University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Torrington Articles Torrington 2011 “Truth Systematised" : the changing debate over slavery and abolition, 1761-1916 Robert P. Forbes University of Connecticut - Torrington,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/torr_articles Part of the American Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Forbes, Robert P., "“Truth Systematised" : the changing debate over slavery and abolition, 1761-1916" (2011). Torrington Articles. 1. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/torr_articles/1 ―TRUTH SYSTEMATISED‖: THE CHANGING DEBATE OVER SLAVERY AND ABOLITION, 1761-1916 Robert P. Forbes Yale University “The study of historiography serves to remind us to accept our predecessors only after due criticism. We must ask, „Why was that problem investigated? Why was that method chosen?‟ before we decide if the results are correct or incorrect, stimulating or barren. Similarly, the study of historiography reminds us (as historians) that we are part of the subject we profess, just as our predecessors have always been.” --F.G. Levy, ―Foreward‖ to The Theory and Practice of History by Leopold von Ranke It is obvious to every unprejudiced observer—and even to many prejudiced ones1—that the legacy of racial slavery persists on many levels. A growing movement in the United States and elsewhere is calling for reparations to compensate the descendants of slaves for the economic and other damages inflicted upon them by slavery. A wide range of studies has linked the continuing disparity in levels of health, economic well- being, and educational attainments between Americans of African ancestry and other Americans to factors originating in slavery, though whether the factor of enslavement is causative of the problem or secondary—i.e.