The abolition (ending) of slavery marked an important moment in world history. In 1800, there were plantations stretching across the Americas. These were worked by enslaved people captured from Africa. Slavery and the slave trade began to be outlawed in 1803. In this year, Denmark made it illegal to participate in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1807-1808, both the United States and Britain outlawed the slave trade. This meant that it was illegal to bring enslaved people into their territory. They kept slavery legal, however. The people who were already enslaved continued to be enslaved. Their descendants were born into slavery. Independent Haiti became the first country in the Americas to abolish slavery in 1804. Cuba ended slavery in 1886. Mexico ended it in 1829. The United States would not end slavery until after the Civil War ended in 1865.

Why did abolition just “happen” in the nineteenth century? What caused large slave-owning societies to become abolitionists? There are at least three important theories to consider.

Theory 1: Free labor and free wages

Britain underwent a sudden shift toward abolitionism. In the 1790s, it had the world’s largest slave-trading industry. In 1807, however, it became the first large country to make the slave trade illegal. Slavery was later abolished in other English-speaking areas, such as northern U.S. states. What changed in these regions?

One theory is that it was economic. There was an emerging middle class of business owners. They paid their workers wages. They saw slavery as unfairly competing with their businesses. These business owners also wanted to trade in Africa. They looked to buy African resources and sell finished goods to African buyers. The slave trade created instability in Africa. They hoped the end of the slave trade would make business in Africa more stable and profitable.

These business people were often competing for political power with nobles. These nobles were likely to have slave plantations. Ending slavery would hurt these political rivals and help level the playing field. So, it can be argued that slavery was abolished only when it helped people make money.

Theory 2: Morality

Some have argued that slavery was ended for moral reasons. Changing ideas during abolition might have been related to Enlightenment thinking. The Enlightenment promoted individual freedom. This included “free labor.” This meant that people were paid for their work rather than enslaved. Enlightenment thinkers also debated who was human. This got people talking about the morality of slavery. But, there were limits to this. In general, the new morality did not see enslaved black people as equals.

Additionally, slavery had often been defended using the Bible. The Enlightenment caused people to reread Biblical texts. Most abolitionist leaders were evangelical Christians. They noted that the gospel called for “goodwill towards all men.” They argued that slavery went against the spirit of Christianity.

Some of these abolitionists were also business people. They had economic reasons to support abolitionism, as well as moral reasons. However, many were working-class people. They were motivated by the belief that the slave trade was evil. They protested slavery by refusing to buy products produced by enslaved people, such as sugar and rum. They had little reason to do this other than for moral reasons.

Theory 3: The actions of Africans in the Americas and Europe

Another theory about abolition focuses on black Americans and Europeans. It states that it was their actions that led to the end of slavery.

Some of the most effective abolitionists in Britain were black. One example was Olaudah Equiano. He was a formerly enslaved man who used the Bible to argue against slavery. Another free African, Ottobah Cugoano, also played an important role and called for the abolition of slavery in his autobiography.

Black abolitionists played an even larger role in France and its empire. During the French Revolution, black Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, such as Jeanne Odo, called for an end to slavery. The most significant action was the Haitian Revolution. It occurred in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue (now called Haiti). Enslaved people rebelled against the French colonists and fought the French army. They were victorious in 1804. They ended slavery in France’s largest slave colony.

In Mexico in the 1820s, abolitionism was also led by people of African descent. Abolition was eventually declared for almost all of Mexico in 1829. This was declared by Vicente Guerrero, a president of partly African ancestry.

Conclusion

Most of the world abolished slavery by the beginning of the twentieth century. This does not mean that slavery was fully ended. (It continues to exist in some forms even to this day.) In some places, slavery continued to operate outside of the law. In other places, freed people were still forced to live in conditions similar to slavery. The class systems in South Asia forced people to do harsh work with no real escape. Racist laws in the United States continued to oppress the formerly enslaved. Many freed black people had to work in sharecropping, which was similar to slave labor.