Question

Given the expense of compensated emancipation and that this compensation would have retained the wealth of the established planter class (and rewarded them for slavery), was an attempt to push for compensated emancipation (which many abolitionists pushed for) the best strategy, or was uncompensated emancipation a better policy (even if it raised the risks of civil war)?

Answer 1

Abstract
Knowledge of the history of transatlantic human trafficking and the slave system in the Caribbean has advanced considerably since the final 30 years or so of the twentieth century. By examining the conditions under which these practices were abolished, it is now possible to answer many questions still raised in the countries that were involved in them. Yet omissions remain. Disregard for the past, which long beset this history, led to the development of myths, and gave rise to what were usually unproductive celebrations in spite of the declared aims. Today, a wealth of information is available from the channels for conveying this phase of history, which comprise education, research bodies, various demonstrations of public memory via all kinds of commemoration, the media and audiovisual outlets. The present articles offers a brief survey of knowledge and lines of research and work to be pursued in these different areas as far as the French colonies are concerned. This is followed by a non-exhaustive summary of facilities for accessing existing work, along with a selective French bibliography, which should point the way to essential comparative appraisals covering other geographical areas.

The slave trade and the slave system
The complex history of networks for human trafficking from Africa to the Caribbean and Americas and of the slave system has been the subject of much research. The following points of reference cover some of the main areas of research that has been carried out or which remains to be undertaken.
Resistance and survival
The phenomenon of resistance on the part of slaves, in either individual or collective terms, has been the focus of relatively little research. Not much is known about it from the signs and testimony regarding means of survival, which sources are still revealing. It is too often accepted that acts of resistance should be viewed on the one hand as established facts and, on the other, as sporadic incidents undermining the prosperity of the colonies – indeed, incidents that could be dealt with simply by means of troop reinforcements and increasing the membership of local militia.

Calls for freedom
Western historiography of the abolition of slavery has tended to overlook the role of slaves and their resistance in the process of ending servitude. Very few abolitionists acknowledged the impact of slave rebellions and social tension, permanent though it was in the colonies, on abolitionary decisions. Equally few and far between until the 1960s were historians who studied what was after all the highly instrumental part played by incidents of resistance to the system among the first abolitionists, namely slaves themselves.