preview

Emancipation and Apprenticeship

Good Essays

Emancipation and Apprenticeship

Pre-18th Century Attitudes to Slavery Like other people of the time, Europeans believed that the enslavement of another person was justifiable as long as a reasonable explanation could have being given for the enslavement. In Africa itself, slavery was acceptable and people were taken as slaves in three ways: as prisoners in war, as a punishment for a crime and as a payment for debt. An English philosopher, John Locke stated that slavery is only justifiable when a person was then taken captive as a prisoner of war e.g.: in crusades. The Spanish questioned whether slavery was right but they still practiced it. They argued that slavery although wrong was necessary in order to develop their empire and …show more content…

At first the WII were mainly concerned with establishing trade with North American colonist. However, in the 18th century they began focusing on resisting the Abolition Movement in Parliament. In 1766, they were only made up of 40 members in the House of Lords but by 1780 they had 50 members. In order to delay emancipation, the parliamentary members of the WII enacted 2 laws: Amelioration proposals and Apprenticeship system. These policies however failed largely due to the fact that more abolitionists were becoming MP’s; particularly in the House of Commons also public opinion was turning against the WII due to the fact that they were persecuting non-conformist missionaries. Despite their loss however to the abolitionist the WII were still able to delay emancipation for 50 years and to gain 20,000,000 in compensation for the loss of their slaves (when emancipation came)

Humanitarians Humanitarians were people who believed in improving the conditions in which people live. In the 18th century, they belonged to many professions such as being politicians, writers and industrialists. They believed that slavery was unnecessary and evil and that it violated the true natural state of man – Freedom e.g: such humanitarians were

Get Access