What is the difference between manumission and emancipation?

Emancipation is the freeing of one or more actual living beings from slavery.  For example, before emancipation, Bill is a slave; after emancipation, Bill is no longer a slave.  Emancipation does not happen to a legal system; rather, emancipation happens to an individual, living creature.

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Three words explained

Animal rights activists and ethical vegans are increasingly using the word “abolition,” but the increasing use of this word appears to be accompanied by some confusion about what it means.  This article will serve as a quick guide to the meaning of this word, abolition, as well as two related words:  emancipation and manumission.

Emancipation is the freeing of one or more actual living beings from slavery.  For example, before emancipation, Bill is a slave; after emancipation, Bill is no longer a slave.  Emancipation does not happen to a legal system; rather, emancipation happens to an individual, living creature.

Abolition is the dismantling of the legal institution of slavery itself.  Abolition does not happen to an individual, living creature.  Abolition happens to a legal system.  For example, before abolition, Country X has a legal structure that allows slavery; after abolition, Country X’s legal structure does not allow slavery.

Manumission is a subset of emancipation.  Specifically, manumission is the freeing of one or more actual living beings from slavery by the slaveholder.  For example, Jane is the “owner” of Bill, a slave; one day, Jane decides to release Bill such that Bill is no longer a slave.  That event—the freeing of Bill by Jane—is manumission.

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