Brazil declares independence while slavery remains central to its economy

Parliament reviewed the treaty with Spain on suppressing the slave trade. The debate took place after the agreement was signed and reflected Britain’s effort to secure international enforcement...

The treaty authorized bilateral action against Dutch slave ships and established mixed commission courts in Freetown and Paramaribo. Such courts created an early international enforcement system,...

The compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and barred slavery north of a specified latitude in part of the Louisiana Purchase. It managed sectional power rather...

Congress classified the international slave trade as piracy, punishable by death under federal law. The statute strengthened the legal ban on importation but was rarely enforced to match its stated...

A planned uprising involving free and enslaved Black organizers was scheduled for this date but was exposed before it began. White authorities relied on coerced testimony and secret proceedings,...

The society formed to campaign against slavery across the British Empire. Its early focus on gradualism was challenged by activists such as Elizabeth Heyrick, who argued for immediate emancipation....

Thousands of enslaved people in Demerara rose against plantation authority. They organized across estates and sought freedom, amid rumors that emancipation had been granted in Britain but withheld...

Charles X issued an ordinance recognizing Haiti’s independence on the condition that Haiti compensate former colonists, including for the loss of enslaved people claimed as property. The imposed...

The treaty set a date after which Brazilian participation in the African slave trade would be illegal under the agreement. Enforcement was weak and Brazilian trafficking continued at a massive scale...

The date set by the 1817 gradual emancipation law arrived, ending legal slavery for the remaining enslaved people in New York. The long delay meant that many people continued to live under slavery...