Was It Capitalism That Really Ended Slavery?

The Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the end of slavery happened in the same time period, and that's no coincidence. The Industrial Revolution was a period of time, from around 1760 to about 1820–1840, when humanity came up with a lot of different mechanical devices that changed the world with their convenience and production rates. It was easier for everyone to get jobs, and less and less people were needed to be farmers because of the farming machines that were invented. Overall, the Industrial Revolution was an enormous boost to humanity getting more and more modern.

The standard-of-living debate was a debate between Marxist and non-Marxist historians starting around 1949. The debate was basically about whether or not the Industrial Revolution was better or worse for people's state of living. People were choosing the factory lifestyle because it was an improvement over their previous circumstances. It was a first stage in a continual rise in standards-or-living as the scarcity of goods was reduced for everyone and working conditions improved as the market created competition to have employees.

Lastly, what were the different arguments that combined in Britain to pave the way for the abolition of slavery. This question can be hard to understand, so here's a basic version of the question, "what made Britain abolish slavery when it was benefiting them so much money-wise?” Well, The British were in a tight spot with shipping slaves. They had come to dominate the slave trade as an industry. Countries were starting to think Britain was getting too powerful and they wanted less and less trade from the English. Also, the British were worried about the slaves revolting. The natural rights tradition of Britain, coming from people like the Levelers and John Locke, had had two centuries to gain traction and, with the standard-of-living on the rise, people started to believe things could be better. For the first time in history, for the English people, improving the plight of every social class, including slaves, seemed like a plausible thing to advocate. This is why Britain abolished slavery.

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