|
Date
|
Event
|
Topics
|
Details |
May 14, 1772 |
The Mansfield Decision: Judge William Murray (Lord Mansfield) rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England, giving great stimulus to the Abolition movement which was the movement to abolish the slave trade and slavery in the colonies. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1773 |
Thomas Day, "The Dying Negro." |
*Abolition |
Details |
1774 |
John Wesley, Thoughts upon Slavery (an
abolition tract). |
*Abolition
*Methodism |
Details |
1778 |
William Pitt introduces legislation to regulate the slave trade. The case of Knight (a slave) vs. Wedderburn (owner) extends Mansfield ruling to Scotland. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1781 |
The Zong Incident: Luke Colingwood, captain of the slave ship Zong, jettisons 133 slaves into shark-infested waters to collect insurance. This massacre gives further impetus to the Abolition movement in Britain. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1782 |
Abolition: Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African. Sancho was born a British slave and became a servant for the aristocracy before he began his letter writing. A memoir of Sancho's early life was prefixed to the Letters by Josephy Jekyll. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1783 |
Olaudah Equiano brings the Zong incident (see 1781) to the attention of the abolition movement and it is brought to trial; Mansfield presides over the insurance trial and rules for the captain. British Quakers organize committees to publicize and to petition against the slave trade. A petition is presented to Parliament and received without further action. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1784 |
Maria and Harriet Falconar, Poems on Slavery. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1785 |
William Paley, Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (challenges scriptural and economic justifications; advocates gradual emancipation and abolition). |
*Abolition |
Details |
1786 |
Thomas Clarkson, An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species argues for abolition. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1787 |
Formation of a Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in London and some provincial cities. Thomas Clarkson travels to get evidence on the trade. William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce attempt to initiate an Anglo-French suspension of the slave trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
Manchester launches a mass abolition petition campaign. Privy Council Committee for Trade and Plantations reports on the slave trade. Abolition is raised in Parliament. First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade, stipulating more humane conditions on slave ships. Mass propaganda campaigns begin. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
John Newton, Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
Thomas Clarkson, Impolicy of the Slave Trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
Hannah More, Slavery, A Poem (see also
1790). |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
Ann Yearsley, A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 |
William Roscoe, Unitarian reformer and future lawyer/banker in Liverpool, writes part I of his
"The Wrongs of Africa," numerous poems, pamphlets, and petitions on abolition, peace, and reform. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1788 - 1792 |
Usually considered the period of mass abolitionist agitation, led by Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Pitt. The West Indian port system is renewed and expanded (through 1792). Government seeks to expand British colonial cotton growth. |
*Abolition
*Colonialism |
Details |
1788 - 1792 |
Sugar prices begin a general rise. |
*Abolition |
Details |
May 9, 1788 |
Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces legislation to regulate the slave trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1789 |
William Wilberforce introduces resolutions on the
slave trade in Parliament. Commons agrees to hear evidence. The Dolben act is now renewed annually.
|
*Abolition |
Details |
1789 |
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. (It becomes a bestseller, aiding the cause of abolition.) |
*Abolition |
Details |
1790 |
Hannah More, The Slave Trade (a retitled version of the 1788 poem), An Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1790 |
Select Committee of Commons hears testimony on the slave trade. |
*Abolition |
Details |
1791 |
Abolition: Commons approves a charter for Sierra Leone, its company pledged to oppose the slave trade in Africa. Sugar prices rise steeply. |
*Abolition |