Skip to content

Eliza and Abolition (Alan Sinder)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Some of us think this deserves a page of its own. - Eliza and Abolition

Stephensonia

Could Eliza have engineered the events in 1791 in Haiti?

Authored entries

  • TBA

Wikipedia: Haiti's Great Slave Rebellion of 1791

On August 22, 1791, slaves in the northern region of the colony staged a massive revolt. Eventually the rebellion spread throughout the entire colony. The rebel slaves emerged as a powerful military force, eventually coming under the leadership of Haitian heroes Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe. Master by 1800 of almost the whole island, Toussaint was invited to negotiate a settlement in 1802, but was seized and deported to France, where he died in captivity (1803).

The indigenous army, now led by Dessalines, defeated Charles Leclerc and the army sent by Napoleon Bonaparte in November 1803, and declared the former colony's independence from France, reclaiming its indigenous name of Haiti. The impending defeat of the French in Haiti is thought to have contributed to Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803. Poles from the Polish Legions fought in Napoleon's army. Some of them refused to fight against blacks, and the rest treated them much better than the French did; also, a few Poles (around 100) actually joined the rebels. Moreover, one of the Polish generals - Wladyslaw Franciszek Jablonowski - was black. Therefore Poles (about 400 from 5280, from the rest 700 returned to France and many were - after capitulation - forced to serve in British units) were allowed to stay and spared the fate of other whites. 160 Poles were later given permission to leave Haiti and were send on Haitian expense to France. Today, descendants of those Poles who stayed are living in Casale and Fond Des Blancs.

Abolition

“… [W]hat began at 2 George Yard, picture the world as it existed in 1787. Well over three-quarters of the people on earth are in bondage of one land or another. In parts of the Americas, slaves far outnumber free people. African slaves are also scattered widely through much of the Islamic world. Slavery is routine in most of Africa itself. In India and other parts of Asia, some people are outright slaves, others in debt bondage that ties them to a particular landlord as harshly as any slave to a Southern plantation owner. In Russia the majority of the population are serfs. Nowhere is slavery more firmly rooted than in Britain's overseas empire, where some half-million slaves are being systematically worked to an early death growing West Indian sugar. Caribbean slave-plantation fortunes underlie many a powerful dynasty, from the ancestors of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to the family of the fabulously wealthy William Beckford, lord mayor of London, who hired Mozart to give his son piano lessons. One of the most prosperous sugar plantations on Barbados is owned by the Church of England. Furthermore, Britain's ships dominate the slave trade, delivering tens of thousands of chained captives each year to French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies as well as to its own. …”[1]

Roots of Abolitionism: borrowed from various Wikipedia sources

The chief philosophical ground for abolition has been the idea of human rights—that human beings are too valuable to be property, as well as the idea that human beings ought to control their own destiny. Much of this philosophy stems from religious views, although Christians, Jews and Muslims have all practiced slavery in the past. Belief in abolition has contributed to the foundation of some denominations such as the Free Methodist Church.

Another ground for abolishing slavery has been economic, and much ink has been spilled describing how various crusaders or factions have sought to profit financially by outlawing slavery. Indeed, Marxist and other historians have analyzed the American Civil War from this point of view.

Opposition to abolition has come primarily from people who profit personally from slave labor or the slave trade, including those who rely on goods produced by slaves, as well as from people who regard slaves as inferior beings suited to servitude.

France first abolished slavery in its possessions during the French Revolution in 1794. Slavery was then restored in 1802 and re-abolished in 1848.

In Great Britain, abolitionists succeeded in abolishing slavery throughout the empire in 1833 and in allowing the Royal Navy to enforce a ban on the slave trade.

For Westerners, the slave trade specifically denotes the enslavement of Africans and their transport across the Atlantic to North America and the Caribbean. Other cultures as well have traded in slaves, but this article focuses on American and Western European slavery.

The slave trade began in America in the 15th century and most of the ships were owned and crewed by Europeans. Those doing the actual kidnapping were often Africans or Arabs.

Another source for large numbers of slaves was prisoners captured in inter tribal conflict or warfare. It was common practice to kill captives, trade them to other tribes, or even sell them at the coast to shippers in the slave trade.

The trade was banned by international agreement in the early 19th century, but this ban was ignored and the British Royal Navy was ordered to enforce the ban. This succeeded in eliminating the Atlantic slave trade by the end of the 19th century.

