It's probably useful to keep in mind the distinction that Philip Morgan drew between slave societies and societies with slaves. Gradual emancipation certainly was a viable model but obviously much easier to achieve in the mid-Atlantic states, whose economies did not revolve around the institution of slavery. There are really few examples of slave societies that achieved emancipation through non-revolutionary means. The British and French West Indies certainly qualified as slave societies, but we have to keep in mind the political and economic conditions that informed emancipation in the Caribbean. As colonies, they did not have control over the decision. There was tremendous moral and political sentiment in favor of emancipation in both Britain and France. Even still, slavery hung on in the Caribbean until the 1830s in the BWI and 1840s in the FWI (after an earlier emancipation effected during the French Revolution). And abolition only occurred after the sugar economies of the French and British islands had begun to decline (in large part because of an earlier ban on the slave trade). The other major 19th-century slave societies, Cuba and Brazil did not begin to dismantle slavery until after they had witnessed in horror the revolutionary emancipation that took place in the U.S. (both passed laws of the free womb early in the 1870s). All of this is just to concur with Jurretta's point regarding the difficulties facing emancipationists of the Revolutionary and Early Republic. I don't deny that a window of opportunity existed (particularly in the Chesapeake, where the adoption of wheat as a cash crop lowered the need for large slave populations), but in all such historical cases, windows are quickly shut and require far more than the exchange of private letters to remain open. Usually there needs to be some broken glass. Bland Whitley Library of Virginia -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gregg Kimball Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 1:01 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Madison's slaves (and black descendants?) The mid-Atlantic and New England states might have provided a model for such a gradual process with their post-nati emancipation statutes. If I remember corrrectly, children born after a certain date to slave parents would be held in a form of indentured servitude until a certain age and then freed. I know that post-nati proposals were floated in 1831, but I don't know if their authors specifically pointed to these previous state laws as examples. I also recall some interesting ideas in Peter Kolchin's work that compared emancipation in the British and French West Indies and in the U.S. He argued that British and French plantation owners were often absentee and didn't have the same concerns about the social consequences of emancipation. In fact, by accepting emancipation by law these landowners ended up shaping the labor system after emancipation much to their advantage. In contrast, southern slaveholders ended up losing much of that control over labor, if for a brief time. Gregg Kimball