By the mid-eighteenth century, the transatlantic
slave trade was considered to be a necessary and
stabilizing factor in the capitalist economies of Europe
and the expanding Americas. Britain was the most
influential power in this system which seemed to have
the potential for unbounded growth. In 1833, the British
empire became the first to liberate its slaves and then
to become a driving force toward global emancipation.
There has been endless debate over the reasons behind
this decision. This has been portrayed on the one hand
as a rational disinvestment in a foundering overseas
system, and on the other as the most expensive per
capita expenditure for colonial reform in modern
history. In this work, Seymour Drescher argues that the
plan to end British slavery, rather than being a timely
escape from a failing system, was, on the contrary, the
crucial element in the greatest humanitarian achievement
of all time. The Mighty Experiment explores how
politicians, colonial bureaucrats, pamphleteers, and
scholars taking anti-slavery positions validated their
claims through rational scientific arguments going
beyond moral and polemical rhetoric, and how the
infiltration of the social sciences into this political
debate was designed to minimize agitation on both sides
and provide common ground. Those at the inception of the
social sciences, such as Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus,
helped to develop these tools to create an argument that
touched on issues of demography, racism, and political
economy. By the time British emancipation became
legislation, it was being treated as a massive social
experiment, whose designs, many thought, had the
potential to change the world. This study outlines the
relationship of economic growth to moral issues in
regard to slavery, and will appeal to scholars of
British history, nineteenth century imperial history,
the history of slavery, and those interested in the
history of human rights. |
|