Samuel Johnson, in addition to writing THE DICTIONARY, was a hardcore abolitionist. He detested both the practice of slavery and the owners of said slaves. He was no doubt pleased, therefore, when – in 1772 – slavery was officially abolished in England. This, of course, didn’t abolish it elsewhere in the world, and Johnson had some strong words for American and Scotland, among other nations. The quote in the first panel of the comic is from 1775, just prior to the American Revolution. The rest was from his short brief on the subject of slavery from 1777, in response to a particular case in Scotland.
Anyway, the point is that – had it been commonplace for people to get served in the 18th Century, then I think you could safely say that America totally got served by Johnson.
This isn’t to say that England was faultless at the time. They were still careening around the world planting flags everywhere. But, at least in the area of slavery, they were about a century ahead of the curve compared to America.
On an entirely different note, I just skipped a portion of the Norton covering Frances Burney’s vivid and somewhat captivating journal. Normally, if I skip one or two works, I don’t bother to mention it, but in this case, I have to force you all to share in my terror. There is a famous few pages in her journal in which we, the audience, are treated to a terrifying first-person account of having a mastectomy in 1811. That link quotes what is only the culmination of several pages of suspense and horror, the likes of which many writers only wish they could conjure. The way she so vividly captures the feeling of having a pre-anesthetic mastectomy is probably going to give me nightmares tonight.
Needless to say, I couldn’t think of a suitable comic for the topic. I just wanted you to join me in collective horror.
12 Comments
As for hypocrisy, it’s kind of institutionalized now. So much of our modern economy in the US and Europe depends on things made by slaves or seatshop workers. In fact, most of us would be naked and gadgetless if we held out for only fair trade goods.
Well i’m certainly not going to read it now. But how often did people live long enough to die of breast cancer back then? Combine that with the risk of death from infection– she must have been in incredible pain even before the operation.
One thing which is rarely mentioned when the abolition of slavery in Britain is brought up is that even the hardcore abolitionists were almost always using imported products produced with slavery, and many of them were turning a tidy profit from enterprises which relied on slavery abroad. (The production of cotton, sugar, and rum, just to name three things which were huge money-spinners in Britain during the era of “advanced” British attitudes, were all reliant on slavery outside of Britain.)
Of course, the British also approved of piracy, as long as it was their pirates attacking foreign ships, so it’s kind of par for the course.
True enough! As I said in the commentary, Britain was hardly perfect, but at least they had given the problem some thought.
But the extent of the hypocrisy is amazing to us now. The idea that you would be against something, but at the same time be turning vast profits off of it, is stunning. The British abolitionists weren’t actually against slavery in any practical way, they were just NIMBY hipsters — “we were protesting against things only when they happened nearby BEFORE it was cool”.
It would be like if the Republicans, who have traditionally had the support of U.S. blue-collar workers, nominated someone for president whose main claim to fame was working for Bain Capital to destroy a bunch of well-established American firms and offshore a huge number of jobs.
Oh, wait. I guess that kind of hypocrisy DOES still exist. Well, dang.
Haha, in defense of Johnson specifically though, he DID practice what he preached. He actually appointed his black manservant as his HEIR!
I don’t think “a century ahead” is accurate, since there weren’t many slaves in England proper when slavery was abolished there – they didn’t get rid of slavery in the rest of the empire, where it was bound up with major economic interests, until 1833. Far ahead of the US either way, though.
….
I feel ridiculous because now I’m going to have to go look up that medical procedure to figure out what it is.
O_O Ow….
The things that must’ve happened in that 3 minute gap…
A man’s life was changed forever.
*woman’s