Why was slavery abolished?

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Why was slavery abolished?

Many people think that slavery was abolished because of campaigns by white people in England. However, there are other reasons such as the actions of black people and economic factors. In this essay I shall consider all these reasons and decide on the most important.

The actions of white middle class campaigners were important and Granville Sharp was one person who helped to end slavery. He and his friend Thomas Clarkson decided to form the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Even though Sharp and Clarkson were Anglicans, nine out of the twelve members of the committee, were Quakers. Thomas Clarkson had the job of collecting information. Their aim was to stop people from buying and selling slaves, to stop slaves being used and to make owning a slave illegal.

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Another person who wanted to abolish slavery was the politician William Wilberforce. William Wilberforce was a Quaker who fought court cases for black people and who worked with Thomas Clarkson for a while. William went to parliament and made anti-slavery speeches. His speeches were probably one of the reasons why the parliament made slavery illegal.

White working class people also helped to abolish slavery. Like in 1788 over 10,000 people signed petitions saying that slavery should be made illegal, and in 1814 over 1 and a half million people had signed it. The white working class’ views were ...

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