Britian finally abolishes the slave trade in their empire and back home. There had been a very involved abolitionist movement in England, and the removal of slavery signaled a change in the way the world's most powerful empire dealt with human rights (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/aboliti...). Put into action only two years after Seacole was born, this act would have had explicit consequences on how she grew up and how she thought about slavery. On page 21, she describes how she "know[s] what slavery is; having seen with my eyes and heard with my ears proof positive enough of its horrors" (21).

Seacole, Mary. Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Penguin Classics. 1857.