Topics read today
United States: Abolition by War, 1860-65
On the impossibility of Gradual Abolition and Compensation in the US
On the Proprietarian and Social Justification of Slavery
Reconstruction and the Birth of Social Nativism in the US
These sections have a brief but insightful look at the American Civil War. Interesting argument about how slavery guaranteed that slaves will be cared for in the old age while industrialists would simply discard workers once useless. Jefferson, Calhoun etc debating slavery. The gradual shift of Democratic party over the decades since the War. How segregation continued despite abolition. And the idea of "native" population to justify the inequality, while completely ignoring the massacre of the native Indians.
Next topics examined
Brazil: Imperial and Mixed-Race Abolition in 1888
Russia: The Abolition of Serfdom with a Weak State 1861
Brazil continued with deep divisions after the abolition though intermixing was very high from way back. They had insisted on educational qualification for suffrage.
Russia didn't have a strong enough state under the Tsar to implement abolition effectively
Moved onto Chapter 7
Colonial Societies: Diversity and Domination
The Two Ages of European Colonialism
The 1500-1800 phase of violence, war, rampant exploitation
The 1800-1950 phase of milder subjugation by which time the justifications of the past 300 years where imbibed by the colonised as well.
Settler Colonies and Colonies without Settlement
Case of Algeria and France
Slave and Colonial Societies: Extreme Inequality
Top decile captures 80-90% of the wealth and income.
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