Slavery Abolition Act

 
The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 was an act of Parliament abolishing slavery in most British colonies.  It received Royal Assent on August 28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834, freeing more than 800,000 slaves in South Africa and the Caribbean along with a small number of slaves in Canada.  The main aim of the act was to dismantle large-scale plantation slavery in Britain’s tropical colonies, and it did not explicitly refer to British North America.  The Act was passed due to many factors, such as an inability for Britain’s Caribbean colonies to compete with larger plantation economies, demands by merchants to end monopolies in favor of free trade, and fears of slave uprisings.  Alongside these, the abolition movement had been gaining momentum in Britain, as people began to question the legality of slavery in the colonies while the slave trade was illegal in England.  In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was formed which aimed for the gradual end to all slavery.  Notably, the Act did not apply to the East India Company, and the Act compensated slave owners but provided no such compensation to former slaves.  The passing of the Slavery Abolition Act was a major political decision of the time, and would have been familiar to Mill, especially considering his anti-slavery position, for which he was well known.  Mill likely would have felt that this Act was a major step forward for the Empire, though it did have many limitations.  

Sources:

“Slavery Abolition Act.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Slavery-Abolition-Act. 

“The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.” The History Press, www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-slavery-abolition-act-of-1833/.