How important was government policy in shaping changes to
patterns of trade in the years 1763-1914?
Mercantilis A policy of government intervention to ensure
m the value of exports is more than the value of
imports
Trade regulation set out in the 1660 Navigation Acts
which set out tight regulations on the trading system
throughout the British Empire
Colonies producing the main Empire products (i.e.
sugar, tobacco) could only export to England and were
forbidden from seeking other markets
1707: extended to include Scotland and other British
colonies
All European goods exported to colonies first had to
pass through Britain to be taxed
Tariffs placed on imported goods to ensure that they
would be more expensive than domestically produced
products
Discriminated against Irish and American trade –
growing tensions
Trade protection ensured that colonies never became
competition for the British industry
Protectioni Taxes or prohibitions on imports and exports
sm designed to protect domestic producers
Aimed to support British trade at the expense of its
main rivals – the French and Dutch
British Royal Navy ensured British merchants had free
access to consumers and traders across the world
whilst enforcing colonial regulations to ensure other
European powers had less access to the same markets
Growth of The mercantilist system had been almost totally
Free Trade dismantled by 1849
1821: government debt was 260% of Britain’s GDP
after the Napoleonic Wars
- Economic recovery primarily generated through
free trade
Needed to encourage other countries to join this
system through coercion or diplomacy
Industrial revolution encouraged government to
embrace free trade and enabled British merchants to
trade goods into China and the Americas
- Economic dependence on Britain formed their
informal empire
Scramble for Africa (1881-1914) challenged Britain’s
geopolitical interests
Rising powers of USA, Germany and Japan began to
, assert their own economic interests but still required
Britain’s manufacturing
The Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807
The rising Emerged as a powerful trading nation after its
economic independence in 1776
challenge of British imports of food into the West Indies had
the US previously been conducted by Americans on
American ships
- Britain wasn’t sure if this could continue as it
would be seen as weakening the Navigation
Acts
- Royal Navy wouldn’t be able to use American
ships and sailors in wartime, possibly allowing
the Americans to build up their own naval and
economic power
1786: Britain passed an even more restrictive
Navigation Act to increase its naval power
- Every ship trading with the British Empire
either had to be built in Britain or a British
colony
- Barred American shipping from the West
Indies
The slave Sugar was the largest import from British
trade colonies into Britain
- Slaves in the West Indies ensured it could be
produced in considerable amounts
- Massive profits for plantation owners as
labour was unpaid
16th-19th century: 12m slaves brought from Africa
to the Americas through the Middle Passage
Slaves were bought with British products,
ensuring a large market for these goods in slave
trading ports
Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow became
increasingly wealthy as slave ships set out from
here
1776-86: 40,000 slaves a year transported on
British ships to the West Indies
Challenges to French and American Revolutions
the slave Encouraged new moral enlightenment ideals
trade concerning freedom
1794: revolutionary France banned slavery
Violent stage of the French revolution, with the
execution of their king in January 1793, made
Britain more reluctant to end the slave trade
Grass-roots Campaigns
1787: the Society for Effecting the Abolition of
, the Slave Trade was founded
1783: Quakers petitioned parliament to abolish
the slave trade
William Pitt influenced by anti-slavery
campaigners such as William Wilberforce
War between France and Britain
When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in
France in 1799 after the war, he reintroduced
slavery
After this, the abolition of the slave trade in
Britain was seen as patriotic – demonstrated the
higher moral of Britain
Idea of the British Empire leading the civilised
world
The economic Restricting slave trade would damage the French
impact of the economy and help Britain to win the war
abolition of Surplus of West Indian sugar in early 1800s –
the slave wouldn’t drive up the cost for the British
trade consumer
Industrial revolution meant that modern
manufacturing would become the basis of the
British economy and not raw materials
Encouraged Britain to look beyond the Empire
for new markets
Workers had more incentive to work by earning
wages and were more efficient than slave labour
Key Individuals in the Abolition of the Slave Trade
William 1780: became MP for Hull, later representing
Wilberfor Yorkshire
ce Christian faith helped him to become interested in
social reform
Campaigned for an end to the slave trade
Regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in
Parliament for 18 years
Raised awareness with pamphlets, books, rallies and
petitions
Thomas Instrumental in forming the Committee for the
Clarkson Abolition of the African Slave Trade – helped persuade
William Wilberforce to take up the cause
Collected information to present to Parliament
- Gathered evidence from eyewitnesses who had
worked on the slave trade
- Had examples of equipment used on slave ships
1789: travelled to Paris but failed to persuade the
French government to take up the cause
Olaudah African writer with experience as a slave
Equiano Wrote an autobiography – explained how he was
kidnapped with his sister at 11 years old, sold by local
, slave traders and then was shipped across the
Atlantic to Barbados and then Virginia
Sold to a Royal Navy officer who he travelled with for
8 years
Worked to buy his own freedom and spent 20 years
travelling the world
1786: became involved in anti-slavery movement
Prominent member of the ‘Sons of Africa’ – 12 black
men who campaigned for abolition of slavery
Why was the slave trade abolished?
