Michaël Roy, Marie-Jeanne Rossignol & Claire Parfait (eds.), Undoing Slavery. American Abolitionism in Transnational Perspective (1776-1865)

It suited European colonial powers to benefit economically from slavery while keeping it largely at arm’s length. Colonial policing and plantation management were outsourced where possible, and many colonists aspired to make a fortune and return to the imperial centre to enjoy it. As Ashli White writes, ‘the fiction of European freedom was built on the foil of American slavery’. A key part of that freedom was the ability to step away from and disclaim responsibility for violence taking place ...