The anti-slavery argument

Portrait of Wilberforce and illustration from an anti-slavery publication.

From the late 1780s the anti-slavery supporters ran a concerted campaign to bring about the end of, first, the trade in slaves and then slavery itself. And, although it took them nearly fifty years, they were ultimately successful.

The anti-slavery supporters were able to use a variety of arguments to support their campaign: that slavery was inhuman, cruel, uneconomic and immoral. As a result, support for their cause came from a wide variety of people.

You can find out more about the arguments used by the anti-slavery campaigners by looking at the following sources and information.

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