ABOLITION & EMANCIPATION

Part 1: The Papers of Thomas Clarkson, William Lloyd Garrison, Zachary Macaulay, Harriet Martineau, Harriet Beecher Stowe & William Wilberforce from the Huntington Library

BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

1517- Arrival of first African slaves in Spanish colonies in America.
1562- First English slaving expedition by Sir John Hawkins.
1655- English capture Jamaica.
1672- Formation of the Royal Africa Company.
1759- Birth of William Wilberforce.
1772- Chief Justice Mansfield in the Somerset case, declares slavery illegal in England.
1781- 100 African slaves thrown overboard from the slave ship Zong.
1787- Foundation of the Committee for Abolition of the Slave Trade. First freed slaves arrive in Sierra   Leone.
1791- San Domingo slave revolt.
1792- Denmark becomes the first European country to abolish the slave trade.
1792- Resolution for gradual abolition of the slave trade defeated in the British House of Lords.
1807- Slave Trade Abolition Bill passed in the British Parliament.
1808- US follows Britain and Denmark in abolishing the slave trade.
1820- The Missouri Compromise effectively abolished slavery north of 36 parallel and set a precedent for equity in the number of pro and anti slavery states admitted to the Union.
1831- William Lloyd Garrison founds the Liberator anti-slavery newspaper.
1833- Britain abolishes slavery in her dominions and replaces it with an apprenticeship system; £20 million paid in compensation to slave owners. Anti Slavery Society founded in US
1838- Failure of the apprenticeship system leads to its abolition.
1839- US abolitionist movement splits into radical and gradualist factions.
1842- Britain and US sign the Ashburton Treaty; establishing a naval presence to enforce the ban on the slave trade.
1848- Emancipation by the French of their Slaves.
1850- The Fugitive Slave Law passed in the United States.
1852- Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin.
1854- The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowes the inhabitants of territories which are to be granted statehood to decide whether or not to allow slavery; thus effectively destroying the Missouri Compromise and leading to violence between settlers in Kansas. The formation of the Republican Party.

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