No final do século XVIII, o poderio econômico da França repousava essencialmente sobre o comércio que o país realizava com as suas colônias. Graças, principalmente, ao açúcar e ao café de São Domingos, a \"pérola das Antilhas\", o comércio colonial francês atingia o seu auge no mesmo momento em que o país rumava para um processo violento de transformação de suas instituições. Ao mesmo tempo, havia, na metrópole, questionamentos a respeito da gestão de colônias cada vez mais povoadas de escravos, arrancados de seus lares para exercer o cultivo nas plantations. Nesse contexto, em 1788, formou-se a primeira organização antiescravista francesa, a Sociedade dos Amigos dos Negros. Sob a liderança de alguns dos principais personagens do período revolucionário, como Brissot, Clavière, Mirabeau, La Fayette e Condorcet, essa sociedade de nobres, homens de letras e financistas procurou introduzir a questão do tráfico negreiro na ordem do dia dos debates políticos que marcaram a Revolução francesa. Procuramos, no presente trabalho, retraçar a atividade desses homens, cuja moderação contrasta com o rumo que a questão colonial tomou, a partir da grande insurreição dos escravos em São Domingos, de agosto de 1791. Acreditamos que o estudo dos limites do discurso antiescravista do final do século XVIII e da política colonial das assembleias revolucionárias traz consigo ensinamentos sobre os limites da própria Revolução francesa. / At the end of the 18th century, France\'s economic power relied foremost on trade with its colonies. Thanks to the sugar and coffee produced in Saint-Domingue, the \"pearl of the Antilles\", French colonial commerce reached its peak at the very moment the country was moving toward a violent process of radical institutional transformation. At the same time, it was a moment of interrogations about the administration of colonies whose slave population was in continuous increase. In this context, in 1788, the first French antislavery organization was created, the Society of the Friends of the Blacks. Under the leadership of some of the key-characters of the revolutionary period, like 7 Brissot, Clavière, Mirabeau, La Fayette and Condorcet, this society of nobles, intellectuals and financiers endeavored to bring the issue of slave trade to the political debate that marked the French Revolution. We intend, with this study, to retrace the activities of those men, whose moderation of principles was in contrast with the turn of events that marked the colonial space, with the slave insurrection of August 1791, in Saint-Domingue. We hope that, by approaching the limits of the antislavery program of the late-18th century and of the colonial policies of the revolutionary assemblies, this study might offer teachings on the limits of the Revolution itself.

The abolition of the Atlantic slave trade was a long struggle in British Parliament between the slave trade defenders and the abolitionists. The Act of 1807 officially abolished the Atlantic slave trade, eighteen years after the initial abolition proposal to Parliament. William Wilberforce was a member of a committee that worked towards the abolition of the slave trade and the eventual emancipation of slavery. He also was a member of Parliament. Indeed, Wilberforce is most remembered for his committed perseverance on behalf of abolition. A literature review will describe the existing scholarship pertaining to the British antislavery movement and William Wilberforce. The literature review will also reveal that current scholarship does not specifically rhetorically analyze the first official proposal for abolition, presented by William Wilberforce on May 12, 1789. The analysis presented will identify how Wilberforce foregrounded the cultural norms of eighteenth century British culture and how he used refutative ironies to break apart the opposition's arguments against total abolition of the slave trade. Finally, evaluation of the analysis will support the hypotheses that William Wilberforce's May 12, 1789 proposal for the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade was the inception of debate and discussion on the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament. / Graduation date: 1993

Slavery, protected by the United States constitution, expanded as new territories opened up. Heated debate over abolition accompanied slavery’s expansion. In Kentucky’s constitutional convention of 1792, antislavery sentiments for abolition were countered by an argument for protecting slavery. This thesis analyzes the proslavery argument of lawyer George Nicholas who opposed the antislavery argument of minister David Rice. Analyzing that debate, this thesis argues that an entrenched, economic and legal, proslavery argument overcame a humane, moral, antislavery argument. Including an analysis of the consequences for African Americans, the thesis concludes how and why a growing minority of slaveholders was able to perpetuate slavery in the second constitutional convention of 1799. Consequently, Kentucky presents an important case study of how slavery took hold and expanded in a state where the majority did not own slaves.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-299).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 352-389). Print copy also available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-152).

Thesis (M. A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-107).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-107).