The Price of Emancipation: Slave-Ownership, Compensation And British Society At The End Of Slavery (Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series)

Synopsis

When Colonial Slavery Was Abolished In 1833, The British Government Paid £20 Million To Slave-owners As Compensation: The Enslaved Received Nothing. Drawing On The Records Of The Commissioners Of Slave Compensation, Which Represent A Complete Census Of Slave-ownership, This Book Provides For The First Time A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Extent And Importance Of Absentee Slave-ownership And Its Impact On British Society. Moving Away From The Historiographical Tradition Of Isolated Case Studies, It Reveals The Extent Of Slave-ownership Amongst Metropolitan Elites, And Identifies Concentrations Of Both Rentier And Mercantile Slave-holders, Tracing Their Influence In Local And National Politics, In Business, And In Institutions Such As The Church. In Analysipermeationermation Of British Society By Slave-owners, And Their Success In Securing Compensation From The State, The Book Challenges Convenarrativesrativess Of Abolitionist Britain And Provides A Fresh Perspective Of British Society And Politics On The Eve Of The Victorian Era. The Absentee Slave-owner: Representations And Identities -- The Debate Over Compensation -- The Distribution Of Slave-compensation -- The Structure Of Slave-ownership -- The Large-scale Rentier-owners -- 'widows And Orphans': Small-scale British Slave-owners -- Merchants, Bankers And Agents In The Compensation Process. Nicholas Draper. Originally Published: 2010. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.