Challenge: Get a World Power to abolish slavery before 1800

  • Thread starter Deleted member 67076
  • Start date

Deleted member 67076

As the title says, the challenge is get a major power to abolish slavery. Bonus points if you can do this without a revolution.
 
Surviving Republic of France could do that. It did that in OTL. But for surviving you would need more moderate republic and much lesser militaristic.

Another way would be that United States would decide make that on Constitution Convention.

But I don't see there another ways. Or if you allow POD which is pretty far on past. Perhaps Roman Empire would start industrialism on second or third century (you just need more stable empire) and Roman Empire should too survive. It could later abolish slavery totally.
 
According to Wikipedia, Louis X abolished slavery in France in 1315.

In 1315, Louis X published a decree proclaiming that "France signifies freedom" and that any slave setting foot on the French ground should be freed.

France in 1315 I think could be considered a power. Whether it is a world power is debatable. If it is, then there is your answer. It happened in OTL.

Louis X in 1315 also declared all serfs to be free, if they pay for the privilege.
 
Last edited:

jahenders

Banned
Actually, the Russians did end slavery in 1723, but in large part they just called it by another name -- serfdom.

Otherwise, I would tend to agree. France is probably the best bet if it can avoid a meltdown after the revolution

US is probably another remote possibility, but I can't see any way that ending slavery would make it in the original constitution (short of changing how the colonies were formed and farmed, but that would butterfly a lot). What COULD potentially have made it into the constitution would be a phase out plan. For example, maybe it could be agreed that slavery will end in 18751 (75 years after revolution and an eternity away in 1793), but to compensate, slaves initially count as more than 3/5 of a person, enhancing southern power initially.

Surviving Republic of France could do that. It did that in OTL. But for surviving you would need more moderate republic and much lesser militaristic.

Another way would be that United States would decide make that on Constitution Convention.

But I don't see there another ways. Or if you allow POD which is pretty far on past. Perhaps Roman Empire would start industrialism on second or third century (you just need more stable empire) and Roman Empire should too survive. It could later abolish slavery totally.
 

Deleted member 67076

According to Wikipedia, Louis X abolished slavery in France in 1315.


France in 1315 I think could be considered a power. Whether it is a world power is debatable. If it is, then there is your answer. It happened in OTL.

Louis X in 1315 also declared all serfs to be free, if they pay for the privilege.

How did they reconcile this with the situation in the sugar colonies?
 
According to Wikipedia, Louis X abolished slavery in France in 1315.


France in 1315 I think could be considered a power. Whether it is a world power is debatable. If it is, then there is your answer. It happened in OTL.

Louis X in 1315 also declared all serfs to be free, if they pay for the privilege.
I think it meant that slaves touching French European territory would become free, I think it was the same for England but not sure when this kind of law was enacted on the island.
 
Last edited:
Well the Achaemenid Persia officially banned slavery, and I guess you can consider them a world power of that time, so does that counts?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire

The practice of slavery in Achaemenid Persia was generally banned, although there is evidence that conquered and/or rebellious armies were sold into captivity.[95] Zoroastrianism, the de facto religion of the empire, explicitly forbids slavery,[96] and the kings of Achaemenid Persia, especially the founder Cyrus the Great, followed this ban to varying degrees, as evidenced by the freeing of the Jews at Babylon, and the construction of Persepolis by paid workers.
 
I think it meant that slaves touching French European territory would become free, I think it was the same for England but not sure when.

And considering in 1315, all French territory were European, then it could be considered a universal abolition of French Slaves at that time.

Of course, that law wasn't applied to overseas territory more than three centuries later, but in European France, it was.
 
The French abolished slavery in all it's possessions in 1794 OTL. It was later re-implemented by Napoleon in 1802.
 
I had an idea for a stagnant Virginia colony being bought out by William Penn and a "Quaker cousinage". Having a large portion of the colonial elite belonging to a pretty fervent anti-slavery sect could see an earlier end to slavery, at least on the Continent.
 
So far as I can remember, slavery was entirely abolished in England and Scotland in 1706 but continued into the 1800s throughout the British Empire.
 
I think it meant that slaves touching French European territory would become free, I think it was the same for England but not sure when this kind of law was enacted on the island.

same rule existed for slaves coming from the dutch east-indies, the VOC actually implemented all the slave laws from Roman times (that protected them to a degree), plus some new ones, like the law that any slave that was transported to the UP (netherlands), and that set foot on dutch soil, automatically became free, this was already the case pre-1700 i think.
 
I think it meant that slaves touching French European territory would become free, I think it was the same for England but not sure when this kind of law was enacted on the island.

They also tended to then ship the people to Haiti or their other islands. Probably ending up in slavery again.
 
Time for a serious answer.

If one of the major European colonial powers loses all their sugar colonies and has no possessions in the East that would need possible slaves, then I could see said power using either Catholic logic or the Enlightenment to ban slavery.

The most likely country is France, weak in Asia and weak in the Americas. If they lose Guadeloupe, Haiti, etc (to other powers or a maroon revolt, whatevs), they have no material incentive to preserve slavery. Throw in a ruler having a sudden bout of humanity and bam, slavery's over legally.
 
Surviving Republic of France could do that. It did that in OTL. But for surviving you would need more moderate republic and much lesser militaristic.

Even a militaristic republic would retain abolition of slavery. It's entirely possible for a surviving First Republic to exist.

Another way would be that United States would decide make that on Constitution Convention.

Many of the Founding Fathers, such as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, were slaveholders.

But I don't see there another ways. Or if you allow POD which is pretty far on past. Perhaps Roman Empire would start industrialism on second or third century (you just need more stable empire) and Roman Empire should too survive. It could later abolish slavery totally.

How on earth would such a thing occur? That's impossible.
 
-Build world power in Africa in early 15th century or earlier
-Said power keeps to itself until Europeans show up en masse
-Power abolishes slavery, at least until they start raiding Portuguese shores...
 
Top