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The US is actually fairly unique in the Americas in that the federal government did NOT compensate masters for emancipation, with the exception of DC Emancipation which covered about 3k of the USA's 4m enslaved people.
Only other mass emancipation with no compensation was Haiti. https://twitter.com/jemelehill/status/1349696314309632005
Only other mass emancipation with no compensation was Haiti. https://twitter.com/jemelehill/status/1349696314309632005
You'll notice a common theme in emancipation in the US and Haiti is that there was a massive rebellion on the part of the enslaved people thus making compensation impracticable.
Now Lincoln's whiteness shown through in that he thought compensated emancipation was preferable...
Now Lincoln's whiteness shown through in that he thought compensated emancipation was preferable...
And the whiteness also shown through in that Lincoln really never contemplated any plan for reparations for the formerly enslaved.
However, his preferred plan was scuttled by the recalcitrance of slaveowners and the insistence of the enslaved that they be free immediately.
However, his preferred plan was scuttled by the recalcitrance of slaveowners and the insistence of the enslaved that they be free immediately.
Lincoln pretty much let go of the idea of compensated emancipation after the Emancipation Proclamation, except in the case of the loyal-enough Border States, but even there he gave up when he pushed for the 13th Amendment which had no provisions for compensation.
Also lots of slaveowners in the loyal-enough Border States protested to the feds that they deserved compensation when the govt began recruiting Black soldiers regardless of their freedom status.
White Kentuckians were particularly pissed, but the Lincoln admin gave them no cash.
White Kentuckians were particularly pissed, but the Lincoln admin gave them no cash.
The white folks in Kentucky and Delaware continued their anger when the proposed 13th Amendment would end slavery without compensation even for their loyal states.
By that point Lincoln didn't care and ignored them.
By that point Lincoln didn't care and ignored them.
Lincoln's reconstruction framework had no provisions for compensating the freedpeople for their years of unpaid labor, so that was a shitty part of his plan.
Would he have changed? I dunno. But he never had public utterances supporting the idea.
Would he have changed? I dunno. But he never had public utterances supporting the idea.
Now the fun part was that a whole lot of slaveowners were still pissed about losing their "property" and were threatening to sue for the compensation denied them by the Lincoln administration.
So there's an explicit provision of the 14th Amendment that forbids any compensation to slaveowners for losing their "property"
Section Four of that amendment ratified in1868 showing the govt wasn't paying shit your lost slave property.
Section Four of that amendment ratified in1868 showing the govt wasn't paying shit your lost slave property.
Y'all really should read the 14th Amendment more often.
It's truly the best one in the Constitution. Essentially the peace treaty of the Civil War, even if it wasn't always enforced with vigor and sometimes perverted (corporations being people, etc.)
It's truly the best one in the Constitution. Essentially the peace treaty of the Civil War, even if it wasn't always enforced with vigor and sometimes perverted (corporations being people, etc.)
Damn, had another thought pop into my head...
The 13th Amendment is also the largest liquidation of private property* in US history. There's a reason why some of the more conservative Republicans wanted to make sure we didn't let that stand as a repeatable precedent.
The 13th Amendment is also the largest liquidation of private property* in US history. There's a reason why some of the more conservative Republicans wanted to make sure we didn't let that stand as a repeatable precedent.
*Yes, it's fucked up Black people were considered property but that's America!
Anyways, the more egalitarian Republicans and emancipated people sure did want that example expanded upon. Don't just liquidate the property in man, liquidate and redistribute the land once tilled by enslaved labor.
Take a wild guess on who won that debate in most instances.
Take a wild guess on who won that debate in most instances.
