The Abolitionist Movement - Essay Example

With time however, the movement gained a great amount of importance all over the world as people began to realise the concept and value of human rights. Thus, gradually, the abolitionist movement came into power and slavery was abolished almost in all parts of the world. In the 17th century, it was under the patronage of Quaker and other evangelical persons, slavery was deemed to be un-Christian and thus religious people began to stay away from it. In the 18th century, philosophical and rationalist thinkers criticized slavery for violating human rights as they began to understand the concept of the provision of free and fair living for each man for himself.

No man could be bought and sold by people and treated like dirt because every man had a right to live as he pleased, earn for himself and be entitled to food, shelter and clothing. However, despite such a revelation, slavery still prevailed in most parts of West Indies, South America as well as the United States of America. In the year 1772, the English Court under the benefaction of Lord Mansfield, held that slavery was unsupported by the law in England and Wales in respect to Somersett’s Case. . (Mowat, Robert Balmain) In Pennsylvania, an act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery was passed in 1780 following which both Britain and the US banned the importation of African slaves with respective Slavery Abolition Acts.

Soon slaves began to gain freedom in parts of West Indies and South America as well. In the modern day and age, child and adult slavery is illegal and against international law as well. However, in many remote areas, slavery is still practised and under the purview of feudalism in Russian countries, serfs still exist. In parts of India, forced labour is still being practised too. (MacEwen, Martin) Scotland has witnessed some of the most challenging cases for the purpose of bringing about a legalization in the act of practising slavery, for example in the cases of Montgomery v.

Sheddan (1756) and Spens v. Dalrympls (1769). In the year 1787 the North faced a vast amount of changes as a Committee for the Abolition of Slave Trade was formulated by William Wilberforce and this helped to campaign against slavery in the British Empire, against the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Wilberforce put in a great amount of effort into bringing about the anti slavery movement and fortunately, he was alive to see the inception of the Slavery Abolition Act which came into existence in 1833.

Even though slavery had almost disappeared from the scene in the 17th and 18th centuries, a number of African and East Indian servants were imported and brought into Britain to work in the domestic environments of people. These people were different from slaves as they were not bought or sold from each other and they achieved an ascribed legal status within society after Somersett’s case came