Slavery Abolition Act

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The Slavery Abolition Act (citation 3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire.

Britain had outlawed the slave trade with the Slave Trade Act in 1807, with penalties of £100 per slave levied on British captains found importing slaves. However, this did not stop the British slave trade: If slave ships were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains often reduced the fines they had to pay by ordering the slaves to be thrown into the sea. According to the 1844 McMulloch's Commercial Dictionary; "America abolished the slave trade at the same time as England. But not withstanding what had been done, further measures were soon discovered to be necessary. The Spanish and Portuguese continued to carry on the trade to a greater extent than ever; and British subjects did not hesitate, under cover of their flags, to become partners in their adventures."

Some people involved in the anti-slave trade campaign argued that the only way to end the slave trade entirely was to make slavery illegal. A new Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1823, with members including Thomas Clarkson, Henry Brougham, William Wilberforce, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mary Lloyd, Jane Smeal, Elizabeth Pease, and Anne Knight.

They prevailed ten years later with the Slavery Abolition Act. To mollify slave owners, the British government paid compensation to owners of freed slaves, depending on the number of slaves that they had. For example, the Bishop of Exeter's 665 slaves resulted in him receiving £12,700.

The Main Points of the Slavery Abolition Act

All slaves under the age of six were to be freed immediately.
Slaves over the age of six were to remain as part slave and part free for a further four years. In that time they would have to be paid a wage for the work they did in the quarter of the week when they were "free."
The government was to provide £20 million in compensation to the slave-owners who had lost their property.

With the abolishment of slavery, the planters were not as profitable and many plantations were shut down at an alarming rate. The people were now free and many refused to work for the plantation owners who once held them in bondage for financial gains.

Repeal

The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was repealed in its entirety under the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1998. However, it should be noted that this repeal has not made slavery legal again, as sections of the Slave Trade Act 1824 and Slave Trade Act 1873 are still in force.

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