Abolition of the Slave Trade

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The Abolition of the Slave Trade There are a number of factors that were instrumental in liberating the enslaved Africans. The 1st that we will examine would be 1. The impact of 19th century slave revolts on the slave system • The slaves were keenly observant of the emancipation movement. They misconstrued each new legislative enactment; were convinced that their freedom was withheld only by their masters, and rebelled- Barbados, 1816; Guiana, 1823; Jamaica, 1831. • The savagery with which white authority suppressed the rebellions, and prosecuted Nonconformist missionaries, who were accused of inciting them, convinced the Abolitionists and the British Government that total emancipation was the only alternative to the unsuccessful attempts at improving slave conditions. • Capitalists grew very reluctant to invest in the explosive West Indies and this further weakened the West Indian economy. 2. Attitudes towards slavery • Before the 18th century most churches believed that slavery was necessary for the conversion of the pagan African to Christianity. • Prevalent in England and France was the conviction that Africans were an uncivilized, barbaric race and therefore deserved to be enslaved; that blacks were inferior to whites and destined to serve them. • The Bible’s ambiguity on the morality of slavery heightened the controversy as it was used to support the arguments of supporters and opponents of slavery. • By the 18th century there was increasing opposition to the slave trade and slavery, at first sparked mainly by humanitarian motives. In France the great philosophers, notably Rousseau, condemned slavery as being contrary to natural law; the French anti-slavery movement was based on this rationale. In England the emancipation movement originated from the Evangelicals and Nonconformists. • In the late 18th century economists argued that slavery was

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