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Abolitionism: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen
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==Slavery== | ==Slavery== | ||
The first abolitionist movement was also the most successful. The fight to end slavery started out from the very fringes of society, but ended up not only with the eradication of both the slave trade and the legal institution that permitted the holding of slaves, but brought about such a radical change in public opinion that - today - it has become almost impossible to imagine how a society could ever have considered the existence of slavery as something natural and unquestionable. | The first abolitionist movement was also the most successful one ever. The fight to end slavery started out from the very fringes of society, but ended up not only with the eradication of both the slave trade and the legal institution that permitted the holding of slaves, but brought about such a radical change in public opinion that - today - it has become almost impossible to imagine how a society could ever have considered the existence of slavery as something natural and unquestionable. | ||
To enslave powerless people had been a very widespread practice over the ages and continents, and neither the democracies of the ancient Greek cities, the Roman or the Ottoman Empire would have been conceivable without this peculiar institution. It was only with the European Age of Enlightenment that things took a turn. While there had long been single voices of individual theologians and philosophers questioning the legitimacy of slavery, the 18th century witnessed a growing choir of dissenters, and, more importantly, of collective endeavors aiming at the abolition of first the slave trade over the Atlantic Ocean, and, then, slavery proper. | To enslave powerless people had been a very widespread practice over the ages and continents, and neither the democracies of the ancient Greek cities, the Roman or the Ottoman Empire would have been conceivable without this peculiar institution. It was only with the European Age of Enlightenment that things took a turn. While there had long been single voices of individual theologians and philosophers questioning the legitimacy of slavery, the 18th century witnessed a growing choir of dissenters, and, more importantly, of collective endeavors aiming at the abolition of first the slave trade over the Atlantic Ocean, and, then, slavery proper. | ||
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===Trans-atlantic slave trade=== | ===Trans-atlantic slave trade=== | ||
The | The trans-atlantic slave trade, conducted mainly by British entrepreneurs, was a highly profitable scheme. For a mere dozen men to come together and to decide to fight this important branch of the British economy in the name of religious convictions and humanitarian compassion - something that happened in the year 1787 with the foundation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade by Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharpe and others, seemed of no importance at all at the time. Especially, since this association relied on nothing more than the strength of their moral arguments - and this in quite a hostile environment which used to value the slave trade for its contribution to the nation’s wealth and to romanticize the adventurous lives of traders on the high seas. | ||
On the other hand, it was the Age of Enlightenment, and a growing sensibility and empathy had certainly reached Quakers and other religious leaders and had begun to draw attention to the inhumanity and cruelty of the slave trade. | On the other hand, it was the Age of Enlightenment, and a growing sensibility and empathy had certainly reached Quakers and other religious leaders and had begun to draw attention to the inhumanity and cruelty of the slave trade. | ||