Quote:
Originally Posted by cgjackson222
And the Law of 4 February 1794 abolished slavery in France.
US was a little late to the game.
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And slavery was abolished in Massachusetts in 1783. France/Britain and the USA are not equivalent in that a significant percentage of the USA was economically dependent on slavery, and for most people ideals follow economics. It was much easier for the North to be anti-slavery because they were not economically invested in it. Which is of course no excuse for the slave-owners of the South - they were perpetuating an incredibly unjust system. I just would question the belief that they were more evil than any other society. Incredibly unjust systems are the rule of history, not the exceptions. Most people not being morally good is a constant across time and space.
While Britain banned slavery, they weren't exactly eager to divest themselves of the countries they exploited, like Ireland and India. What the British were doing to Ireland in the same period they abolished slavery was absolutely atrocious - no less terrible than American slavery, and arguably worse.