Slave Trade Act 1788
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| Long title | An Act to regulate, for a limited Time, the shipping and carrying Slaves in British Vessels from the Coast of Africa |
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| Citation | 28 Geo. III, c. 54 |
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Status: Repealed
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Slave Trade Act 1788, also known as Dolben's Act, was an Act of Parliament which placed limitations of the number of people that British slave ships could transport, related to tonnage. It was the first British legislation passed to regulate slave shipping.
In the late 18th century, opposition to slavery was increasing. Many abolitionists were aroused by the Zong massacre, whose details became known during litigation in 1783, when the syndicate owning the ship filed for insurance claims to cover 132-142 slaves who had been killed. Quakers had been active in petitioning Parliament to end the trade. To expand their influence, in 1787 they formed a non-denominational group, the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which included Anglicans of the established church (non-Anglicans were excluded from Parliament).
In 1788, Sir William Dolben, led a group of his fellow Members of Parliament to the River Thames to board and examine a ship being fitted for a slaving voyage. Dolben had been in contact with the Abolition Society in the previous year. His visit to the slave-ship appears to have hardened his opposition to the slave trade.
The Society's campaigning led the Prime Minister, William Pitt, to order an investigation into the slave trade. He also asked William Wilberforce to begin a debate in the House of Commons on the issue. However, by May 1788, the trade committee of the Privy Council—which Pitt had tasked with investigating the slave trade—had not produced its report.
On 9 May 1788, Pitt introduced a motion to the House of Commons which asked whether parliament should delay its consideration of the slave trade until its next session. He argued that the great number of anti-slavery petitions that had been presented to the House on this topic meant that a proper consideration of the issue could not occur with so little time left in the current parliamentary session. Representatives from Liverpool, a city whose merchants controlled much of the British slave trade and whose economy was deeply tied to it, welcomed Pitt's motion. They argued for a debate to enable them to refute the accusations about the slave trade made in the petitions submitted to the House.
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