Abolitionist Movement

Abolitionist Movement. The movement to end slavery and liberate slaves around the world.

The first and only country to self-liberate from slavery was actually a former French colony, Haiti, as a result of the Revolution of 1791–1804.

The British abolitionist movement began in the late 18th century. In 1807, the slave trade was made illegal throughout the British Empire, though existing slaves in British colonies were not liberated until the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

Vermont was the first state in America to abolish slavery in 1777. By 1804, the rest of the northern states had abolished slavery but it remained legal in southern states. By 1808, the U.S. outlawed the importation of slaves but did not ban slavery outright until 1865.

After centuries of struggle, slavery was eventually declared illegal at the global level in 1948 under the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.