The End of the Slave Trade

The End of the Slave Trade

The Anti-Slavery Act 1807

• Britain was the first nation to formally ban the trading of slaves in 1807. Slavery was still legal, but the trade was heavily restricted.

• The Royal Navy was dispatched to the shores of West Africa to stop the trade and destroy slave trading outposts. The intervention helped hugely in bringing the trade to an end.

• But it took still longer for the slaves to be freed. It happened at different times in different places for different reasons.

Multiple Choice

Who was the British Member of Parliament who helped push through the Anti-Slavery Act of 1807?

• Granville Sharp

• William Wilberforce

• Thomas Clarkson

• Olaudah Equiano

The Anti-Slavery Act of 1807, ratified by the government of King George III.

The Royal Navy's blockade of the West African coast helped stop the trade across the Atlantic. Here a British vessel the HMS Brisk (left) stops and boards a Portuguese vessel the Emanuela carrying slaves bound for the New World.

FREE!

• Britain would go on to free slaves first in 1833.

• The United States held onto slavery until 1864 where the question of slavery ignited the American Civil War. The anti-slavery Union fought the pro-slavery Confederation, the Union won and freed all slaves in the United States.

• Slavery persisted elsewhere in the Americas. One of the last places to free slaves was Brazil in 1888.

The issue of slavery would plunge the United States into a civil war in 1861 between the anti-slavery Union (left) in the north and the pro-slavery Confederates (right) in the south. You may have seen the Confederate flag in the news around Trumps loss of the election. It is considered a symbol of racism and hate, but the legacy of the myths surrounding the Confederation still attract people today. Thankfully the Confederates would be defeated in this war to end slavery.

Multiple Choice

When did Great Britian outlaw slavery?

• 1833

• 1807

• 1888

• 1864

Why was Slavery Ended?

• There are two major reasons:

• 1. Moral

• 2. Economic

Moral

• The Abolitionists did their work well and exposed the horrors of slavery to the public.

• Their tireless work and campiagns against the practice brought a lot of attention to the cause and the more people heard about it the less they liked it.

• Morally slavery was appalling and people began to feel uncomfortable about what was happening and putting pressure on the government to stop it.

Multiple Choice

Which abolitionist published the poster detailing the slave ship Brooks and raised awareness of the horrors of slavery?

• Thomas Clarkson

• Granville Sharp

• William Wilberforce

• Toussaint l'Ouverture

Economic

• But perhaps more important was the fact that slavery was becoming expensive.

• As sugar become more widely produced the price dropped sharply, making maintaining large teams of slaves expensive. Many sugar plantations freed their slaves.

• Industrialization was sweeping Europe and machines were taking over the processes of harvesting, reaping and sowing. The machines were cheaper in the long run than slaves and cheaper to maintain.

New machinery really put a dent in the demand for slaves and helped contribute to the eventual freeing of the slaves.

Economic cont.

• With machines taking over and the price of luxury goods falling due to high production it actually became cheaper to pay labourers than keep slaves

• Slaves had to be bought, fed, medicated, housed and cared for. If they died it cost you more to replace them. They had children which you had to look after. Selling them became less viable as less people needed slaves.

• A paid labourer on the other hand only recieved wages. Where he lived, how he lived and if he was sick was not your problem.

Sweet Simplification...

These are simplified reasons and the actual reasons why slavery was banned are a lot more complex, as you will see when we study the American Civil War soon.