For the British to end of the slave trade, significant obstacles had to be overcome. In the 18th century, the slave trade was an integral part of the Atlantic economy. The economies of the European colonies in the Caribbean, the American colonies, and Brazil required vast amounts of man power to harvest the bountiful agricultural goods. In 1790 the British West Indies, islands such as Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad had a slave population of 524 000, while the French had 643 000 in their West Indian possessions. Other powers such as Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark had large numbers of slaves as well. Despite these high populations more slaves were always required. Harsh conditions and demographic imbalances left the slave population with well below replacement fertility levels. By 1800 the English had imported around 1.7 million slaves to their West Indian possessions since 1600, the fact that there were well over a million fewer slaves in the British colonies than had been imported to them illustrates the conditions in which they lived.

The immorality of slavery was excused by economics. Slavery was involved in some of the most immensely profitable industries of the time. 70% of the slaves brought to the new world were used to produce sugar, the most labour intensive crop. The rest were employed harvesting coffee, cotton, and tobacco, and in some cases in mining.

These products would be shipped to Europe or Africa. The ships from Europe would then return carrying manufactured materials and foodstuffs. The ships from Africa would return carrying slaves. The entire economy of the Atlantic sector depended on fresh supplies of slaves to the West Indies, and this triangular Atlantic trade formed the core of maritime trade throughout the world. These colonies were some of the most important possessions of each European power.France in 1763, for instance, agreed to lose the entire vast colony of New France in exchange for keeping the minute island of Guadeloupe.

By far the most successful West Indian colonies in 1800 belonged to the United Kingdom. After entering the sugar colony business late, British naval supremacy and control over key islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados gave it an important edge over all competitors. This advantage was reinforced when France lost its most important colony, St. Dominigue, to a slave revolt in 1791.

The British islands produced the most sugar, and quickly the British people became the largest consumers of sugar. West Indian sugar became ubiquitous as an additive to Chinese tea. Products of American slave labour soon permeated every level of British society with tobacco, coffee, and especially sugar all being indispensable elements of daily life for all classes.

To support its colonies Britain also had the largest fleet of slave ships, mostly operating out of Liverpool and Bristol. In Liverpool, by the late 17th century, one out of every four ships that left harbour was a slaver. They were highly profitable ventures and played very important economic roles in those two cities.

How Did Abolition Come About?

How did the abolition of the slave trade occur if it was so economically important and successful? The historiography of answers to this question is a long and interesting one. Before the Second World War the study of the abolition movement was performed primarily by British scholars who believed that the anti-slavery movement was probably among the three or four perfectly virtuous pages in the history of nations.

This opinion was controverted in 1944 by the West Indian historian, Eric Williams, who argued that the end of the slave trade to economic transitions totally unconnected to any morality.

Williams' thesis was soon brought into question as well, however. Williams based his argument upon the idea that the West Indian colonies were in decline at the early point of 19th century and were losing their political and economic importance to Britain. This decline turned the slave system into an economically burdensome one that the British were only too willing to do away with.

The main difficulty with this argument is that the decline only began to manifest itself after slave trading was banned in 1807 before which slavery was flourishing economically. The decline in the West Indies is more likely to be an effect of the suppression of the slave trade as the cause. The falling prices for the commodities produced by slave labour such as sugar and coffee can be easily discounted as evidence shows the falls in price lead to great increases in demand, actually increasing total profits for the importers. Profits for the slave trade remained at around ten percent of investment and showed no evidence of being on the decline. Land prices in the West Indies, an important tool for analysing the economy of the area did not begin to decrease until after the slave trade was discontinued. The sugar colonies were not in decline at all, in fact they were at the peak of their economic influence in 1807.

International Abolitionist Movements

Slavery's origins are simply too old to recount. So, too, are movements to free large or distinct groups of them. Moses led Israelite slaves from ancient Egypt in the Biblical Book of Exodus - possibly the first detailed account of a movement to free slaves, although clearly not accepted at face value as real history in all particulars.

Lord Mansfield and abolition of slavery

Lord Mansfield played a key role in smoothly ending slavery in England.

James Somerset, a slave, brought to England by his master, Mr. Stewart of Virginia, brought suit against him on 14 May 1772. William Murray, Lord Mansfield, rendered his verdict in favor of Somerset on 22 June 1772.

"On the part of Somerset, the case which we gave notice should be decided, this day, the Court now proceeds to give its opinion….The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political; but only positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory: it's so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged."

Mansfield concluded that there was no legal backing for slavery in England. Furthermore, he wrote the following words into British common law -- words that have been memorized by British pupils ever since.

