SLAVE TRADE

The Humanitarian Argument

OLDFIELD / DRESCHER / ANTSEY / HOCHSCHILD

Growing concerns for welfare:

• Thomas Paine’s ‘The Rights of Man’ - 200,000 copies

• 1739 ‘Foundling Hospital’ established

Impact of the Quakers:

• 1783 Yearly Meeting - signed by 273 - 23 person committee established

• 1784 Anti-Slavery pamphlet - 10,000 copies

Evangelical Christians:

• Granville Sharp (1735-1813) - founding member of SEAST

• Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) - 1786 Essay on Slave Trade - 35,000 miles

• William Wilberforce - bills 1791 - 99

SEAST Argument

Founded 1787 by Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson

• 9/12 members on the committee were quakers

POPULAR IMPACT

• Clarkson covered 35,000 miles (1787-1794)

• 1787 Manchester Petition - 11,000 signatures

• By 1792, every county sending in a petition

• 1792 - 519 petitions in parliament

• LIMITED: 24% of nations income came from slavery

ORGANISATION / MEDIA

Use of books, pamphlets and articles

• Brookes Diagram / Wedgwood Cameo

• Elizabeth Heyrick’s pamphlet, ‘Immediate not Gradual abolition’

• Wedgwood Cameo: ‘Am I not a man and a brother’

IMPACT IN PARLIAMENT

• Dolben Act: 11th July 1788 - impact of Charles Fox

• 1788: over 100 petitions presented to Commons

• Wilberforce: 12th May 1789 speech - 1792 - Commons agrees but the HoL rejects

• 1791 WIlberforce Bill defeated - 50MP strong West India Lobby

LEADERSHIP

• 1787 Granville Sharp appointed Chairman

• 12th May 1789 - Wilberforce’s speech on the Middle Passage

USE OF EVENTS AND CRISES

• 1788: The Zong - 132 thrown off the ship

• 1788 - caused the Dolben Act

• LIMITATIONS: planters blamed abolitionists for St. Domingue revolution

• St Domingue: 4000 white people killed

SEAST Longevity

• 1793: 33x a year

• 1794: 9x a year

• 1797: END

The Economic Argument

ELTIS / DAVIS / WILLIAMS

Importance of the Slave Trade

• By 19th century over 35,000 voyages

• Liverpool: 1790s claimed 3/7 of European Trade

• Bristol: 1780s - 40% of people’s income derived from slave economy

• TEXTILES INDUSTRY: 1784-86 and 1805-07 - 87% of British textile output went to Africa

The Decline Thesis

• Slave Trade averaged 1 million per year

• profits nearly 3 million by 1700

• Impact of Slave Rebellions - 1/10 ships experienced slave revolt

• 20 - 50% profit margin

Financial Cost of Slave Trade

• Banks extended credit lines - eg Heywoods

• COST of Voyages - 1753: Slave ship Ann cost 3000 but returned 4850

• 1806 Foreign Trade Act wiped out 2/3 of Slave Trade

Financial Cost of Plantations

• 1776, Glasgow merchants owed 1.3 million pounds by American partners

• 1772 - 78 Liverpool: lost 700,000 - 12/30 merchant houses bankrupt by 1788

The Individuals Argument

WALVIN / POLLOCK / ANTSEY

Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846)

• Walvin - the ‘indefatigable foot soldier’

• 1786 - Cambridge Essay: made Wilberforce join in 1787

• 1787 - 1794 travelled 35,000 miles

• Founded 1200 branches of SEAST by 1807

• 1790 - visited 317 ships and spoke to 3000 sailors - including Melampus

William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

• WIlberforce’s PMB became 1807 Abolition Act

• 1789: Speech on the Middle Passage - secured a select committee and parliamentary bill

• 1791 defeated by 80

• presentation of bills 1791-99

• Hindered by 1793 War with France

Olaudah Equiano (1745-97)

• 1789: ‘The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano’

• 1787 - Joined the Sons of Africa wwith Cugoano

• 1788 Sons of Africa marched on parliament to support Dolben Act

The Changing Political Climate

The Impact of American Independence (1783)

• Intellectual debate - 1776 20% of American population of African descent

• American Independence paralleled slave abolition

The Napoleonic War and War with France

• French Revolution (1788-89)

• - 1802 Napoleon reintroduced the slave trade

• Wilberforce gained Pitt support 1806 and Grenville 1807

• French Jacobins / Revolutionary fears - 1794-1802 and the 1795 Seditious Meetings Act

Fears of Slave Rebellion

BLACKBURN / CLR JAMES - Black Jacobins

Tacky’s War - 1760 Jamaica

Berbice Revolution - 1763

Revolution of St Domingue (1791)

• 1000 plantations burnt - 12,000 killed

• single most profitable slave colony

• sparked revolts in Grenada / St Vincent and St Lucia

• by 1793 Jamaica had 3000 British Troops garissoned

• 1793-1802 45,000 British soldiers died in the West Indies

• Fedon’s Rebellion - Grenada 1795 - 14,000 slaves supported Fedon’s rebellion