In the space of just 46 years, the British government outlawed the slave trade that Britain had created and went on to abolish the practice of slavery throughout the colonies. John Oldfield shows how this national campaign became one of the most successful reform movements of the 19th century.
Foreign anti-slavery
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society © In the space of some 46 years, between 1787 and 1833, Britain had not only outlawed the slave trade but also abolished slavery throughout her colonial possessions. For many the struggle was over. For others, however, 1833 signalled a new beginning. Despite Britain's withdrawal from the Atlantic slave trade, the traffic still flourished; in fact, since 1807 it had steadily grown (or so it seemed to contemporaries). Slavery also still flourished, most notably in the United States. Here was a fresh challenge. In 1839, with the organisation of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, British anti-slavery entered a new (international) phase.
As its name implied, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was committed to the extirpation of the slave trade and slave systems globally. Among its targets were legalised slavery in British India and Ceylon, suppression of the Brazilian and Cuban slave trades, and, increasingly after 1850, the abolition of slavery in the United States. None of these issues had quite the immediacy of West Indian emancipation, however, and there is little question that support for British anti-slavery declined significantly during the 1850s and 1860s. Nevertheless, the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865 (and the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in March 1870 which extended the right of voting to all races) was properly regarded as a victory for abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic.
This remarkable story raises a simple but crucial question: why did the British turn against slavery and the slave trade? Part of the reason is undoubtedly the rise of compassionate humanitarianism, particularly amongst an increasingly leisured middle class. Scholars also point to the influence of Nonconformist religion, on the one hand, and Evangelical Protestantism, on the other. But of greater significance was a shift in economic thought. In the British case slavery flourished because West Indian planters were effectively subsidised by the British taxpayer. By the late 1820s, when many Britons began to see the benefits of a world economy untrammelled by restrictions and controls, such privileges seemed outmoded and frankly unwarranted. Indeed, it is probably true to say that the British slave system was 'not so much rendered unprofitable, but by-passed by the changing economic and social order in Britain'.
Foreign anti-slavery
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society © In the space of some 46 years, between 1787 and 1833, Britain had not only outlawed the slave trade but also abolished slavery throughout her colonial possessions. For many the struggle was over. For others, however, 1833 signalled a new beginning. Despite Britain's withdrawal from the Atlantic slave trade, the traffic still flourished; in fact, since 1807 it had steadily grown (or so it seemed to contemporaries). Slavery also still flourished, most notably in the United States. Here was a fresh challenge. In 1839, with the organisation of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, British anti-slavery entered a new (international) phase.
As its name implied, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was committed to the extirpation of the slave trade and slave systems globally. Among its targets were legalised slavery in British India and Ceylon, suppression of the Brazilian and Cuban slave trades, and, increasingly after 1850, the abolition of slavery in the United States. None of these issues had quite the immediacy of West Indian emancipation, however, and there is little question that support for British anti-slavery declined significantly during the 1850s and 1860s. Nevertheless, the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865 (and the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in March 1870 which extended the right of voting to all races) was properly regarded as a victory for abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic.
This remarkable story raises a simple but crucial question: why did the British turn against slavery and the slave trade? Part of the reason is undoubtedly the rise of compassionate humanitarianism, particularly amongst an increasingly leisured middle class. Scholars also point to the influence of Nonconformist religion, on the one hand, and Evangelical Protestantism, on the other. But of greater significance was a shift in economic thought. In the British case slavery flourished because West Indian planters were effectively subsidised by the British taxpayer. By the late 1820s, when many Britons began to see the benefits of a world economy untrammelled by restrictions and controls, such privileges seemed outmoded and frankly unwarranted. Indeed, it is probably true to say that the British slave system was 'not so much rendered unprofitable, but by-passed by the changing economic and social order in Britain'.