METROPOLITAN MOVEMENTS TOWARDS EMANCIPATION

Definition of terms
 Metropole The metropole is the homeland or central territory of a colonial
empire.
 Pro – slavery Groups or individuals in favour of or supporting the
continuation slavery; The West India Interest/Lobby ( powerful pressure group
made up of friends of the W.I. planters, retired planters etc)
 Anti – slavery Groups or individuals opposed to the practice or system of
slavery. Quakers, Nonconformist missionaries, The Clapham Sect, The
Society for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade, The New
Tories (industrialists advocating free trade) and the Society for the
Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery.
 Amelioration means to make a bad situation better and refers to the efforts
of the British government to improve the situation of
the enslaved people in its colonies during the decade between 1823 and
the abolition of slavery by Parliament in 1834.
 Apprenticeship exslaves who continued labouring for their former
masters in the British Caribbean for a period of four to six years in
exchange for provisions after the passing of the Act of Emancipation.

Pro-slavery arguments
Humanitarian
 Slavery was a benevolent socialism.
 Men are not born free and equal.
 Africa was already involved in slavery.
 There was paternalism in slave society.
 The enslaved people were unfit for other work.
 The enslaved people were not ill-treated unless rebellious.
 Conditions on the slave ships were acceptable.
 Poor whites needed slavery to preserve what little status they had.
 Slavery was a means by which small planters could rise in the world
and emulate big planters
 Blacks were unprepared for freedom and would be harmed by it.
 If the enslaved were freed whites would become the minority.
 The temperaments of the blacks made them happily endure a life of
drudgery and menial labour.
 Slaves had to exist to do menial tasks to allow whites to confine
themselves to government and fine culture.
Religious
 Slavery was accepted in the bible.
 Through slavery blacks could be converted to Christianity.
Economic
 The trade was necessary to the success and wealth of Britain.
 Sugar, cotton and other tropical goods could not be profitably grown
without slave labour and plantations.
 Slave labour was cheaper than other labour sources.
 Diversification was possible with the use of slave labour who were
capable of producing other crops.
 Successful planters could make huge profits and become leaders in
society economically, politically, socially and culturally.
 Slavery could be adapted to a manufacturing economy.
 Shortage of land in the islands was the source off soil exhaustion not
slavery itself.

Anti-slavery Arguments

Humanitarian
 If something is wrong, it is wrong whether others do it or not.
 The slavery that existed in Africa was very different from the
Transatlantic Slave Trade.
 Africans were in no way inferior and should be treated as equals.
 High mortality rates of the Middle Passage was dehumanizing.
 Slavery made the whites lazy and ignorant.
  Freedom is the true state of man.
 Life in a slave society was unpleasant and uncomfortable for whites,
surrounded by cruelty and suffering.
 Slavery brought fear and insecurity. The danger of slave revolts and
massacre was ever present
 Slavery made the enslaved a reluctant labour force.
 Slavery was a denial of civilization
Religious
 It was morally wrong and, as a Christian country, Britain should not
be involved.
 Persecution of the missionaries shew the barbarity of the planters
 Slavery betrayed the basic message of the Gospels: brotherhood and
man.
 Do unto others as you would do to yourself.
Economic
 Slavery prevented the development of the manufacturing sector.
 Paid labour was more efficient than slave labour.
 Merchants required the enslaved to be paid labourers to be a new
market for their new products.
 Profits from the slave trade were diminishing.
 Slavery led to economic instability and technological backwardness.
 Slavery led to monoculture which was dangerous to the economy.
 Soil exhaustion is common a common feature of monoculture.
 The profits of the planters were not re-invested in the local economy
of the colonies but spent in the metropole.

Timeline of Events Leading up to the Abolition of the Slave

Trade and the Emancipation of Slavery in the British Caribbean.

Date Event

1688 Quaker or Society of Freinds openly denounced slavery in 1688.

1713: Under the Treaty of Utrecht following the War of the Spanish
Succession, Britain is awarded the 'Asiento' or sole right to import
an unlimited number of enslaved people to the Spanish Caribbean
colonies for 30 years.

1730: First Maroon War in the British colony of Jamaica. Groups of escaped
slaves in the mountains repel British forces and a treaty in 1739
confirms their free status.

