In the 1790s, the overwhelming impact brought about by the transatlantic slave trade was greatly felt across Britain, even beyond the slaving ports of London, Bristol and Liverpool. Undeniably, there were some people who lobbied for the slave abolition and others who benefited from the trade. It is, after all one of the largest forced migrations of human beings worldwide and had a major effect on the history of Europe, Americas and Africa. It was the enslavement and transportation, primarily of African people, to the colonies of the Western hemisphere that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean and had a great effect to the English heritage.
Most enslaved people were shipped to North and South America and were made to labour on the coffee, cocoa and cotton plantations. Others were made to work in gold and silver mines, in rice fields, the construction industry, timber and shipping. Some were put in houses to become servants.
The main concern during this time were economics and making more money. The wealth acquired during that time was invested back into British public buildings and country estates. Although some proponents of slave trade argue that the slave trade did not contribute much on the British economy stating that it only augmented 5% of the total economic status, it is still very evident that the slave trade paved way for Britain’s becoming a capitalist, thus making the English heritage a lineage of wealthy but unjust people.
A bill stating that it is against the law for any British person to capture and transport slaves was passed by the House of Commons in 1805 - but the House of Lords blocked it. Lord Grenville persuaded the House of Lords though to accept the bill and made a speech where he noted that the trade was “contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy”. He said that the trade should have been abolished a long time ago. When the vote was taken the Abolition of the Slave Trade bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20. But there was not really a slave abolition until it was made illegal on 1833.
The English heritage was tainted with this era of slave trade and even after the slave abolition. The mindset of the people has become biased towards the black-skinned people. Originally, the slave trade was developed not from a racist, rather from an economic stance. However stereotypes of black subordination and white supremacy have become rampant leaving in the minds of the people that the white race is of the better race. Here, racism was developed.
