Abolition

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big houses and important buildings were built using the money from the slave trade. Even places like Birmingham which seem to have fewer direct links to slavery benefited because they made much of the iron that was used in the chains that bound the slaves. Conditions off the Ships When the slaves arrived at their destination new slaves were treated like animals and auctioned off. life on the plantations where most people worked was back breaking and slaves remained bound to their 'masters' for their whole lives. • Anyone caught trying to escape was harshly punished. ● They had no legal rights and were expected to live to just 27. ● Views Against Slavery After hundreds of years people started to argue that the Slave Trade was wrong. ● Conditions in factories were being compared to the conditions in the plantations. The workers in the factories were being called 'white slaves'. If there were calls to improve conditions in factories then surely the same had to be done for the slaves working in the empire. There were also religious people who began to preach that slavery was not Christian. ● People like William Wilberforce created the Anti-Slavery Society. The Anti-Slavery Society Women Slave Resistance ● Efforts for Abolition ● The society held public meetings and produced pamphlets and posters. ● They wore badges to display their membership and women boycotted the goods that were being sold as a result of slavery, such as sugar. ● Many working class people supported the movement, signing a petition to parliament in 1792. ● ● The contribution of women was also really important. ● Hannah More, wrote poems for the movement. She met with Wilberforce in 1787 and worked with him on social reforms. Women ran 73 of the anti-slavery societies that existed in 1833 throughout Britain. Women created jewellery and wore it to show that they supported abolition. • They also organised boycotts of things such as sugar that made the slave trade less profitable. ● Whilst women still did not have a place in parliament they could not support it though bills but they could persuade their husbands at home to vote for anti-slavery legislation and in this way they had a great part in abolishing the slave trade. The Maroon slaves ● The Maroon slaves in Jamaica escaped their plantations in 1655. • They lived in the mountains and celebrated their African Culture. They could not be captured and often ran down onto the plantations and caused problems for the plantation owners. • In the end they had to negotiate with the Maroons to avoid rumours of their successful evasion spreading. The Haitian Revolution ● Parliamentary Action In 1807, Parliament finally abolished the slave trade making it illegal to buy and sell slaves but not to own a slave. In 1833, the British Empire outlawed owning slaves throughout all of its colonies. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 had been successful ideas about equality were spreading. Between 1791 and 1804, the slaves of St Dominique began the Haitian Revolution in the French colony. They killed the white plantation owners and set fire to the sugar crops. The French and British tried to control the rebellion but failed. The brilliant leader Toussaint L'Ouverture was an important figure as he led the slaves to freedom. ● Slavery was abolished on the Island in 1804. The Island became known as Haiti. ● Opposition Many MPs were making money from the slave trade and were not happy to set slaves free and lost their cheap source of labour. These people created pamphlets suggesting that black people were inferior and it was the 'white man's burden' to keep the slaves locked up. ● ● ● Economic Factors ● The rebellion showed that the slaves were not willing to accept the situation and news of the revolution spread creating fear that there may be further uprisings. Passive Resistance There were less fierce methods of resistance that were practised by the slaves. Many worked slowly or broke equipment that meant that there were fewer profits for the slave owners. ● These people were treated harshly but their brave actions had an overall impact on abolition. ● ● ● The slave trade had become less profitable since sugar could be bought cheaply from Cuba + Brazil, so the risks began to outweigh the benefits of the slave trade for the owners. ● There were new ways of making money that could provide similar levels of wealth. Positives The Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 only immediately ended slavery for people under the age of six. The rest were put into categories and were promised freedom after four years. Wilberforce supported this staged approach and was criticised for it. He argued that the slaves would need to be educated and trained to live outside of slavery. William Wilberforce MP for Hull. led by his Christian faith. Pushed through bills to abolish slavery. Held meetings with important people to end slavery In 1797 he sent a petition to parliament that had more signatures than the chartist movement. Thomas Clarkson Collected evidence about the conditions on-board the slave ships. Considered slavery evil and wanted to stop it. Produced drawings and pamphlets to show everyone the horrors of slavery. Impact Negatives Others said that all slaves should be immediately released. The Act was not an instant success. Slaves found that when they were freed they still needed to work and so went from being slaves to being poorly paid workers in the very same conditions they had been in under the laws of slavery. If they refused these conditions they were sacked. Smuggling slaves also became a problem. People who wanted to keep slaves began to sell them and keep them in secret + the conditions in many of these cases were much worse than they had been under legal slavery. It was however undoubtedly a positive change and improved the lives of black people globally when eventually other countries such as America followed suit and banned slavery. Key People Granville Sharp Supported the cases of black slaves in Britain who wanted to be free. Motivated by his interest in the law. Won Jonathon Strong's case when he was sent back to the West Indies after he had escaped. Proved that there was no definitive law on keeping slaves in England. Olaudah Equiano Had been the slave of a ship master and travelled the world. lived in England where he was educated and converted to Christianity. Gained his freedom and wrote a book about his time as a slave. Toussaint L'Overture Son of an African prince who had been enslaved. Was educated by his master and learned 3 languages. Used his education to plan a way to gain freedom for the slaves in Haiti. led the slaves of St Dominique through the first successful revolution that led to their freedom. Secured the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807. Brought attention to the slave ship Zong, where 133 slaves were reportedly thrown overboard. His autobiography was used by the Abolition Society to make people aware of the horrors of slavery. Proved that rebelling could be successful.