The French Revolution and the ending of slavery
When did slavery end?
Intellectual historian Zeev Sternhell makes the following observation:
“But it is above all the French Revolution that is overlooked. Slavery was in fact abolished by the French Revolution. The slaves, like the Jews, were liberated, and for the first time in history, all men living within the frontiers of a single country, France, were subject to the same laws and became free citizens with equal rights.”
That’s from page 46 of Sternhell’s The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition (Yale University Press, 2010).
The “first time in history” is striking. Anti-slavery societies had been founded during the Enlightenment in the United States, Great Britain, and France.
But, despite its many sins, the French Revolution should get major credit for being the first to eliminate this ugly, ugly practice.
Tags: Anti-slavery societies, ending of slavery, French Revolution, slavery, The Enlightenment