Morality High risk and The French
unprofitable
The Quakers 1/10 ships during the French rebellion
organised the first 18th century would caused the French
abolition lose its owner profit – to respond with
movement in in 1778 merchants in abolishing slavery
Britain – Liverpool lost Napoleon’s aim to
petitioning £700,000 reinstate slavery
parliament in Financial uncertainty causes the British
1783 due to Britain’s to support the
Quakers joined prolonged wars, the freed slaves to
with Wilberforce threat of disease and undermine the
Parliament slave rebellions French
believed it was By early 19 century, 1806 Foreign Slave
th
morally right even dominance of slave bill – British
though it went traders and subjects could not
against plantation owners supply slaves to
commercial was weakening, and French colonies
interest they were losing to Parliament wanted
PM William Pitt foreign privateer to destabilise
was a friend of High risk and was French colonies
Wilberforce and becoming and reduce unrest
proclaimed his unprofitable in British ones
pro-abolitionist
stance in 1792
patterns of trade in the years 1763-1914?
Mercantilis A policy of government intervention to ensure
m the value of exports is more than the value of
imports
Trade regulation set out in the 1660 Navigation Acts
which set out tight regulations on the trading system
throughout the British Empire
Colonies producing the main Empire products (i.e.
sugar, tobacco) could only export to England and were
forbidden from seeking other markets
1707: extended to include Scotland and other British
colonies
All European goods exported to colonies first had to
pass through Britain to be taxed
Tariffs placed on imported goods to ensure that they
would be more expensive than domestically produced
products
Discriminated against Irish and American trade –
growing tensions
Trade protection ensured that colonies never became
competition for the British industry
Protectioni Taxes or prohibitions on imports and exports
sm designed to protect domestic producers
Aimed to support British trade at the expense of its
main rivals – the French and Dutch
British Royal Navy ensured British merchants had free
access to consumers and traders across the world
whilst enforcing colonial regulations to ensure other
European powers had less access to the same markets
Growth of The mercantilist system had been almost totally
Free Trade dismantled by 1849
1821: government debt was 260% of Britain’s GDP
after the Napoleonic Wars
- Economic recovery primarily generated through
free trade
Needed to encourage other countries to join this
system through coercion or diplomacy
Industrial revolution encouraged government to
embrace free trade and enabled British merchants to
trade goods into China and the Americas
- Economic dependence on Britain formed their
informal empire
Scramble for Africa (1881-1914) challenged Britain’s
geopolitical interests
Rising powers of USA, Germany and Japan began to
, assert their own economic interests but still required
Britain’s manufacturing
The Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807
The rising Emerged as a powerful trading nation after its
economic independence in 1776
challenge of British imports of food into the West Indies had
the US previously been conducted by Americans on
American ships
- Britain wasn’t sure if this could continue as it
would be seen as weakening the Navigation
Acts
- Royal Navy wouldn’t be able to use American
ships and sailors in wartime, possibly allowing
the Americans to build up their own naval and
economic power
1786: Britain passed an even more restrictive
Navigation Act to increase its naval power
- Every ship trading with the British Empire
either had to be built in Britain or a British
colony
- Barred American shipping from the West
Indies
The slave Sugar was the largest import from British
trade colonies into Britain
- Slaves in the West Indies ensured it could be
produced in considerable amounts
- Massive profits for plantation owners as
labour was unpaid
16th-19th century: 12m slaves brought from Africa
to the Americas through the Middle Passage
