Abolitionism

Abolitionism

HIS/115

During the 19th century the early abolitionist movement was generated by the ideas of the French and American revolutions, Christian morality and the Age of Enlightenment. Looking at the amendments where it states that everyone is created equal and had the right to life and freedom made some people want to abolish slavery. One of the major movements during this time was the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies.

The abolition of slavery in the British West Indies was built out of a liberal reform agenda that wanted better treatment of slaves with the idea that emancipation would eventually occur. The abolition of the slave trade was a fight but the ending result was The Foreign Slave Bill being passed in 1806. This paved the way for the Abolition Act of 1807, which did not allow any British involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. By 1808, the United States also abandoned the slave trade, as followed by the constitutional ban agreed upon in 1787 (The Library of Congress, 2008).

In modern times, the abolition of slavery has been honored throughout the world in different ways. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2004 the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. In 2007 museum and galley exhibitions in Britain were brought about to mark the two-hundredth year anniversary of the abolition act (The National Archives, 2010).

Slavery is legally outlawed in most of the countries today, but that does not stop it from happening in many countries of the world. Slaves are still being used secretly in the United States, Europe, Latin America, as well as parts of South Asia. There are around 27 million people that are still being used as slaves around the world today (Nye, 2008).

Some Modern-day abolitionists have showed themselves over the last couple years, as awareness of slavery has become known, with groups such as the American Anti-Slavery Group and the...