Slavery, the French Revolution and Condorcet’s Childhood Argument

In a 1781 book on why slavery ought to be abolished, Condorcet argued that the enslaved were not fit to enjoy liberty, because, like children, they were not capable of handling it without harming others or themselves. The Childhood Argument was also used by Condorcet’s opponents, the anti-abolitionist members of the Club Massiac, and a version of it was adopted by the Legislative Assembly when they proposed it in May 1791. I will suggest that the argument depends on a loophole in the republican thought that was popular during the French revolution: although republicans argued that one could not be free if one was dominated, they also believed – as many of us still do – that children should be dominated.