15 The slave system was inefficient, wasteful and

blacks to u'hite privilege made the poor whites

hate the blacks more than anyone else'
unproductive. There was always the problem
of a nigfr rate of mortality, wilful or careless
damage-, the maintenance of very young and
Arguments used to condemn slaverY
old slaves and ever-rising replacement costs'
. Slavery tvas contrary to reason, justice, nature' 16 Slavery made slaves a reluctant labour force'
the principles of larv and government, the r'vhole
Slaves felt that their labour was useless as all the
doctrine of naturai religion and the revealed
voice of God. (This lvas the general argument
lhn
t7 s,T*"'"IT[1:]:J::ffisecuritvrhedanger
on moral grounds which rvas used by Thomas of slave revolt and massacre was ever present' fU-rt
Clarkson, the abolitionlst.)
.
and
18 Life in a slave society was unpleasant
n'\
I It rvas morally wrong for Christians to trafic in' uncomfortable for whites, surrounded by
or keep, slaves. cruelq'and suffering.
-r lf people bore in mir-rd the maxim 'do unto Some rvhites had a 'guilry consciencd about
19
others as you rvould have them do unto youl slavery and preferred to live in a free society' -.
they would condemn slaverY'
20 Inevitably a sla,re society was socially restric-
- Slavery rvas a denial of civilisation' In a siave ?t
l--:-
society a minority might appear civilised' but \
it rvas impossible for them to be really so rvhile The British anti-slavery movement lll
denying iivilisation to others' 'Civilisation and
'slavery' lvere contradictory terms' The movement in Britain to end both the slave Jt
which t,
: Freedom is the true, natural state of man' Onlr- trade and slavery was a long-drawn-out affair ll
ivith freedom can man attain true greatness' began around the middle of the eighteenth century'
It rvas admitted that in free societies the poor Th"e mu., who is generally considered to be the
r (1735-
suffered, and if free the biacks rvould probablr-be father of the movement was Granville Sharp
1813), a well-connected Englishman who devoted x,, t
poor, but the horrors of slavery far outrveiqhed
was,"*tdrfr*T:il t
mostof his life to the cause. He
the horrors ofPovertY.
not all l
- Slavery made the whites lazy and ignorant' individuals and various groups, <

rvorked together or evenioordinated their efforts'

\\riliiam Byrd II, a wealthy Virginia planter' *J.
- 'tl
said'BIow up the pride and ruin the industrv excePt on rare occasions.
of the rvhite people, lvho, seeing a rank c'i ptrtrr
The Quakers
creatures belorv them, detest u'ork for tear it
The Quakers (see page 38) acted as a pressure group
should make them look like slavesl
Slavery led to economic instabilitl-and held back
in the movement foi the abolition of slavery' Until
S
1755 Quakers could legally own slaves, but it was
technological improvements in agriculture'
9 Slavery led to monoculture rvhich \\'as
dangerous to the economY'
tiey were forbidden to do so by the rules of their
,ii IntJnsive cultivation by slaves led to soil sociery and they were required to use all their force
exhaustion. to bring about abolition. Their strategy was to win
L Slavery prevented the development of a over public opinion by carrying the arguments
-
manufacturing industrY. for abolition into every home in Britain through
pamphlets, the Press and the pulpit every Sunday'
I Slavery limited the size of markets and the tlorv
of goods and circulation of moneY'
Wt * public opinion hadbeen won overtheywould
Slavery led to the exodus of white yeomanry then introduce abolition into Parliament'
13
from the communitY. In the second half of the eighteenth century'
abolition became a religious crusade for the Quakers'
14 The profits of plantation owners were not
reinvested in the local economy, but spent When the 'society foi Effecting the Abolition of
abroad.
the Slave Trade' was founded in 1787, eleven out

63

'
ItffUt t