Why Did Britain Abolish the Slave Trade?
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed by Parliament in 1833. What was really behind Britain’s moment of moral enlightenment?
‘Slavery had gone unchallenged for two centuries’
James Walvin is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of York
In the 21st century there has evolved a general consensus about abolition: that Britain turned its back against the slave trade (in 1807) and slavery (in 1833) for economic reasons. This view derived from Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery (1944), which also rejected the previous emphasis on the role played by William Wilberforce and outraged Christianity. Yet though Williams’ argument – that slavery had helped British industrialisation, but that it was inappropriate in a world of free trade – gained popular and scholarly support, it overlooks the profound cultural changes in British life which helped pave the way for abolition. New studies – such as David Richardson’s Principles and Agents (2022) which throws new light on the intellectual roots of abolition – oblige us to rethink the entire story.
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