1760: Tacky's Revolt 1760 – 1761

Slave revolts in Jamaica lasts for several months and claim many
lives.

1765: Granville Sharp (became known as the father of the anti-slavery

movement in Britain) begins legal challenges to the British slave
trade after he rescues a black patient, Jonathan Strong, from jail and
the life of slavery.

1772: James Somerset case in London (case brought to court by Granville

Sharpe). Chief Justice Lord Mansfield rules that enslaved people in
England cannot be forced to return to the West Indies. All blacks in
Britain were freed.

1774
John Wesley a Methodist minister publishes his book "Thoughts Upon
Slavery".

1775-1783 American War of Independence

1776 Granville Sharp publishes various anti-slavery tracts

1783 Zong slave Ship incident133 Africans are thrown overboard alive from
the slave ship Zong so that the owners can claim compensation money
from their insurance company.

1783 British Quakers forms a committee against slavery and the slave trade.

1786 Thomas Clarkson's 'An Essay on Slavery and Commerce of the Human
Species' is published.

1787 'Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery
and Commerce of the Human Species' by Ottobah Cuguano is published.

1789 'The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano' or 'Gustavas Vassa

(Oloudah Equaino) the African' is published.

1787 William Wilberforce introduced to Thomas Clarkson and the growing

campaign against the Slave Trade 1787. Influenced by Prime Minister
William Pitt and Thomas Clarkson, MP William Wilberforce agrees to
lead the Abolitionist movement in parliament.

1787 Thomas Clarkson discovers the brutal equipment slave owners used and
purchases them for visual representations of the brutality slaves are
subject to. Josiah Wedgwood creates the iconic seal of the abolition
committee: "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" Printed on china plates and
plaques. Thomas Clarkson travels England to begin building an anti-
slavery case to present to parliament. In Bristol, he is shown that
the sailors are just as negatively affected as the slaves.

1787 The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade
formed in London. Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and Thomas
Clarkson were co-founders of the London committee. 20% of Manchester's
population signed a petition against the slave trade, and this
petition was sent to parliament. This was the first large petition
denouncing the slave trade, and would lead to more than 60,000 Britons
signing similar pieces. An anti-slavery committee (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.

1788 Over 100 petitions against the slave trade presented to Parliament

1788 Dolben Act passed: it dealt with conditions on British slave ships

1789 Wilberforce made his first major speech on the subject of Abolition
in the House of Commons on May 12 in which he put forward 12
propositions for abolition largely based on Clarkson’s Essay on the
Impolicy of the African Slave Trade

1790 In January approval given for a Parliamentary Select Committee to

consider the slave trade and examine the evidence. *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 brochure
full of anti-slavery testimonies that became the bestselling anti-
slavery work of all time. These presentations and debates went on for
several years.

1791 In April Wilberforce introduced the first Parliamentary Bill, which

was defeated by 163 votes to 88. Majority against the abolition: 75

1791 A slave uprising in St Domingue triggers the Haitian Revolution, led

by Toussaint L'Ouverture.

1791 Wilberforce began to introduce a motion in favour of abolition

during every session of Parliament.
1792 Sugar boycott carried out by British people (*mostly women) where they
stopped buying slave-trade sugar in an attempt to put pressure on the
slave-trade industry.

1792 Pro-slavery group, the West India Lobby succeeded in preventing the
passing of the anti-slave trade bill. By March 26, according to the
Times Newspaper p3, 206 petitions were presented to Parliament. On
April 1792 the Bill was defeated by Parliament: First reading in House
of Commons saw 158 votes to 109. Majority against the abolition: 49.
Adjourned until the following week. House of Commons then passed the
Bill with 151 votes to 132. Majority for the abolition of the slave
trade on 1 Jan 1796: 19. When this was then sent to the House of Lords
it was blocked stating that it was too late in the session to be
considered.

1793 In February the Bill was defeated by Parliament

1793-1798 Slave trade debates continued in Parliament but the outbreak of war
with France in 1793 prevented a more serious consideration

1795 Second Maroon War in Jamaica; Fedon's Rebellion in Grenada.

1799 Slave Trade Regulation Act passed to reduce overcrowding on

salve ships

1793 – War between France and Britain broke out, halting all abolition
movements in Britain. Over the 5 years of war, rebel slaves under the
leadership of T'oussaint L'Ouverture forced British forces to withdraw
from Haiti.
1804 St Domingue declared the Republic of Haiti, the first independent
black state outside of Africa.

