The Abolition Movement (AQA GCSE History)

Summary

The capture and enslavement of human beings has existed since ancient times. The development of European colonies in the Americas led to a huge expansion in the enslavement and trade of people, especially from Africa. This Trans-Atlantic trade went on for centuries, affected millions of people and helped make countries such as Britain extremely wealthy. 

From the end of the 1700s, there was a campaign to end this terrible trade. The campaign involved religious people, lawyers and the enslaved people themselves. This eventually led to a ban on the sale of humans and then outlawing ownership of humans throughout the British Empire.

How important was the Slave Trade to Britain?

• From the 16^th century onwards, Britain and other European countries made enormous sums of money from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Triangle

• The triangle involved:

  • Purchasing captured African people from tribal leaders in West Africa in exchange for manufactured goods like guns and cloth

  • The captured African people were then enslaved and became the legal property of the European traders

  • The enslaved people were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean and America in appalling conditions

  • There, they were sold to the owners of enormous sugar, cotton and tobacco farms called plantations

    • The enslaved people were forced to work on the plantations without pay for the rest of their lives

    • They were treated with great brutality and the average age of an enslaved person was 27

• It is estimated that 12 million Africans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic between the 16^th and 19^th centuries

  • Approximately 1.5 million people died on the journey

• The slave traders used the money made from selling the enslaved Africans to buy sugar, tobacco and cotton

  • These goods were then transported to Europe to be sold for enormous profits

  • Britain gained vast wealth from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade for centuries

Key people & methods in the Abolition Movement

• By the end of the 1700s, many people in Britain had started to question whether Britain should be involved in this terrible trade 

• People began to campaign for its abolition

Campaigner	Key points	Picture
Olaudah Equiano	A formerly enslaved African who had gained freedom and settled in Britain. His autobiography became widely read It did much to educate British people on the evils of the slave trade
William Wilberforce	An MP for Hull. Wilberforce was a devout Christian and believed slavery was morally wrong He campaigned against it, and convinced many powerful people that slavery should be ended  He worked to get Parliament to pass bills that abolished slavery
Granville Sharp	A lawyer who represented several enslaved Africans in Britain who wanted their freedom His cases gained great publicity and made many people aware of the appalling way in which enslaved people were treated
Thomas Clarkson	Clarkson produced pamphlets to educate people on the horrors of conditions onboard slave ships

Resistance from enslaved people

• Pressure to end slavery did not only come from campaigners in Britain but also from the enslaved people themselves

• In 1655, a group of enslaved Africans escaped from a plantation in Jamaica and hid in the mountains

  • They became known as the Maroons 

  • Fears that they might inspire others to rebel led to the British negotiating with them

• The French Revolution’s ideas of equality and freedom spread to the French colonies and led to a slave rebellion on St Dominique in 1804

  •  Led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, the rebels killed the plantation owners and destroyed the crops

• Both the French and the British attempts to crush the rebellion failed and the independent island was renamed Haiti

  • In 1804, it became the first place to abolish slavery

The Slave Trade Act, 1807

• Changes in British law to ban slavery were the result of three main factors:

  • Campaigns for abolition

  • Rebellions of enslaved people

  • Reduced profits from the trade in enslaved people

• In 1807, a bill to abolish the slave trade was passed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords

  • This made it illegal to buy and sell enslaved people, but it was still legal to own them

The Slavery Abolition Act 1833

• The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 made the ownership of other human beings illegal within the British Empire

  • Only those under the age of six were instantly freed in 1833

  • Other enslaved people had to wait another four years for their freedom due to staged abolition

Similarities between the Abolition Movement & the Anti-Corn Law League

• Although the campaigns to end slavery and repeal the Corn Laws had very different aims, they shared several similarities

• Both campaigns:

  • Had charismatic figureheads in John Bright and William Wilberforce

  • Were motivated to an extent by religious beliefs

  • Held large public meetings

  • Published books and leaflets

  • Were peaceful and collected petitions

  • Faced opposition from wealthy MPs who made money from either slavery or selling corn