Slavery

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the fact that the Christian religion was
fundamentally opposed to Black slavery but employed it anyway in order to
work the plantations that financed their countries. All in all, those
influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment, equality, liberty, the
right to dignity, tended to oppose the idea of slavery.
Differing from the philosophes, the political leaders and
property owners tended to see slavery as an element that supported the
economy. These people believed that if slavery and the slave trade were
to be abolished, the French would lose their colonies, commerce would
collapse and as a result the merchant marine, agriculture and the arts
would decline. Their worries were somewhat merited; by 1792 French ships
were delivering up to 38,000 slaves and this trade brought in 200 million
livres a year. These people had economic incentives to support slavery,
however others were simply ignorant. One man, Raynal, said that white
people were incapable of working in the ...

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