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abolition of the slave trade - Coggle Diagram
abolition of the slave trade
POLITICIONS
Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp were leading abolitionists who fought to end slavery.
In 1787, they established the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, whose purpose was to campaign for the slave trade to be brought to an end.
Although his proposals met with fierce resistance, from 1789 Wilberforce began to introduce anti-slavery motions in Parliament.
William Wilberforce was a member of parliament, and another key figure in the abolitionist movement.
He continued to do so until 1807, when the British Parliament introduced the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.
THE QUAKERS
Nine of the twelve members of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade were Quakers, formerly known as the Society of Friends.
The Quaker Church strongly opposed the slave trade in Britain and America.
The Quaker Church strongly opposed the slave trade in Britain and America.
WORKING-CLASS PEOPLE
Working-class people in Britain also played a key role in calling for abolition
Despite benefiting from economic links to the slave trade, many workers in the port cities of Liverpool and Bristol signed petitions that were presented to Parliament.
Over 500 petitions, with a combined total of around 390,000 signatures, were submitted in support of Wilberforce’s abolition bill in 1792.
KEY POINTS
From the 1770s in Britain, a movement developed to bring the slave trade to an end. This is known as the abolitionist movement.
The work of politicians, ordinary workers, women and the testimonies of formerly enslaved people all contributed to the British abolitionist movement.
In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. This ended the buying and selling of enslaved people within the British Empire, but it did not protect those already enslaved. Many enslavers continued to trade illegally.
Hundreds of thousands of people remained enslaved. It took a further 30 years of campaigning before slavery was abolished in most British colonies.