Australia and the World Past and Present

Many of the American colonies already had slavery laws in place before the emergence of the abolitionist movement in Britain.

The 1640s-1700 was the most active period.

The American Revolution (1775-1783) had had an impact. There was much talk about the natural rights on men. European Enlightenment thinking had crossed the Atlantic and was shaping public opinion.

Britain was increasingly viewed an oppressive power, extracting taxes and benefiting from the labour of Americans, while offering little in return. Americans increasingly saw themselves as a different people – a nascent nation of free men.

For many, the idea of freedom didn’t extend to slaves. But for some activists, it did.

On 4 July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. The thirteen colonies declared themselves free. In 1789, the U.S. Constitution came into effect and the new federal government began operating under it.

British colonies had transformed into states.

By the late 1700s, northern jurisdictions were already looking at winding back slavery laws. This roughly coincided with the rise of the abolitionist movement in Britain.

Vermont’s 1777 constitution prohibited slavery.

In 1780 Pennsylvania adopted gradual abolition.

Slavery effectively ended in Massachusetts in the 1780s.

New York began gradual abolition in 1799 and New Jersey resolved to phase out slavery in 1804.

Another key event being watched from the U.S was the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804).

Haitian slaves had risen up and now planned to create a new society in which they were free.

While the northern states followed one trajectory, Southern states in the early 1800s pursued a different path.

There, governments generally opposed the move towards abolition and indeed strengthened their position.

North Carolina passed its Act Concerning Slaves and Free Persons of Color (1831-32).

Alabama revised its slave laws in 1832.

A key event within the United States itself was the rebellion of Nat Turner. His was an armed uprising of slaves in Virginia in 1831.

It was the largest slave rebellion prior to the Civil War.

Turner was a slave.

He was also deeply religious and took to the role of preacher. He believed that he had a religious calling to combat slavery.

His uprising led to the death of his enslaver and his family, as well as families on neighbouring plantations. 55-60 people were killed.

Turner himself was hanged.

1831 was also the year that William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator. The American Abolitionist movement was gaining strength.

We can discern a few periods of development in America.

From the 1640s onward, many American colonies passed laws formally establishing the institution of slavery.

By the late 1700s, many northern states were debating whether these laws should continue or whether they should be abolished.

This period is roughly when the abolitionist movement was growing and strengthening in Britain.

It should be noted that many northern states had taken legislative action before Britain had passed its consequential Slave Trade Act of 1807.

But as already noted, the American experience was not uni-dimensional.

Southern states took a different path. There, they strengthened slavery laws. Slavery was more integral to the economy of the South than it was to the economy of the North.

By the late 1700s, northern states were ahead of the abolitionist movement Britain – at least in terms of legislation.

By the 1830s, Britain had largely resolved its slavery laws.

The U.S. remained divided over the issue. In fact they the nation went to war with itself over slavery.

The issue was finally resolved by the Civil War, the northern victory and the Emancipation Proclamation.