Conclusion

Abstract

In the aftermath of parliamentary reform in the early 1830s, many MPs, organized abolitionists, and the British public turned their attention once again to slavery in Britain’s colonies. With their power and influence severely weakened, the West Indian interest firmly upheld its right to financial compensation in return for the state’s proposed confiscation of its legally acquired property. They also convinced Parliament that the newly freed slaves could not be allowed to live freely in the colonies for a number of pressing reasons, including the danger of organization and violent revolt against the small, vulnerable white populations of the islands, the predicted total loss of plantation labor and production, and the decreased land value that would result from deserted colonial plantations. Once again, their arguments stood upon convincing legal grounds and contained enough humanitarian sentiment to sway opinion where it counted: in Westminster.