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1810. New Spain. Independence leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the abolition of slavery three months after the start of the Independence of Mexico from Spain. 1811. United Kingdom. Slave trading made a felony punishable by transportation for both British subjects and foreigners.
Aug 9, 2007 · 1813 - Sweden bans slave trading 1814 - Netherlands bans slave trading 1817 - France bans slave trading, but ban not effective until 1826 1833 - Britain passes Abolition of Slavery Act, ordering ...
- Overview
- Origin of the abolition movement
abolitionism, (c. 1783–1888), in western Europe and the Americas, the movement chiefly responsible for creating the emotional climate necessary for ending the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery. The intensification of slavery as a system, which followed Portuguese trafficking of enslaved Africans beginning in the 15th century, was driven...
The abolition movement began with criticism by rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment of slavery’s violation of the “rights of man.” Quaker and other, evangelical religious groups condemned it for its un-Christian qualities. By the late 18th century moral disapproval of slavery was widespread, and antislavery reformers won a number of deceptively easy victories during this period. In Britain, Granville Sharp secured a legal decision in 1772 that West Indian planters could not hold slaves in Britain, because slavery was contrary to English law. In the United States, all the states north of Maryland abolished slavery between 1777 and 1804. But antislavery sentiments had little effect on the centres of slavery themselves: the massive plantations of the Deep South, the West Indies, and South America. Turning their attention to these areas, British and American abolitionists began working in the late 18th century to prohibit the importation of enslaved Africans into the British colonies and the United States. Under the leadership of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, these forces succeeded in getting the slave trade to the British colonies abolished in 1807. The United States prohibited the importation of slaves that same year, though widespread smuggling continued until about 1862.
Antislavery forces then concentrated on winning the emancipation of those populations already in slavery. They were triumphant when slavery was abolished in the British West Indies by 1838 and in French possessions 10 years later.
Britannica Quiz
Fast Facts About Abolitionism Quiz
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Free labor and free wages. Perhaps the most dramatic shift toward abolitionism at the end of the eighteenth century occurred in Britain and parts of English-speaking North America.
- Morality. Not everyone agrees that money and economic motives were at the heart of abolitionism. Philosopher John Stuart Mill, who lived in this period, argued that abolition was a result not of "'any change in the distribution of material interests," but rather "by the spread of moral convictions."
- The actions of Africans in the Americas and Europe. There is another theory about abolition that does not focus on the actions of white Europeans.
- Failure of amelioration. One major factor that enabled abolitionists to argue for emancipation was the failure of the government’s ‘amelioration’ policy.
- Late slave rebellions. Between 1807 and 1833, three of Britain’s most valuable Caribbean colonies all experienced violent slave uprisings. Barbados was the first to witness a revolt in 1816, while the colony of Demerara in British Guyana saw a full-scale rebellion in 1823.
- Declining image of colonial planters. White colonists in the West Indies were always viewed with suspicion from those in the metropole. They were often disdained for their excessively ostentatious displays of wealth and their gluttonous habits.
- Overproduction and economic deterioration. One of the most convincing arguments presented to parliament during the emancipation debates highlighted the economic deterioration of the West Indian colonies.
Slavery in medieval Europe was widespread. Europe and North Africa were part of a highly interconnected trade network across the Mediterranean Sea, and this included slave trading. During the medieval period (500–1500), wartime captives were commonly forced into slavery. As European kingdoms transitioned to feudal societies, a different legal ...
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Clarkson toured Britain and Europe to spread the abolitionist word and inspire action. As a result, the abolition campaign grew into a popular mass movement. William Wilberforce was the key figure supporting the cause within Parliament. In 1806-07, with the abolition campaign gaining further momentum, he had a breakthrough.
