#30 The Revolution in Haiti

The Haitian Revolution and the anti-slavery movement led by Britain might have been a watershed movement in the slave trade as a whole. It wasn't, however. Slave owners and West Indian island administrators were certainly terrified of new political risings by slaves. The movement in Britain to be rid of the slave trade needs to be understood in the context of religious movements within Britain itself. Many British historians have emphasised the moral high ground, as British legislation outlawed both the trade in slaves and slavery itself in 1807 and 1833…