A Global History of Anti-Slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century

The abolition of slavery across large parts of the world was one of the most significant transformations in the nineteenth century, shaping economies, societies, and political institutions. This book shows how the international context was essential in shaping the abolition of slavery.

Over the course of the nineteenth century, European and American attitudes to slavery underwent a transformation. Slavery, thriving and morally acceptable on the eve of the American and French revolutions, was considered ''uncivilized'' and ''barbaric'' by 1900. This transformation is one of the most significant moral revolutions in human history. This book shows how the anti-slavery movement became a central aspect of international relations in the nineteenth century. Abolitionism provided an issue that connected high politics, popular associations, and the agency of the most oppressed individuals, in changing social institutions, labour, economic and commercial relations, and international politics. The story of the exchange of these ideas across borders, the establishment of transnational networks, and the global legacy of anti-slavery for human rights and humanitarian politics today are the subjects of this collection of essays.