History N5: Plantations and abolitionists

jobs on plantations

Forbidden to speak or sing in native language.
Prohibited from reading or writing.
Lived in small wooden huts shared among families with no furniture.
Slept on straw on the floor.
Given time off from Christmas to New Year's Day.
Allowed to marry, but only to one wife.
Slave owners were mainly Christians who converted and baptized slaves, allowing them church services on Sundays.

Reduced food rations.
Iron muzzles.
Shackles on ankles, wrists, or neck.
Whippings that left scars; salt or lime rubbed into wounds to worsen pain.
Branding with a hot iron, sometimes on the face.
Punishment of pregnant women, ensuring no harm to the baby.
Cutting off fingers, toes, ears, noses, arms, or legs, leading to infections and death.
Public killings via hanging, starvation, dehydration, or whipping.

Public lectures.
Petitioning the public.
Wedgewood pottery and jewelry with images of chained slaves.
Sugar boycott; 300,000 people stopped buying sugar in 1792.
William Wilberforce introduced anti-slavery bills in Parliament.
Former slaves published autobiographies to gain public sympathy.
Thomas Clarkson gathered information for 7 years to show the public and gain support.
Granville Sharp used the justice system to change laws regarding slaves in Britain.
From 1761, Quakers excluded anyone involved in the slave trade from their group.

Born in 1759 in Hull, England, to a wealthy merchant.
Studied at Cambridge University and formed a lasting friendship with William Pitt the Younger.
Became a member of parliament in 1780 as a Conservative supporter.
In 1787, the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade approached him to represent them in the House of Commons; he eventually became their leader.
For 18 years, he lobbied and regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in parliament, giving speeches against slavery.
Faced fierce opposition from members of parliament who profited from the slave trade.
Lost his first vote on anti-slavery laws by 88 to 163.
Thomas Clarkson's evidence greatly influenced Wilberforce efforts to persuade Parliament.
Wilberforce showed the horrors of slavery by taking people on board a slave ship without telling them its purpose and used a model slave ship in Parliament to highlight the cramped conditions.

RELIGIOUS ARGUMENTS: It goes against biblical teachings that everyone is equal.
HUMANITARIAN ARGUMENTS: It is cruel and inhumane and affects more than just the slaves.
ECONOMIC ARGUMENTS: It had become cheaper to get goods elsewhere and there were more countries to trade with.
Religious groups opposed slavery based on the principle of loving one's neighbor.
Cheaper sugar was available from Brazil, India, and Cuba.
Slaves would work harder if paid and free.
High death rate among slaves.
Britain had better trade connections with other parts of the world.
Evidence of cruel treatment of slaves.
Worries about slave revolts.
Fear of angering God.
Slavery caused wars and hindered development in Africa.

The British government greatly benefited from taxes related to the slave trade.
Manufacturers who supplied trade goods for Africa, like guns, did not want the trade to end.
Some planters bribed people to support them over abolitionists.
Some argued that if Britain stopped trading slaves, other countries would take over and the Africans would be in a worse situation.
Others argued that banning the trade would encourage slave rebellions on the islands.

Toussaint L'Ouverture demonstrated that slaves could defeat European armies, raising fears in British islands where slaves greatly outnumbered whites.
Toussaint became Governor of Haiti, but white French plantation owners plotted against him.
In 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte tried to reinstate slavery, sending troops to Haiti, but after two years, they failed.
Toussaint helped the French army eject the British and Spanish.
News of Napoleon's betrayal led to mass slave revolts led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, who successfully fought the French.
Napoleon gave up his American possessions, and Haiti became the first independent Caribbean island governed by ex-slaves.
By 1793, the revolution in France, led by Maximilian Robespierre, ended slavery in French colonies, including Haiti.
In 1789, the French Revolution's slogan, "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," sparked discussions about slavery, but French Caribbean plantation owners blocked the emancipation of black slaves.

Religious Reasons: Christians believed the enslavement of Africans should end and many converted to abolitionism due to their religious beliefs.
Economic Reasons: Britain no longer needed the slave trade by 1807 because the European market and industrial revolution goods allowed trade with places like Australia.
Economic Reasons: Sugar production became cheaper and more efficient in India, and cotton became more profitable than sugar.
Many people boycotted sugar from the West Indies to support abolition.
Humanitarian Reasons: Growing slave populations and the constant threat of revolts led to harsher punishments, highlighting the injustice of slavery.
Compensation of £20 million was paid to planters, and freed slaves were still 'apprentices' for 6 years, but this scheme was removed in 1838.