After 2 years, the boy’s master caught hi and re-sold him to a person in Jamaica. Sharpe found out about this and took the owner to court. Of course, Sharpe won and the boy was then set free again. Granville Sharpe campaigned many times after that and caught the eye of the public. The public soon changed their opinions of slavery after he fought more cases, and won.
A group of M.P’s called the Quakers had a very important man campaigning for them. His name was William Wilberforce. He believed slavery was against Christian teachings, and was sinful. He gave lots of speeches to parliament where he included how bad the conditions were in the slave ships. Petitions were collected, signed and given to parliament. Slave trade was eventually abolished in 1807.
The white working class campaigners:
The white working class people signed over 10.000 petitions in 1788 and in 1792 another 20,000 people signed a petition. The campaigners continued to campaign after slavery was abolished. They wanted to free all the existing slaves and make slavery illegal. One and a half million people signed petitions in 1814 to try and illegalise slavery.
Most of the current slaves started to rebel. They demanded wages and they wanted to be treated like normal servants. Quite a lot of slaves ran away when rebelling didn’t work. In 1800, slaves were still being sold in Britain, and taken back to the west Indies, without choice, but some were set free, as a result of trying and rebelling.
The black people’s actions:
Some black people who used to be slaves traveled around the country and changed peoples views on slavery. A man called Olauclo Equiano bought his freedom and started working with more abolitionists like Granville Sharpe. He brought the case of slave ships, such as the “zong” To the eye of the public. He had told them how bad the conditions on the ship were, and he had proof.
In St. Dominique, in the West Indies, slaves started to revolt. French slaves got the idea of liberty and equality; the ideas behind the French Revolution (1879). The slave owners made an alliance with Britain because they didn’t like the ideas that the slaves were getting, That meant that slavery would carry on. In 1971, the slaves reballed, murdering slave owners and setting alight their plantations.
The British troops tried to regain control, but the slaves were led by a brilliant man called Toussaint L’Ouvertie. In St. Dominique, slavery was abolished in 1804. The other slave owners in the West Indies were scared that their slaves would somehow get the idea to revolt. British non-abolitionists used St. Dominique as an example to show the results if everyone was treated equally.
Economics:
The west Indies became less important to Britain in the 1770’s. Brazil and Cuba could make cheaper sugar, so plantations in the West Indies were shut for good. Slaves demand fell as less and less slaves were needed. So, profitability fell too. The whole slave trade was abolished for good in 1807 but it took a further 27 more years to make slavery illegal.
Every single person in the top 4 categories played an important roll in the abolition of slavery. The white middle class campaigners made the public realize it actually existed, and they had led many winning campaigns. The white working class campaigners signed petitions and showed evidence to the parliament. The black people ran away from their owners and they rebelled many times. The slaves were often took to court to get “won” back, but usually the courts favored the slaves.
