Resistance and Abolition

Thomas Clarkson escapes officers in Liverpool that intended to kill him. He sees chains, shackles, and other torturous devices used to handle the slaves.

Pottery designer Josiah Wedgwood creates a heartwrenching logo for the abolitionist movement.

Twelve black londoners wrote a letter of thanks to Granville Sharp for his anti-slavery work. A former slave named Quobna Ottobah writes a book denouncing slavery, it becomes widespread across England.

20% of inhabitants of Manchester signed the petition against the slave trade.

An anti-slavery committee created a horrific poster showing how slaves are transported, it shows them lying on the floor and crammed as close together as they could possibly be.

Pro slavery groups began to fight back against anti-slavery groups. The cases are brought to Parliament, Clarkson reads excerpts from the testimony from many anti-slave trade witnesses. This later become a best selling nonfiction anti-slavery work of all time.

In an attempt to put pressure on the slave trade industry, (mostly) women stopped buying slave-trade sugar. However, the desired outcome was not achieved.

Due to pressure from the public, the house of commons voted yes to banning the slave trade. However, it would take several years for the bill to pass and by that time the House of Lords would refuse the bill.

War between Britain and France broke out, halting abolition movements in Britain. After several years of war, rebel slaves under T'oussaint L'Ouverture forced the British forces out of Haiti, defeating them.

Abolitionists, even more than before, began to rise after the war. James Stephen proposed that the British and French should diminish slave trading using British ships. This bill was passed.

New Prime Minister, Lord Grenville felt sympathetic to the cause and, with his help, abolitionists succeeded in persuading parliament to ban British participation in the slave trade entirely.

The ban in Britain raised hope for slaves all around the world. Slaves began revolting in large numbers, burning down more than 100 plantations. The military had difficulty suppressing this revolt and because of this, Britain become increasingly more afraid of slave uprisings.

British Parliament voted to end slavery.

Slaves became legally free. Celebration ensued, and slavery was symbolically buried in a coffin.