Why was slavery abolished in England by 1833?
In 1765 Granville Sharp helped black people around England get their freedom. Black people escaped from their owners just to get a court trial to let them have their freedom. they could do this because it was not illegal have a slave nor was it legal to have a slave so when the black people went to court they could have a chance to get their freedom and Granville sharp helped them do so. In the 1800 there were about 10000 black people in Britain and most of them were set free because of Granville sharp.
Olaudah Equiano was a campaigner who fought for the abolition of slavery as well. He was a slave from the age of 10 he was taken from Africa to Barbados as a slave. He worked as a slave for the ships captain. He travelled widely. He learnt to read and write in London and he became a Christian. He hoped that he would be free but his master took him to America and sold him. However he eventually bought his freedom and he then wrote books about his life so that people could understand how hard a life a slave was and then maybe the white people could understand the pain that the black people were going through at the time. He worked closely with people like Granville sharp and he made loads of white people realise how terrifying a slaves life was. In fact he was the one who wrote about the Zong ship and how terrible it was and how the slaves were cramped into one room and all that. He had a big impact on the abolition of slave trade. unfortunately he died and could not see his people have their freedom he died in 1797 just 10 year before the abolition of slave trade.
In the early 1800 black people started to rebel against slavery and this was called slave revolts. slave revolts happened when the slave rebelled in Jamaica. some of the slave owners got murdered and hurt and after these events the owner knew it was better if they could work with a goal so they paid them instead now and they did not keep them in the houses any more because now they have their freedom and it was easier for the slave owners because now they did not need to feed them and house them. Then from that point on no other slaves were imported into Barbados.
In 1807 William Wilberforce joined a society which worked for the abolition of slavery. William helped by preaching out that it was wrong he spoke to the parliament about it he started a petition as well were 10000 people signed then 20000 then 75000 and finally the point where it went to 1.5 million signatures. people realised it was awful and finally parliament agreed and in 1807 it was illegal to trade slaves but still meant you could own them so it was not fully abolished yet but it was getting there.
After this more people campaigned and then soon after everyone realised it was wrong because they started reading books which told the stories of the slaves lives so people realised how horrific it was they could probably never imagine the pain the slaves went through so should now realise that they have been buying humans and not property they should imagine how difficult it was for the slaves and they should know what would have happened if the white people were slaves they would not like to be treated that way as if they were property and not human beings. This is another reason why people changed their minds and hope the black people will forgive the white people.
In 1833 everyone realised that it was wrong to have a human being as property so finally the slave trade was abolished and you could not longer own slaves sell and buy slaves any more and the freedom of slaves was now. They were no longer slaves but normal human beings again who could look after their families and friends and they could enjoy life once again. They are truly happy now.
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