What were the arguments of the pro-slavery lobby?
The pro-slavery lobby put forward a number of arguments to defend the trade and show how important it was to Britain: • The trade was necessary to the success and wealth of Britain. The merchants and planters warned that abolition would mean ruin for Britain, as the whole economy would collapse. This argument was put forward many times, for example, in 1749, when a pamphlet was written outlining these agruments. • If Britain did not engage in the trade then others would. If Britain ceased to trade in slaves with Africa, our commercial rivals, the French and the Dutch, would soon fill the gap and the Africans would be in a much worse situation. This was an argument used in a speech to parliament in 1777. • Africa was already involved in slavery. They stated that Africans enslaved each other. Indeed, Britain was engaged in a moral trade because they were helping people, captured in African wars, who may otherwise be executed. • Taking Africans from their homeland actually benefited them.
