"In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40 per cent of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire. The amount of money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act was so large that it wasn't paid off until 2015. Which means that living British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade.
The loan likely took so long because they kept refinancing it.
They paid the slaveholders. Not the slaves. This was not reparations to the enslaved for centuries of slavery…
In fact, they actually paid roughly half price for each slave and uh forced the former slaves to work as apprentices for 4 to 6 years to cover the rest of the cost. These apprentices received no compensation.
And then basically the entire history of the abolitionist movement in the UK was whitewashed, written about white abolitionists, many of whom were a ok with other forms of imperialism and colonialism, often directly profiting from it personally.
Summary points:
The loan likely took so long because they kept refinancing it.
They paid the slaveholders. Not the slaves. This was not reparations to the enslaved for centuries of slavery…
In fact, they actually paid roughly half price for each slave and uh forced the former slaves to work as apprentices for 4 to 6 years to cover the rest of the cost. These apprentices received no compensation.
And then basically the entire history of the abolitionist movement in the UK was whitewashed, written about white abolitionists, many of whom were a ok with other forms of imperialism and colonialism, often directly profiting from it personally.
God forbid “owners” get hurt lol
Taxpayers had to make it right … There is a lesson in how this was handled and what we see today
And even after all that, some years later they started practicing Indentured Servitude, which was basically Slavery of the Poor.