The Abolition Movement in Great Britain

An anti-slavery comittee (originally set up by Thomas Clarkson) creates a poster depicting the slave quarters of a Liverpool ship. The image is quickly widespread and makes quite an impact on the general public.

Pro and anti-slave trade committees arrived at parliament to present their cases. Each side had their own witnesses who told a different story. As part of his presentation to the MPs, Thomas Clarkson created a broucher full of anti-slavery testimonies that became the bestselling anti-slavery work of all time. These presentations and debates went on for several years.

Disgusted with parliament for "turning a blind eye" to all of the anti-slavery demands, people (mostly women) stopped buying slave-trade sugar in an attempt to put pressure on the slave-trade industry. Though at least 300,000 Britons were involved in this boycott, the desired outcome wasn't achieved.

Egged on by the pressure of the public as well as William Wilberforce, the House of Commons voted in favour of banning the slave trade. However, the ban would take effect 4 years from the time of the vote - and when the time came, the House of Lords refused the bill entirely.

A war between France and Britain broke out, halting all abolition movements in Britain. However, over 5 years of combat, rebel slaves under the leadership of T'oussaint L'Ouverture forced British forces to withdraw from Haiti. This was a shocking defeat, what with the British being the world's leading slave-trade nation and military power.

The abolitionists rose again near the end of the war, and they now had even more supporters. Of particular interest is James Stephen, who proposed the idea that British ships should be banned from trading slaves with the French (which they had still been doing during the war under foreign flags). William Wilberforce proposed the bill to parliament - and it was passed.

The abolitionists, driven by the thrill of victory, continued to drive the cause home. New Prime Minister Lord Grenville was sympathetic to the cause, and with his help, abolitionists were able to persuade parliament to ban British participation in the slave trade entirely.

The news of the slave trade ban in Britain raised a great amount of hope for slaves around the world - but little changed. Frusterated, slaves began to take matters into their own hands and revolt. These uprising climaxed in the largest slave revolt ever seen in British territory (1831-1832), wherein over 20,000 slaves lead by Samuel Sharpe burned more than 100 plantations. The military had a difficult time supressing this revolt, and in turn Britain became increasingly afraid of further large uprisings.

After years of slavery abolition rallies, and in face of the slave uprisings, both houses of parliament agree to end British slavery entirely. Slaves would become "apprentices" effective 1834, for the duration of 6 years (later shortened to 4).

At the stroke of midnight, slaves of the British empire became legally free. However, the freedom ended up changing very little. Previous slave owners received compensation, but ex-slaves received nothing; left with no valuables and no where to live, the vast majority of ex-slaves still had no choice but to work on plantations. Wages were low, and ex-slaves now had to worry about paying taxes and rent. Ex-slaves were now expected to abide by the harsh new labour laws, and prisons were built to punish those who didn't. Participants in uprisings were now executed for their crimes.