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Am totally puzzled by all this talk about Thanksgiving Day in late November—everybody knows the right day for Thanksgiving is July 4th, when we got rid of the ungrateful colonials!

@cstross you mean the day the American Colonies got rid of the monarchy, which you advocate for from sunny Edinburgh?

@ttmevans The day the American Colonies moved decisively to retain chattel slavery (which the UK was moving to make illegal, from a court case in 1772 onwards—see the Mansfield judgement).

@cstross I think we had a pretty big argument and realignment on that ourselves, as well.

Travis Mooney-Evans

@cstross the revolt of the American colonies in 1776 was does predate than the end of slavery in Britain in 1799, but Britain had a staged abolition, outlawing the slave trade in 1807 but with slavery in overseas territories remaining legal until 1833. That would cover British territories the Carribean (and elsewhere), as well as the 13 Colonies. I don’t know if individual areas outlawed slavery independent of the Slavery Abolution Act.

1/2

@cstross Most of the Northern States outlawed slavery from the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, but it wasn’t comprehensive.

Then there were bloody battles to decide whether new states would have slavery. It all came to a head with Lincoln, the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

The history is not pleasant, but while it’s about 85 years from the Declaration to the Proclamation, it’s only 30 years later than if the USA was still a British territory.

@ttmevans No, you missed the tide running for abolitionism in England from the 1750s onwards. In particular the Mansfield verdict said that slaves didn't exist in England after 1772. (Scotland took a few more years.)

Ending the slave *trade*, especially in the overseas bits of the empire, took longer. But after slavery no longer existed in England it was inevitable. And that point of no return was passed in 1772.

@cstross I didn’t miss it, but there are loads of examples where slavery persisted in the empire well past 1833, where is was politically advantageous. ‘Indirectly administered’ is a lovely ephamism for places we don’t want to be seen as responsible.

Anyway, love your books. Happy weekend!