What Were Some of the Main Reasons for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and Slavery in the British Empire?

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The slave trade started in the mid seventeenth century; the slave traders treated the slaves awfully. The slave Trade went on for three hundred and seven years and eventually the slaves started to retaliate. In 1807 the law changed this meant the slave trade ended. Later that century in 1833 slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. There are many different reasons why it was abolished and in this essay I will explain them. One of the first reasons for the abolition was the change in economic interests of the British Empire. When America became an independent country the sugar colonies declined because America could trade directly to France and Germany through the West Indies. After this happened Britain no longer needed slaves, so instead English towns started to produce cotton and sugar. Slaves had resisted their being traded since slavery had started. Adding to this, slaves had been inspired by the many people that had led the major slave revolutions like in Barbados, Demerara and Jamaica. The revolutions shocked the British Government and made them start to understand that the costs keeping the trade were too high. Eventually that led to the abolition of the slave trade because the plantation owners and the traders started to understand and accept the abolition rather than having a large world war which was what it could have come to if the abolition hadn’t taken place. Some slaves resisted in passive ways against the trade and slavery. Sam Sharp resisted in a passive way as he decided not to work on Christmas day, this drew attention to the slave trade. Olaudah Equiano is another example of a passive fighter. He was a member of the 'Sons of Africa', a group of 12 black men who campaigned for abolition. He sold books, did speeches and travelled around the world informing people about what he had gone through and how it was still going on.

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