 | Between Blood and Gold: The Debates over Compensation for Slavery in the Americas Subjects: Slaveholders -- Legal status laws etc. -- France -- History; Slaveholders -- Legal status laws etc. -- Great Britain -- History; Indemnity -- France -- History; Indemnity -- Great Britain -- History; Slaves -- Emancipation -- France -- History; France; Today, a century and a half after the abolition of slavery across most of the Americas, the idea of monetary reparations for former slaves and their descendants continues to be a controversial one. Lost among these debates, however, is the fact that such payments were widespread in the nineteenth century--except the "victims" were not slaves, but the slaveholders deprived of their labor. This landmark comparative study analyzes the debates over compensation within France and Great Britain. It lays out in unprecedented detail the philosophical, legal-political, and economic factors at play, establishing a powerful new model for understanding the aftermath of slavery in the Americas. Frédérique Beauvois received her doctorate from the University of Lausanne and Sciences Po Paris in 2011. She was awarded the Prize of the French Senate as well as the Prize of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne in 2012. She is currently researching perceptions of slavery in the United States from 1783 to 1865. |
