• JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Jefferson's anti-slavery declarations further look like virtue signaling when you take into account that in 1772 the court case Somerset v Stewart began to put the legality of slavery into question, spawning a slew of similar cases throughout the British Empire. But no, I'm sure the revolutionary war just a few years after the ruling was about State's Colony's Rights.

    • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Damn, I really need to read The Counter-Revolution of 1776.

      Also, I noticed that the slave in question in Somerset v. Stewart was purchased in Boston. It wasn't just a big British case at the time; it had a direct connection to the American colonies.

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Ooh, so do I. Thanks!

        Yeah, as someone who reads up a lot on the Kochtopus astroturfing and manufacturing consent, I have a hard time believing that much of the adoption of slogans like No Taxation Without Representation and the other tax protests weren't astroturfing from the slaveholder class.

      • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
        ·
        3 years ago

        Good book. I enjoyed reading through it so far. Just gotta keep in mind the overall Marxian context that it was a bougeoise revolution against the old monarchist system and among the first nails Capitalism hammered into the casket of Feudalism

        I'd give Gerald Horne credit for shedding light upon a subject that's kept silent on in historical education on the 18th century slave trade, and the overall evolution of the concept of American racism in the colonies.