"The air of England is too pure for a slave to breathe, and so everyone who breathes it becomes free. Everyone who comes to this island is entitled to the protection of English law, whatever oppression he may have suffered and whatever may be the colour of his skin."

This ruling was not applied to the British Empire, only to Britain, and British commerce in slaves continued for thirty-five years until 1807, when Parliament formally abolished the slave trade..

Mansfield declared, "A foreigner cannot be imprisoned here on the authority of any law existing in his own country."

The End of Slavery

Slavery has always had its opponents. In 1771 Granville Sharp brought the case of the escaped slave James Somerset before the Lord Chief Justice William Murray, Lord Mansfield. Somerset had escaped and been recaptured in England by his American owner. Basing his judgement on Magna Carta and habeas corpus he declared - "Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged." But the movement to abolish the slave trade only took off in the late 1770's. It was thus declared that the condition of slavery could not be enforced under English law. However, little effort was made towards enforcing the judgement, and slaves continued to be held in Britain for years to come.

Somerset was set free. But slaves continued to be sold in Britain and British slaves ships carried on operating, taking slaves to the Caribbean. In the 1780's the Quakers under Granville Sharp began to publicly campaign against slavery. At this time slavery was not merely something that happened far away - slaves could be seen for sale in Liverpool and Bristol. West Indian planters took to coming to England with their slaves, pricking the consciences of those who might otherwise not have given slavery a second thought.

In 1787 humanitarian campaigners in Britain founded the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The "slave trade" consisted, not of slavery in Britain, but rather of trafficking in slaves by British merchants operating in British colonies and other countries. Shares of stock in companies engaged in that trade was legally bought and sold in England. The anti-slave-trade movement in Britain had support from Quakers, Baptists, Methodists and others, and reached out for support from the new industrial workers. The primary leader of the fight against slavery in Britain was William Wilberforce.

France never authorized slavery on its mainland, but authorized it in some of its overseas possessions. On February 4, 1794, Abbé Grégoire and the Convention abolished slavery. It was re-established in 1802 by Napoleon, and in the end abolished in 1848 under the Second Republic.

The "Abolition of the Slave Trade Act" was passed by Parliament on March 25, 1807. The act imposed a fine of £100 for every slave found aboard a British ship. The intention was to entirely outlaw the slave trade within the British Empire, but the trade continued and captains in danger of being caught by the Royal Navy would often throw slaves into the sea to reduce the fine. In 1827 Britain declared that particiption in the slave trade was piracy and punishable by death. On August 23rd, 1833, slavery was outlawed in the British colonies. On August 1st 1834 all slaves in the British Empire were emancipated, but still indentured to their former owners in an apprenticeship system which was finally abolished in 1838. After 1838, the 'British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society' worked to outlaw slavery overseas and to pressure the government to help enforce the suppression of the slave trade by declaring slave traders pirates and pursuing them. This organization continues today as Anti-Slavery International.

Sierra Leone was established as a country for former slaves of the British Empire back in Africa. Liberia served an analogous purpose for American slaves. The goal of the abolitionists was repatriation of the slaves to Africa. Trade unions as well didn't want the cheap labor of former slaves around. Nevertheless, most of them stayed in America.

Slaves in the United States who escaped ownership would often make their way north to Canada via the " Underground Railroad ". The Underground Railroad was a grassroots organization, loosely and informally organized.

The 1926 Slavery Convention, an initiative of the League of Nations, was a turning point in banning global slavery.

Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, explicity banned slavery.

The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery was convened to outlaw and ban slavery worldwide, including child slavery.

In December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was developed from the Universal Declaraction of Human Rights. Article 8 of this international treaty bans slavery. The treaty came into force in March 1976 after it had been ratified by 35 nations. As of November 2003, 104 nations had ratified the treaty.

Bias Exists

Williams also had reason to be biased. He was heavily involved in the movements for independence of the Caribbean colonies and had motive to try to extinguish the idea of such a munificent action by the colonial overlord. A third generation of scholars lead by the likes of Drescher and Anstey have discounted most of Williams arguments, but still acknowledge that morality had to be combined with the forces of politics and economic theory to bring about the end of the slave trade.

