Governance

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Dominions

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Crown colonies

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Informal empire

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Economics and trade

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Mercantilism

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Free trade

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Migration

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Rise of the "Second" British Empire (1783–1815)

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Abolition of slavery

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[1770 Somerset case, slavery effectively illegal within the Britain itself][1] [As scale/intensity of British involvement in the slave trade increased, public awareness/pressure for change increased]. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, goods produced by slavery became less important to the British economy.[2] Added to this was the cost of suppressing regular slave rebellions. With support from the British abolitionist movement, Parliament enacted the Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the empire. [Slavery remained legal; ports continued to rely on slave-produced goods][3] In 1808, Sierra Leone Colony was designated an official British colony for freed slaves.[4] Parliamentary reform in 1832 saw the influence of the West India Committee decline. The Slavery Abolition Act, passed the following year, abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, finally bringing the Empire into line with the law in the UK (with the exception of the territories administered by the East India Company and Ceylon, where slavery was ended in 1844). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of four to six years of "apprenticeship".[5] Facing further opposition from abolitionists, the apprenticeship system was abolished in 1838.[6] The British government compensated slave-owners [scale of compensation, amount, when paid off].[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ Nellis 2013, p. 30.
  2. ^ "Why was Slavery finally abolished in the British Empire?". The Abolition Project. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  3. ^ Nellis
  4. ^ Porter, p. 14.
  5. ^ Hinks, p. 129.
  6. ^ "Slavery After 1807". Historic England. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2019. As a result of public pressure apprenticeships were abolished early, in 1838.
  7. ^ "Slavery Abolition Act 1833; Section XXIV". pdavis. 28 August 1833. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  8. ^ Sanchez Manning (24 February 2013). "Britain's colonial shame: Slave-owners given huge payouts after". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2018.

Works cited

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Some possible sources

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Counter argument:

  • Laruelle, Marlène (2021). Is Russia fascist? Unraveling propaganda east and west. Ithaca [New York]: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501754135.