"Sir! It is my duty to serve you and the Godfrey family." Jonathan's millennia-old expression remained as stoic as ever, but a hint of warmth entered his voice. "Haha!" Charles chuckled, nudging his butler's arm.
He had witnessed Jonathan's contributions to the Godfrey family and would certainly not mistreat him. He even believed he had taken good care of Jonathan's son, James. Regardless, they were indeed part of the Godfrey family; they would prosper and decline together, their fates intertwined with the Godfrey family.
Charles stopped being polite and began discussing the formal topic.
"Jonathan, upon my return, I also plan to announce something, a change to the current employment system. I'd like to hear your opinion first."
"I am always ready to obey your command!" Jonathan bowed.
"Now that the war is nearing victory, our factories and enterprises are certainly headed for a period of great development. To give my subordinates greater work enthusiasm, I have decided to emancipate the hundreds of slaves under my name," Charles said solemnly.
"Emancipate slaves? Does that include indentured slaves or all of them?" Jonathan asked with some concern.
"All slaves! I plan to release all of them to become free citizens."
"Why would you think of releasing these slaves, sir? Is it merely to increase their work enthusiasm?" Jonathan continued to ask.
"The main reason is to give them freedom!" Charles sighed, adding in his heart, "and to fulfill the promise I made to give them freedom."
"Sir! If the main reason is to give them freedom, I don't think such an emancipation is necessary. Our Godfrey family has always treated its slaves very well. With your special instructions, apart from a few exceptionally lazy ones who might get whipped, there's basically no beating or scolding.
These slaves are very content with their current lives and would absolutely not want to become free citizens! Because as free citizens, they would no longer have a master to care for their lives, provide accommodation, and they wouldn't be able to support their families.
Those factory and farm owners in society generally don't want to hire slaves released by others, so released slaves find it very difficult to survive in an unfamiliar society. Even if we give them a job, they probably wouldn't be able to get through it immediately, and that would be too cruel!" Jonathan's face rarely showed a trace of sympathy.
Charles broke into a sweat. Is my action that cruel? It feels like a capitalist firing workers to improve production efficiency and deciding to use automated machines.
"To improve the efficiency of factories and farms, we must get rid of the burden of slavery. Their work efficiency is simply too low." Charles awkwardly tried to explain.
It seemed that in history, after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, there were indeed cruel Slave owners who took the opportunity to drive old, weak, and sick slaves out of their plantations, leaving them to fend for themselves.
So, this proclamation, which was later widely praised, had drawn a lot of criticism when it was first issued, even from the liberated. Charles certainly didn't want his actions to also draw criticism from others. He had actually made detailed arrangements, but Jonathan had cut him off before he could say it.
"Perhaps we can take it slowly, like many Slave owners do, set a work quota for slaves. Work beyond the quota would be considered their own efforts and could be exchanged for wages, added to the slaves' private wealth.
After ten or twenty years, once they accumulate some wealth, they could redeem themselves and their families, and buy food and rent houses. Then, even without a master's care, there would be no problems. Many slaves now actually don't like freedom!" Jonathan sighed, shaking his head.
"No! Jonathan, no one dislikes freedom. Hearing your words only strengthens my conviction to give slaves freedom. I have decided, they don't need to worry about their lives and accommodation; I already have arrangements.
Those outstanding indentured slaves, like Bergnan, the person in charge of the arsenal, and others, I not only plan to terminate their slave contracts but also to distribute a portion of company shares and cash bonuses to them, and sign lifelong employment contracts with unfixed remuneration.
As for ordinary indentured slaves and black slaves, I will allocate a portion of land and property to them, but they must agree to stay and train these lands, pay me rent, and promise to sell all their surplus grain to me." Charles stated his solution.
"This… that would be a huge financial loss. Currently, I see that the slaves' work enthusiasm is also very high. Our Godfrey family has always treated these slaves very well, whether black slaves or white slaves. Not to mention being well-fed and clothed, there's hardly any beating, scolding, or shouting, and we even take care of their marriages and housing.
Slaves from other families even envy our family!" Hearing Charles' solution, Jonathan, the former slave sympathizer, began to feel pain over the Godfrey family's expenses.
"Of course, our Godfrey family treats its slaves well, but the work enthusiasm of slaves cannot be maximized just by treating them well. Take black slaves, for example. Even if their masters treat them well, they won't be lazy; they'll just do what they're supposed to do.
But once they are released as free citizens and allowed to train their own land, they will certainly work to their utmost ability to increase their income. Since we collect rent proportionally, this increase in enthusiasm will be even more beneficial to our income." Charles explained.
"If rent is collected proportionally, then their own income will also increase." Jonathan nodded.
"Haha! What's wrong with their income increasing? They will still buy products from our factories, and the money will return to us. This forms a virtuous cycle of social production and consumption, and that is my long-term goal in freeing slaves." Charles laughed.
"That is indeed a wise idea! sir!" Jonathan finally nodded in agreement.
Emancipating slaves was actually very easy; all it took was issuing a document proving their release as free citizens and completing legal procedures. Charles only spent one night preparing hundreds of certificates of emancipation. However, for the Godfrey family's benefit, he still carried out a relatively large publicity campaign.