The movements that played the greatest role in actually convincing Westminster to outlaw the slave trade were religious. The rising of evangelical protestant groups coupled with the Quakers in viewing slavery as a blight upon humanity. These people were certainly a minority, but they were a fervent one with many dedicated individuals. These groups also had a strong parliamentary presence controlling 35-40 seats at their height, and their numbers were magnified by the precarious position of the government. Known as the "saints" this group was lead by William Wilberforce, the most important of the anti-slave campaigners. These parlimentarians were extremely dedicated and often saw their personal battle against slavery as a divinely ordained crusade.

After the British ended their own slave trade, they were forced by economics to press other nations into placing themselves in the same economic staightjacket, or else the British colonies would become uncompetitive with those of other nations. The British campaign against the slave trade by other nations was an unprecedented foreign policy effort. Denmark, a small player in the international slave trade, and the United States banned the trade during the same period as Great Britain. Other small trading nations that did not have a great deal to give up such as Sweden quickly followed suit, as did the Dutch, who were also by then a minor player.

Four nations objected strongly to surrendering their rights to trade slaves: Spain, Portugal, Brazil (after its independence), and France. Britain used every tool at its disposal to try to induce these nations to follow its lead. Portugal and Spain, which were indebted to Britain after the Napoleonic Wars, slowly agreed to accept large cash payments to first reduce and then eliminate the slave trade. By 1853 the British government had paid Portugal over three million pounds, and Spain over one million in order to end the slave trade. Brazil, however, did not agree to stop trading in slaves until Britain took military action against its coastal areas in and threatened a permanent blockade of the nation's ports in 1852.

For France, the British first tried to impose a solution during the negotiations at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, but Russia and Austria did not agree. The French people and government had deep misgivings about conceding to Britain's demands. Not only did Britain demand that other nations ban the slave trade, but also demanded the right to police the ban. The Royal Navy had to be granted permission to search any suspicious ships and seize any found to be carrying slaves, or equipped for doing so. It is these conditions especially that kept France involved in the slave trade for so long. While France formally agreed to ban the trading of slaves in 1815, they did not allow Britain to police the ban, nor did they do much to enforce it themselves and thus a large black market slave trade continued for many years. While the French people had originally been as opposed to the slave trade as the British it became a matter of national pride and they refused to allow their policies to be dictated to them by the British. Also such a reformist movement was viewed as tainted by the conservative backlash after the revolution. The French slave trade thus did not come to a complete halt until 1848.

Abolitionism in the United States

In the United States, abolitionists were involved in the conflict between North and South (American Civil War). While the Quakers were particularly noted for activity in this movement, it was by no means limited to Quaker participation. This issue was one of several key issues that led to the creation of the Free Methodist denomination, a group which split from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1860s. They also opposed slavery and supported freedom for all slaves in the United States, while many Methodists in the South at that time did not actively oppose slavery. Beyond that, they advocated "freedom" from secret societies, which had allegedly undermined parts of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Undergroundrailroadsmall2.jpg
Routes of the Underground Railroad

Many American abolitionists took an active (and often illegal, by the laws of the time) role putting their principles into practice, by supporting the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad but rather a network of clandestine routes, often informal and impromptu, by which slaves were able to escape the United States and reach freedom either in states that protected fugitive slaves, or in Canada. The Underground Railroad consisted of secret safe houses and other facilities owned by anti-slavery sympathizers, and operated much like any other large-scale widespread resistance movement with independent cells that only knew of a few of their neighbours. Escaped slaves would pass from one way station to another, making their way north step by step. The main operators of the Railroad were free blacks and Quakers, who had a strong religious objection to slavery.

The Underground railroad was a major cause of friction between the North and South in the United States. Many northerners sympathized with those who helped bring slaves to safety. Southerners for many years pushed for strong laws that would force the reacpture of escaped slaves, and in 1850 Congress passed a law mandating the capture of fugitive slaves. This prevented slaves from settling in free states and forced them to escape to Canada.

The main destination of the escapees was southern Ontario around the Niagara peninsula and Windsor, Ontario. About 30 000 individuals successfully escaped to Canada. This was an important population increase to the still underpopulated Canadian colonies and these settlers formed the basis of the Black population throughout Ontario.

After the Emancipation Proclamation, American abolitionists continued to pursue the freedom of slaves in the remaining slave states, and to better the conditions of black Americans generally. From these principles the US civil rights movement was to eventually take form.

Today's Reality

Meanwhile in Africa slavery of the old traditional variety continued in small pockets through the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th century; it was not, for example, finally outlawed in northern Nigeria until 1936. Slavery has still not disappeared.  Slavery exists today behind closed doors in many parts of the world including Britain, Africa and the Middle East.