1804 Bill passed in House of commons by June but was apparently too
late in the parliamentary session for it to complete its passage
through the House of Lords.

1805 Bill reintroduced, defeated on second reading. Blocked by House of

Lords

1806 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.

1806 New Foreign Slave Trade Act passed, British subjects banned from
aiding or participating in the slave trade to the French
colonies.

1807 January 31 Publication of ‘A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave

Trade’ formed the basis for the final phase of the campaign
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.

1807 February, Lord Grenville introduced the Bill for the abolition of the
slave trade into the House of Lords. Passed by 41 votes to 20. In the
House of Commons it was carried by 283 votes to 16

1807 March 25, Bill received royal assent

1807 The Act to Abolish the Transatlantic Slave Trade is passed in

Parliament.

1807 British Act of Parliament 1807, part of Sierra Leone (West Africa)
became protected and established as a ‘free-town’, a settlement for
former slaves of the British Empire in West Africa. It was able to
negotiate with local Chieftains to stamp out the trading of slaves. It
also imposed a £100 fine for every slave found aboard a British ship.
 The intention was to wipe out the trade but it continued and captains
would often throw slaves into the sea to reduce the fine

1816-31 The news of the slave trade ban in Britain raised a great amount of
hope for slaves around the world - but little changed. Frustrated,
slaves began to take matters into their own hands and revolt. Barbados
1816, Demerara 1823, climaxing with 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.

1823 Formation of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of
Slavery. Later became the Anti-Slavery Society, members included James
Cropper, Thomas Clarkson, Samuel Romilly, Joseph Sturge, Thomas Fowell
Buxton, William Allen, Zachary Macaulay. Over the next few years,
Clarkson rode some 10,000 miles in his propaganda campaign. It
contained two controversial features: a transitional apprenticeship
period and compensation to owners totalling £20,000,000.

1823 Amelioration Proposals were introduced in 1823 in the British by the

members of the West India Interest to improve the lives of the slaves
and was to serve as a means of delaying emancipation .
At this time they believed that if the slaves were content, the
abolitionists would discontinue their struggle for emancipation and
slavery would be prolonged. In the British islands some examples of
the proposals are:
- Overseers could not carry whips in the fields
- Slave marriages were encouraged
- Slaves were to have Saturday for market and Sunday to attend mass.
- Women should not be flogged
- Slave families should not be divided
- Slaves could not be sold as a payment of debt
However, the efforts of the West India Interest were discarded as the white
plantation owners in the Caribbean refused to accept the proposals. The Governor
of Guyana was reluctant to post the proposals as he thought it would start a
riot. The planters in Barbados refused to take on the proposals as they believed
that there were enough laws and regulations to appease and improve slave lives.
In Jamaica, the revised slave code of 1831 went directly against the amelioration
proposals in saying that slaves could not go to market and were put to work all
Sunday instead of attending mass. Also the code stated that overseers were to
have whips in the field.
Overall the amelioration proposals of 183 failed miserably due to the response of
the planter class. Around this time Parliamentary reform was occurring and more
of the members of the West Indian interest were losing their political power. The
negative response of the planters showed the British Government that the planters
were unwilling to change and therefore turned favourably toward emancipation.

1827 Britain declared that participation in the slave trade was piracy and
punishable by death

1833 Abolition of Slavery Act – Britain abolishes slavery and provides for
the emancipation of enslaved people in the British West Indies, to
take effect in August 1834.

Terms of the 1833 Abolition Act

 All enslaved not yet born and those under six years of age were to be
freed.
 Registration of all slaves by August 1, 1834
 All other slaves were to enter an 'apprenticeship' period for their
former masters; 6 years for field slaves and 4 years for all other.
 Apprentices would give 40 1/2 hours of free labour per week to their
former masters. During which time their masters should provide them
with food and clothing.
 The British Government would appoint Special magistrates to supervise
the apprenticeship scheme which was for a set time and could not be
shortened.
 Plantation owners received a compensation grant of £20 million for the
loss of their slaves