Western History 154: What were the key milestones in the progress of the Abolitionist movement?

The history of the abolition of slavery actually goes back some time in the Western world. In Ancient Greece the famed lawgiver Solon  abolished debt slavery in the early sixth century BC. Debt bondage was also outlawed in the Roman Republic in 326 BC. Throughout the Middle Ages there were many attempts to curb the practice. These include Pope John’s prohibition on the enslavement of Christians (873),  the decision by the City of London to ban the slave trade (1102) and the famed Sachenspiegel (1220) in Germany that condemned slavery as a violation of man being created in the image of God.

Solon - Early abolitionist source: ancient.eu

In Spain the unified monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella took a strong stance against both slavery in the new territories as well as the remnant serfdom back in the mother country between 1477 and 1493. However even with such a position regarding the fate of the native people this did not deter the Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch (plus other Europeans) from involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade that we have already discussed at length (See Western History 153).

Slaves source: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Data Base 

In 1652 Rhode Island, Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton advanced legislation banning slavery in the Providence Plantations.  This followed in the wake of earlier legislation across Europe that had emancipated serfs in England (1574), ended Chinese slavery in the Portuguese colonies (1595) and prohibited the sale of Russian slaves to the Muslims (1649). In 1706 England, the court ruled (Smith v Browne & Copper)  that ‘Negro’ slaves were to be set free as soon as they entered England. 

During the American Revolution the slave trade was largely banned or suspended. The English tried to coax slaves to take an anti Revolution position with a promise of liberation, The Dunmore Proclamation in Virginia was one such initiative.

Meanwhile organizations such as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society were formed to oppose slavery (many of its founders were religious Christian Quakers). The Constitution of the Republic of Vermont partially banned slavery in 1777. In the 1780s following Independence Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire  moved to abolish slavery.

In 1787 the British colony of Sierre Leone was formed as a refuge for emancipated slaves as abolition societies made strong inroads in  Britain, France and Denmark-Norway. A key figure in the abolitionist movement was philanthropist politician William Wilberforce.

William Wilbeforce source: Britannica.com

Slavery was banned in the French possessions in 1793. In the same year slavery ended in Upper Canada (the future Ontario, Canada).  New York would start freeing childhood slaves in 1799. By 1827 slavery in the state no longer officially existed. New Jersey would end slavery in 1804.

Four years before that American citizens were prohibited from investment and employment in the slave trade. The import of slaves from aboard was outlawed by the Act Prohibiting the Import of Slaves (1807). Domestic Slave Trading in the United States would continue until 1865.

Finally in 1807 the Abolition of Slavery Act was passed in the British Parliament ending the awful practice across the Empire.

Act for the Abolition of Slavery source: www.insidehook.com