Why was the abolitionist campaign successful in 1807?

• public opinion turned against enslavement
  • this was reflected in the large numbers of people signing petitions and boycotting sugar
• economic conditions made the trade less profitable
  • enslavers had tighter margins of profit
  • growing sugar became more expensive and faced more competition
  • industrial revolution and agricultural change made the trade less important to the British economy
• parliamentary debate gained support for abolition
  • William Wilberforce presented a bill for the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament every year from 1789 - 1806
  • abolition became a subject for discussion and debate
  • Parliament was presented with evidence of the trade
  • the success of the 1806 bill ending trade of enslaved people with French colonies brought an end to two thirds of the trade

The level of popular support for abolition across Britain during the 1790s, clearly shows that public opinion had swung in favour of the abolitionist cause and the banning of the slave trade.

Petitions to parliament and the boycott of Caribbean sugar attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters:

• it is thought that 300,000 people took part in the boycott of Caribbean sugar in 1791
• 519 petitions (185 from Scotland) with a combined total of around 390,000 signatures, were submitted to Parliament in support of Wilberforce’s abolition bill in 1792.

Over time, the trade in enslaved Africans was becoming less profitable.

The price of buying enslaved people in Africa was rising, reaching £25 in 1800. However, the price for selling in the Americas had not risen as quickly and was only £35 in the same year.

Years of growing sugar had degraded land in the Caribbean. Soil had become less fertile and so produced smaller crops, or required more use of manure to keep harvests up. All this reduced profits.

There was a world over-supply of sugar, with competition from South America and other British colonies. Sugar could be sourced at a lower cost and without the use of slavery from Britain’s other colonies eg India.

A turn in public opinion meant that goods made from enslaved labour were being shunned for ethical reasons. When over 300,000 people took part in the sugar boycott of 1791, sales of Caribbean sugar are thought to have dropped by between one third and one half.

At the same time the Industrial Revolution and advances and improvements in agriculture were benefiting the British economy. In economic terms the slave trade had become less important.

In every year between 1789 and 1806, the MP William Wilberforce presented a bill for the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament. He made abolition of slavery an issue for debate in Parliament. His persistence and ability as a speaker persuaded many others of the need to end the trade.

Alongside Wilberforce were numerous allies – both inside and outside of parliament – who aided him in drafting bills to legislate the end of slavery and provided evidence about the evils of the trade in enslaved people.

In 1804, the House of Commons voted in favour of abolition, but Wilberforce’s bill was rejected by the House of Lords.

In 1806, Wilberforce’s friend James Stephen proposed a bill banning British ships from carrying enslaved people to French colonies. Pro-slavery MPs didn't see the significance of the Bill and let it pass. This stopped two-thirds of the trade in enslaved African people and made it unprofitable.

In 1807, after a huge campaign, Parliament abolished the trade in enslaved African people.

However it took until 1833 for the Slavery Abolition Act to outlaw the British trade in enslaved people and grant freedom to enslaved people in the Caribbean.

• public opinion turned against enslavement
  • this was reflected in the large numbers of people signing petitions and boycotting sugar
• economic conditions made the trade less profitable
  • enslavers had tighter margins of profit
  • growing sugar became more expensive and faced more competition
  • industrial revolution and agricultural change made the trade less important to the British economy
• parliamentary debate gained support for abolition
  • William Wilberforce presented a bill for the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament every year from 1789 - 1806
  • abolition became a subject for discussion and debate
  • Parliament was presented with evidence of the trade
  • the success of the 1806 bill ending trade of enslaved people with French colonies brought an end to two thirds of the trade