Principles and Agents: The British Slave Trade and Its Abolition (The David Brion Davis Series)

Britain’s abolition of its slave trade in 1807 was a defining moment in modern history, yet it continues to excite controversy, in part because the nation dominated European trafficking of Africans to America in 1783–1807. Through an analysis of market conditions at the British, African, and West Indian points of the infamous triangular trade, as well as of issues of credit and of agency dilemma involved in their integration, this book seeks to explain that dominance. Though legally sanctioned and justified by contemporary mercantilist and racist ideologies, enslaving Africans was nonetheless challenged by some on grounds of humanity and national identity under the later Stuarts and the Hanoverians. Theologians and philosophers intellectually rationalized those challenges within a larger humanitarian revolution, but rather than identifying it with particular individuals, the book argues that abolition of British slaving ultimately relied on the power of ordinary people to change the world. It shows that British slaving and opposition to it, the latter manifest in imaginative literature, journals, newspapers, and pamphlets as well as in learned tracts, grew in parallel through the 1760s but then came increasingly into conflict in both public imagination and political discourse. Highlighting ideological tensions between Britons’ sense of themselves as free people and their willingness to enslave Africans abroad, the book reveals how from the 1770s such tensions became politicized, even as British slaving activities reached unprecedented levels, ultimately mobilizing public opinion to compel Parliament to confront and begin to resolve them in 1788–1807. A new history of the abolition of the British slave trade

“Easily the most scholarly, clear and persuasive analysis yet published of the rise to dominance of the British in the Atlantic slave trade—as well as the implementation of abolition when that dominance was its peak.”—David Eltis, co-author of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Parliament’s decision in 1807 to outlaw British slaving was a key moment in modern world history. In this magisterial work, historian David Richardson challenges claims that this event was largely due to the actions of particular individuals and emphasizes instead that abolition of the British slave trade relied on the power of ordinary people to change the world. British slaving and opposition to it grew in parallel through the 1760s and then increasingly came into conflict both in the public imagination and in political discourse. Looking at the ideological tensions between Britons’ sense of themselves as free people and their willingness to enslave Africans abroad, Richardson shows that from the 1770s those simmering tensions became politicized even as British slaving activities reached unprecedented levels, mobilizing public opinion to coerce Parliament to confront and begin to resolve the issue between 1788 and 1807. A new history of the abolition of the British slavetrade "Easily the most scholarly, clear andpersuasive analysis yet published of the rise to dominance of theBritish in the Atlantic slave trade-as well as the implementationof abolition when that dominance was its peak."-David Eltis,co-author of Atlas of the Transatlantic SlaveTrade Parliament's decision in 1807 to outlaw Britishslaving was a key moment in modern world history. In thismagisterial work, historian David Richardson challenges claims thatthis event was largely due to the actions of particular individualsand emphasizes instead that abolition of the British slave traderelied on the power of ordinary people to change the world. Britishslaving and opposition to it grew in parallel through the 1760s andthen increasingly came into conflict both in the public imaginationand in political discourse. Looking at the ideological tensionsbetween Britons' sense of themselves as free people and theirwillingness to enslave Africans abroad, Richardson shows that fromthe 1770s those simmering tensions became politicized even asBritish slaving activities reached unprecedented levels, mobilizingpublic opinion to coerce Parliament to confront and begin toresolve the issue between 1788 and 1807