Prepare: Read
Benjamin, Thomas. The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- Chapter 13: Freedom: The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade and New World Slavery
- Epilogue
Fassnacht, Max, Stephanie Fink, Robert Jackson, and Michelle Warn. “The Anatomy of a Discussion Board (Links to an external site.).” Accessed February 15, 2016. https://sites.google.com/site/anatomyofadiscussionboard/home.
Fassnacht, Max, Stephanie Fink, Robert Jackson, and Michelle Warn. “Critical Thinking: A Guide to Skillful Reasoning (Links to an external site.).” Accessed August 15, 2016. http://www.criticalthinkingandreasoning.org/evaluating-critical-thinking.
Reflect: Just as the great Atlantic empires collapsed as a result of the myriad revolutionary movements of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the slave system that had in many ways built and sustained their economies came under increasing attack. Reformers throughout the Atlantic World, not to mention slaves themselves, challenged the legitimacy of the slave trade and slavery on ethical, religious, and philosophical grounds. Yet despite the successes of the Haitian Revolution, or perhaps because of it, many forces operated against abolition, due in great part to the demands for slave labor made by those who stood to benefit from the highly profitable plantation system. Consult “Critical Thinking: A Guide to Skillful Reasoning (Links to an external site.)” as you formulate your response.
Write: How was the rise of abolitionist sentiment, which brought about the end of the Atlantic slave trade, both tied to the revolutionary changes sweeping the Atlantic World in the eighteenth century and the culmination of these movements? In an initial post of at least 250-300 words, cite specific examples from the required and recommended readings and address the following points in your response:
- Why do attitudes toward and ideas about slavery change in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
- On what grounds were arguments against slavery put forth?
- Who voiced opposition to, or took action against, slavery and the slave trade? Why?
- How did slaves themselves act to resist enslavement?
- Why did the theoretical end of the slave trade and abolition of slavery throughout the Atlantic World take significant time to realize in practice? What forces acted against abolition?
- What are legacies of the Atlantic slave trade?