Slavery Abolishing in 1807 in Britain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Slavery Abolishing in 1807 in Britain - Essay Example Slaves were captured in Africa and transported to Europe where they were sold to owners where they worked in plantations. Slaves were mistreated and harassed by their owners. They were not paid for the hard work they performed in plantation. During the transportation of slaves many would die of disease and only a few would arrive healthy for them to be auctioned. Problems would arise where the slaves would die from tropical diseases and owners would not provide proper medical care, slaves would be beaten mercilessly by their master and owners and there were no laws governing this immoral behaviour. However a few individuals in the society would consider slavery and slave trade as an immoral behaviour and this led to the formation of anti slavery movements. The abolishment of slavery was a long struggle dated back in the 1750 where a number of Quakers started to disapprove slave trade, the Quakers started to disapprove slave trade and encouraged slave owners to educate slaves, introdu ce them into Christianity and improve their working and living conditions, in 1783 a group of six Quakers pioneered a movement that was to start the struggle to abolish slave trade. These members included George Harrison, John Lloyd, William Dillwyn, Joseph Hooper, Joseph Woods, and James Phillips. this was a non denominational movement which was aimed at gaining support from parliament and the Anglican church. This movement gained popularity and an additional of three members from the Anglican Church joined the movement and this really strengthened this group, these Anglican members included William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. After the joining of the religious members William Wilberforce was chosen to be the group member due to his connection with the British parliament, the struggle continued but Wilberforce faced strong resistance to the abolishment of slave trade in parliament and this was due to the fact that there was a powerful dependence on slaves and slave trade. The first petition to abolish slave trade was made in 1783 but it failed by the vote where more member opposed the abolishment of slave trade. In 1787 a committee for abolishment of slave trade was founded, the new mission was to inform the public on the immoral acts of slavery, this movement involved writing books on slavery, posters and printings pamphlets and holding rallies. This brought attention to the entire public to abolish slave trade. In 1791 Wilberforce presented a bill to abolish slave trade but the bill lost by the vote where 163 votes opposed the bill and only 88 agreed to this proposal, however this did not stop the committee from further publicity through the visit to places to enlighten the public and writing anti slavery work. Clarkson who was a committee member toured all cities and ports of England to inform the public about the ills of slave trade and slavery. In 1804 there was a successful revolt by slaves in Haiti, this revolt which was known as the Haiti revolt brought about a sense of insecurity among the public members who owned slaves, during this years also there was an increase in the number of slave owners who were slain by their slaves and this sense of insecurity brought about members of the public to support the ant slavery movement even in parliament Wilberforce who was a member of parliament for this period and continued to introduce the anti terrorist bill each year and it was not until 1807 that the British parliament abolished slave trade through the vote by members of parliament. From the above discussion it is clear that the