Three days later, on the lawn behind the White House, in front of Ambassadors from various countries, Charles announced the emancipation of all slaves.
"Gentlemen! The free and independent United States is about to officially emerge among the nations of the world. As everyone embraces the new world, and as the new world welcomes the United States, I do not believe that maintaining a portion of unfree slaves is consistent with the identity of this free nation.
For the freedom and future of all people of the United States, I have decided to release all the slaves under my name! And under certain conditions, those who have made contributions will be granted varying amounts of company shares and different levels of positions.
Similarly, under certain conditions, ordinary slaves will also be allocated land and housing assets, becoming propertied free citizens. May God bless you all!" Charles read the statement on the emancipation of slaves.
"This is truly a civilized declaration!"
"Your decision allows us to see the brilliance of humanity in this wild land of America!"
—
While the slaves below hadn't immediately reacted to their sudden emancipation, the Ambassadors from various countries immediately expressed their respect to Charles.
The use of quasi-slaves in Europe was not uncommon. However, relatively speaking, the extent of using slaves, meaning the primitive act of treating people like livestock, had basically ceased. And due to certain inherent prejudices, those Europeans viewed the practice of using black slaves in the New World of America as a very primitive act. Charles' current emancipation of slaves, regardless of its form, made these Ambassadors, who considered themselves superior, feel very good.
Charles, accustomed to the views of people at this time, could only politely express humility, and courteously told the European Ambassadors, who also had a large number of godfearing household slaves, that America should indeed try to eliminate such a barbaric system of slavery.
And the slaves below, after a moment of calm, finally accepted the fact of being released as free people.
"Praise you! Merciful Master!"
"May God bless you! Wise Master!"
The shouts rang out in unison.
This was also because the news of Charles' intention to release the slaves had already been announced to these people through Jonathan three days prior. In fact, when these slaves first heard the news, many were indeed very worried, thinking that with the war won, Charles was going to abandon them, and after releasing them as free citizens, he would no longer care about their lives. They even cried and insisted on remaining slaves, deeply afraid of encountering a master not as relatively good as Charles in society, or being unable to find work and starving to death. It wasn't until Jonathan officially announced that they would be allocated land and could still live under the protection of the Godfrey family that most slaves calmed down.
However, there were also a few unattached single slaves who, not giving face, decided to take their emancipation certificates and leave, unwilling to continue toiling from sunrise to sunset on this land. They preferred to do dangerous work outside to earn money to support themselves. But the vast majority of slaves cheered loudly, praised Charles, blessed Charles, and accepted to rent land from Charles as free citizens, becoming tenants of the Godfrey family.
Charles' unilateral act of emancipating slaves caused a great stir in Pittsburgh. Many wealthy and influential families who used slaves came to observe and inquire, wanting to see if Charles intended for other people in Pittsburgh to also release slaves, fearing that this was a national political action planned after the establishment of the new country.
Knowing that it was not yet the right time to issue an order to emancipate slaves, Charles, to appease these worried Slave owners, had to declare in front of those Ambassadors that his emancipation of slaves was purely for personal considerations and he did not intend to propose it as a policy to the Continental Congress or the United States Council to be implemented as law.
Although this statement slightly diminished the significance of the slave emancipation in the eyes of those Ambassadors, it was very satisfactory to most Slave owners, especially many landlords in the United States. Many of them had just taken advantage of the falling slave prices in the East to purchase a large number of slaves, preparing to develop the vast lands in Ohio and the Great Lakes region. Seeing Charles release slaves, they were all startled, thinking that these slaves would be bought for nothing. Now, after hearing Charles' explanation, they finally felt a little relieved.
Of course, not every Slave owner was unwilling to emancipate slaves. Many factory owners and wealthy individuals in Pittsburgh, who only had a few slaves in their homes, after witnessing Charles' act of emancipating slaves, also released their own slaves. Then they rushed to Charles to inform him of their decision, flattering him. For these people, Charles was not stingy with praise, commending their actions in front of the Ambassadors from various countries.
After the slave emancipation action finally concluded, the Ambassadors from those countries at last found an opportunity to formally engage in commercial negotiations with Charles.
"Sir! Your act of gratuitously emancipating slaves is truly admirable. However, based on our observations in Pittsburgh these past few days, your performance in urban development has astonished us even more. It's truly incredible that such a prosperous, beautiful, and vast city was developed by you alone in just two and a half years. This is simply the greatest miracle in human history! I truly cannot express my praise for you in words!"
These council members adhered to diplomatic rules, starting with a torrent of praise.
"Not at all! Not at all! That is the result of the collective efforts of all Pittsburghers, not my achievement alone!" Charles replied with humility, smiling.
Inwardly, he was very proud. This was the exclusive patent of a transmigrator; only those with foresight could achieve such things. You can't learn it, and no matter how much you flatter me, I won't tell you the secret!
"No! No! sir, we have all heard that many things were personally arranged and created by you. Many of the things we are interested in this time, they all say require your approval?" An Ambassador couldn't help but reveal the purpose behind the flattery.