Slaves were bought with British products,
ensuring a large market for these goods in slave
trading ports
Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow became
increasingly wealthy as slave ships set out from
here
1776-86: 40,000 slaves a year transported on
British ships to the West Indies
Challenges to French and American Revolutions
the slave Encouraged new moral enlightenment ideals
trade concerning freedom
1794: revolutionary France banned slavery
Violent stage of the French revolution, with the
execution of their king in January 1793, made
Britain more reluctant to end the slave trade
Grass-roots Campaigns
1787: the Society for Effecting the Abolition of
, the Slave Trade was founded
1783: Quakers petitioned parliament to abolish
the slave trade
William Pitt influenced by anti-slavery
campaigners such as William Wilberforce
War between France and Britain
When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in
France in 1799 after the war, he reintroduced
slavery
After this, the abolition of the slave trade in
Britain was seen as patriotic – demonstrated the
higher moral of Britain
Idea of the British Empire leading the civilised
world
The economic Restricting slave trade would damage the French
impact of the economy and help Britain to win the war
abolition of Surplus of West Indian sugar in early 1800s –
the slave wouldn’t drive up the cost for the British
trade consumer
Industrial revolution meant that modern
manufacturing would become the basis of the
British economy and not raw materials
Encouraged Britain to look beyond the Empire
for new markets
Workers had more incentive to work by earning
wages and were more efficient than slave labour
Key Individuals in the Abolition of the Slave Trade
William 1780: became MP for Hull, later representing
Wilberfor Yorkshire
ce Christian faith helped him to become interested in
social reform
Campaigned for an end to the slave trade
Regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in
Parliament for 18 years
Raised awareness with pamphlets, books, rallies and
petitions
Thomas Instrumental in forming the Committee for the
Clarkson Abolition of the African Slave Trade – helped persuade
William Wilberforce to take up the cause
Collected information to present to Parliament
- Gathered evidence from eyewitnesses who had
worked on the slave trade
- Had examples of equipment used on slave ships
1789: travelled to Paris but failed to persuade the
French government to take up the cause
Olaudah African writer with experience as a slave
Equiano Wrote an autobiography – explained how he was
kidnapped with his sister at 11 years old, sold by local
, slave traders and then was shipped across the
Atlantic to Barbados and then Virginia
Sold to a Royal Navy officer who he travelled with for
8 years
Worked to buy his own freedom and spent 20 years
travelling the world
1786: became involved in anti-slavery movement
Prominent member of the ‘Sons of Africa’ – 12 black
men who campaigned for abolition of slavery
Why was the slave trade abolished?
Morality High risk and The French
unprofitable
The Quakers 1/10 ships during the French rebellion
organised the first 18th century would caused the French
abolition lose its owner profit – to respond with
movement in in 1778 merchants in abolishing slavery
Britain – Liverpool lost Napoleon’s aim to
petitioning £700,000 reinstate slavery
parliament in Financial uncertainty causes the British
1783 due to Britain’s to support the
Quakers joined prolonged wars, the freed slaves to
with Wilberforce threat of disease and undermine the
Parliament slave rebellions French
believed it was By early 19 century, 1806 Foreign Slave
th
morally right even dominance of slave bill – British
though it went traders and subjects could not
against plantation owners supply slaves to
commercial was weakening, and French colonies
interest they were losing to Parliament wanted
PM William Pitt foreign privateer to destabilise
was a friend of High risk and was French colonies
Wilberforce and becoming and reduce unrest
proclaimed his unprofitable in British ones
pro-abolitionist
stance in 1792
