Topic for discussion - manumission

[epeeblade]

(I haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes...)

I was reading the latest bit of A Kept Boy last night when something occurred to me.

In it Jensen vehemently denies being part of any family, and denies any identity other than that of slave. He's not the only one raised from childhood to be the perfect slave.

So what would happen then if the abolitionist movement does pass a manumission clause? Now granted, it's probably not going to cause hundreds of people freeing their slaves en masse, but I can imagine wealthy owners "freeing their slaves" in their will after they pass. What happens to the slaves who can't imagine a life outside of slavery?

(And yes this would probably be AU like whoah, but it's something I'm interested in seeing explored in fic...)

Comments

[lapillus]

I could also see something like the Roman system where freemen were clients of their former masters (just as their masters would be clients of more powerful citizens). This also brings up the interesting question of if they'd be denied citizenship (as were freed slaves in Rome) but with their free-born children being citizens or what. I could see either or both happening as a way to keep things still under control while permitting the incentive to be a good, well-behaved slave that manumission offers.

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

*nods* Dylan and most of the other Reformists are definitely looking at Rome as a model. They often point out that while the UCNA has lots of stick in terms of dealing with slave revolts, Rome survived as long as it did by including the carrot of eventual freedom. And yes, I suspect that there would be some kind of formal or informal client system.