THE END OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY

Even as we may debate whether slavery and the slave trade came about because of racism or economic benefit, we may argue about why both ended during this era. From the beginning, as the Atlantic slave trade enriched some Africans and many Europeans, it became a topic of fierce debate in Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the late 18th century. The American and French revolutions stimulated these discussions, since both emphasized liberty, equality, and justice, topics that fed a strong abolitionist movement. Because most slaves were not allowed to learn to read and write, most outspoken abolitionists were free whites in England and North America. However, Africans themselves took up the struggle to abolish slavery and the slave trade, rising in frequent slave revolts in the 18th and 19th centuries that made slavery an expensive and dangerous business. Probably the most famous African spokespersons was Olaudah Equiano, a west African who published an autobiography in 1789 that recounted his experiences as a slave in Africa and the New World. He later gained his freedom, learned to read and write, and became active in the abolitionist movement. Many people read his works, heard him speak, and were influenced to oppose slavery.

Despite the importance of the abolitionist movement, economic forces also contributed to the end of slavery and the slave trade. Plantations and the slave labor that supported them remained in place as long as they were profitable. In the Caribbean, a revolution, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture resulted in the liberation of slaves in Haiti and the creation of the first black free state in the Americas. However, the revolution was so violent that it sparked fear among plantation owners and colonial governments throughout the Caribbean. In the late 18th century, a rapid increase in Caribbean sugar production led to declining prices, and yet prices for slaves remained high and even increased.

Even as plantations experiences these difficulties, profits from the emerging manufacturing industries were increasing, so investors shifted their money to these new endeavors. Investors discovered that wage labor in factories was cheaper than slave labor on plantations because the owners were not responsible for food and shelter. Entrepreneurs began to see Africa as a place to get raw materials for industry, not just slaves.

THE END OF THE SLAVE TRADE

Most European countries and the United States had abolished the slave trade before the mid-19th century: Britain in 1807, the United States in 1808, France in 1814, the Netherlands in 1817, and Spain in 1845. Ardent abolitionists in Britain pressured the government to send patrol ships to the west coast of Africa to conduct search and seizure operations for ships that violated the ban. The last documented ship that carried slaves on the Middle Passage arrived in Cuba in 1867.

THE END OF SLAVERY

The institution of slavery continued in most places in the Americas long after the slave trade was abolished, with the British abolishing slavery in their colonies in 1833. The French abolished slavery in 1848, the same year that their last king was overthrown by a democratic government. The United States abolished slavery in 1865 when the north won a bitter Civil War that had divided the southern slave-holding states from the northern non-slavery states. The last country to abolish slavery in the Americas was Brazil, where the institution was weakened by a law that allowed slaves to fight in the army in exchange for freedom. Army leaders resisted demands that they capture and return runaway slaves, and slavery was abolished in 1888, without a war.