174
Slavery and the slave trade
Pamphlet
London
Tyler & Reed
1844 [?]
English
L'esclavage et la traite des noirs (Caen: A. Hardel, 1845). French.
Abolition Campaigns
Anti-Slavery International, 'Recovered Histories' collection. Friends House Library, London.
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Slavery Slave Trade Abolition Society Law World Citizens Emancipation
This short abolitionist pamphlet issued by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society intends to raise awareness of slavery in Europe, encouraging "peaceful and legitimate" (1) support for the emancipation of slaves and an end to the continuing transatlantic slave trade to Brazil, Cuba and Puerto Rico. The transportation and sale of slaves is described, as is their legal position in the Americas. The text names every state, colony and country where emancipation laws had been passed, from Vermont in 1777 to Hong Kong and Tunis in 1844, except Haiti, interestingly. It ends by asking readers to call on their government for immediate emancipation, to publicise the real nature of slavery, and to make use of the resources offered by abolitionist societies in the UK, France, Ireland, the USA and the Netherlands, as well as individual abolitionists in Germany, Denmark and Sweden (7). Readers from countries where slavery is not established in law are encouraged to participate in the struggle for emancipation "as a citizen of the world" (8), to raise their children to hate slavery, to take pride in their national freedoms, and to call on their compatriots travelling and living abroad not to be 'contaminated' by slave systems there.
Date of 1844 suggested by Friends House Library, London.