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Emancipation: The Abolition and Aftermath of American Slavery and Russian Serfdom

Online ISBN:
9780300280463
Print ISBN:
9780300273663
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Emancipation: The Abolition and Aftermath of American Slavery and Russian Serfdom

Peter Kolchin
Peter Kolchin

Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus

University of Delaware
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Published online:
23 January 2025
Published in print:
10 September 2024
Online ISBN:
9780300280463
Print ISBN:
9780300273663
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

This book compares the process and consequences of abolition in the two largest nineteenth-century emancipations: the United States South and Russia. Despite apparent differences in context—Russia was an autocracy, the U.S. was a democracy—there were striking similarities in the responses of both masters and bondspeople to the new order. In both countries, the terms of emancipation led to lengthy struggles over the meaning of freedom and especially over access to land and control of labor. The Great Reforms in Russia and Reconstruction in the U. S. ushered in an era of change in every aspect of life, from the economy to education, to religion and family life, to politics and political representation. If the aftermath of emancipation in Russia led to an erosion of traditional ways of life, especially the authority of the peasant commune, in the United States it produced a new political and community consciousness among the formerly enslaved. In both countries, violence against the descendants of slaves and serfs and a profound sense of disillusionment were pervasive, and in the struggle between the former masters and former bondspeople, the balance gradually shifted in favor of the former owners. As a sequel to Peter Kolchin’s prizewinning book comparing American slavery and Russian serfdom, Emancipation demonstrates the value of bringing a comparative perspective to longstanding historical debates.

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