mrswdk wrote:Maybe betiko could point us towards some French people who the Americans among us could thank for the way the French came along and helped the British colonies overthrow the British motherland and thereby keep their slaves.
The British were not trying to take away the slaves.
The movement against slavery in the UK didn't start until 1783.
The Slave Trade didn't get outlawed by the UK until 1808.
The Parliament of the UK didn't outlaw slavery until 1833.
Yes they were complaining and laughing that people who owned slaves were writing about "inalienable rights." The "Age of Enlightenment" movement was only growing in England and France at the time. This is an important key in understanding the French role.
Speaking of Foreign expertise, let's not forget the day of August 30 ... "On learning of the American Revolution, Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko, himself a man of revolutionary aspirations, sympathetic to the American cause and an advocate of human rights, sailed for America in June 1776 along with other foreign officers, likely with the help of a French supporter of the American revolutionaries, Pierre Beaumarchais. On August 30, 1776, Kościuszko submitted an application to the United States Congress; he was assigned to the United States War Department the next day."

YAY Poland! There's even a bridge in Brooklyn named after him.
