were slaves so recently in the US.
> By the 19th century (which is the century everybody talks about) it was almost legally impossible to free a slave in the American south (things like, say, a $200 tax in Florida... which was more money than most people saw in a year).
Believe it or not, most slaves were owned by fairly wealthy people.
If you assume 40% of them are black, like the article claims, the number comes out to 2,645,400. This is considerably less than the number of slaves in 1860, or 1850 for that matter.
If you have a source to back up your claim then you should post it. I'm actually curious what sources the author might have been using.
I don't think you're acting in bad faith, I think you just read that huffpost article and assumed it was correct. I just wanted to reply since you were curious about what you might have done wrong.
> For the Southern colonies, participation in the American Revolution was part of their effort to maintain slavery.
Slavery was legal to some extent in every colony, northern or southern, throughout the Revolution. Some states had (laudably) started to abolish it in whole or in part by the end of the war. Interestingly, Wikipedia indicates that the last Pennsylvanian slaves died in the 1840s, which seems surprisingly late.
Hell of a feat, since he died in 1790.
reply