Chapter 10: Campaign against slavery
During the 1700s Enlightenment thinkers put their attention on the evils of the slave trade. British ships were carrying more Africans to the Americans than was any other European country. Under pressure from middle-class reformers, the campaign against slavery slowly took off. In 1807, Britain became the first leading European power to abolish the slave trade. Banning the slave trade didn't end slavery. Although the congress of Vienna had condemned slavery it had taken no action. in 1833, Parliament passed law banning slavery in all British colonies. Yet British textile manufactures still imported cheap cotton produced by enslaved African Americans in the United States