mrglwrf comments on Open Thread, October 1-15, 2012 - Less Wrong

1 Post author: David_Gerard 01 October 2012 05:54AM

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Comment author: mrglwrf 04 October 2012 04:09:00PM 0 points [-]

How are you imagining the US government enforcing the abolition of slavery ca. 1800? Even in a much stronger relative position ca. 1865, it was extremely costly to do so. There was fair less abolitionist sentiment in earlier decades, and in relative terms, the federal government was far weaker and the southern elites far stronger. Attempting to outlaw slavery "quickly after the US started" (I'm assuming a window from about 1790-1810, please correct me if I mis-guestimated) would have been an act of suicide by the central government.

Comment author: DanielLC 05 October 2012 01:21:39AM 0 points [-]

I meant the state governments. I guess saying when by referring to when the national government started was misleading.