Britain did more to abolish slavery than any other nation

It’s easy to sit in the 21^st Century and critique the 17th, but if you lived in the past what would you have done? Work to with what you have, maybe improving it incrementally, or sit it out in isolation somewhere?

Early societies were obviously trying to balance these imperatives. Ancient Judaism had slavery, but there were rules. You can’t enslave a fellow Jew, although they can enslave themselves to you for a certain time if they owe you money they cannot pay. The courts can order them into slavery. You can capture someone in war and use as a slave, or buy a foreigner as one. However, every 7 years all slaves had to be freed.

But, to borrow an insight from Thomas Sowell in another context. What is surprising is not that slavery existed, but that it was abolished.

People will tend to do evil, and that is to be condemned. But nothing is lost, and everything is to be gained, if when people recognise and reject that evil they are forgiven and applauded.

And if they are the first to repent, then celebration is even more warranted to encourage others to follow in their tracks.

There was surely some tension in Britain all along. For 400 or so years there had been no slave trade to speak of, and for around 300 no domestic slavery, because it was thought to be morally wrong. Yet here was this robust international trade, sanctioned and monopolised by the Crown for a period of around 150 years.

In fact, opposition to the slave trade well-predated its eventual abolition.

One of the earliest signs of its tangible effect was that the colony to be established in New South Wales was designed to be slave free some 19 years before the trade in slavery was banned and 55 before slavery was abolished.

In 1807 under the influence of noted abolitionist William Wilberforce and others, the British parliament passed The Slave Trade Act which banned any trade in slaves using British flagged ships. The margin in the House of Commons was 283 to 17, with 94% supporting it.

As the UK accounted for 42% of the Atlantic slave trade at the time, this was significant. The UK also used its diplomatic influence to enter into treaties with other countries to abolish the trade in their areas of influence with the Royal Navy used to interdict shipping.

The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act did not immediately abolish slavery. What it did was pay compensation to the owners of slaves and change the slave’s status to that of apprentice. The apprentices then had 4 to 6 years to work out their indenture. This was further compensation to the former owner, as well as providing a phasing-in period.

Territory controlled by the East India Company was also exempted, which included India, although here slaves were mostly owned by Indians. Slavery in India predated the arrival of the British. It was abolished 11 years later in 1844.