Brief History of Slavery Abolition in Britain

1. Brief History of Slavery Abolition in Britain • 1772 – Lord Mansfield declares absence of legal basis for slavery • 1770s-1830s – A variety of groups agitated for abolition of slavery, some of them based on the “rights of man” and “rights of woman” movements. • Plantation owners and investors agitated in favor of slave trade (214-15) • 1781 – Scandal of the slave ship Zong – captain tossed 133 slaves into shark-infested waters to take advantage of insurance policy. • 1789 – Equiano’s “Narrative” became a best-seller and an opposing viewpoint in Parliamentary debates that helped steer opinion against slavery. • Parliamentary momentum toward abolition was halted by French Revolution (1789-99), due to fears of slave rebellions. • 1807 – Parliament abolishes slave-trading (but not slave-owning) • 1833 – Parliament passes Emancipation Bill outlawing slave ownership in Britain and its colonies, freeing 800,000 slaves and compensating owners with more than 20 million pounds. • Some of the anti-slavery folks have Imperial prejudices nonetheless (“their own version of African primitivism”) (215)