How were britons able to justify the existence of slavery?

Question

And specifically participation in the Atlantic Slave Trade

seriously, this is an academic question, there is no need to start talking about other countries, I am studying the British empire. Also I have no interest in the moral issues, and the apologist arguement, I just simply want to know what the British justification was at the time.

Answer 1

no one ever had to justify slavery, it has always existed, EVERYWHERE. it was the british and americans who had to justify ABOLISHING slavery

Answer 2

Unless I am much mistaken then for the most part we didn't. Initially abolished in 1102 by the council of Westminster, then further weakened by the Magna Cartas assertion of the right to liberty in 1215, slavery was long since an outmoded concept within the British Isles by the time the Atlantic Slave Trade came about, although not quite as much as once it was (please do not confuse legalised slavery with serfdom or the other consequences of a monarchist or feudal system of government and social structure).
When black slaves initially arrived in Britain their legal status was unclear, and untill 1772 nothing much was done to change this. In 1772 however, due to a court case involving the attempted kidnapping of a slave for shipment abroad, it was declared that slavery could not be supported by British law, and all of the black slaves in England were promptly declared freemen and emancipated.
In 1807 slave trading was abolished by the British, with the West Africa squad of fighting ships sent out to capture the slave ships around the coast and across the Atlantic and liberate the occupants. Over 150,000 freed by 1865. In 1833 slavery was abolished throughout the Empire. The Brits also paid both Portugal and Spain large sums of money to likewise outlaw slave trading.
The participation in the Atlantic slave trade was throughout the times of what could be called the real "Empire", at its full might, was mostly done by private individuals and financiers with investments in foreign plantations and prior links to the trade, using their own ships and their own money, not as a matter of national policy.
So we didn't justify it. We un-justified it. With lots of money, ships and big guns where necessary.

Answer 3

At the time, the British did not have to justify the existence of slavery, any more that any other country had to. It was a worldwide business that involved numerous countries including the countries that the slaves were being taken from.

Bearing in mind that before slavery centered on the black nations, poor people who were indigenous to where the work needed to be done, were already being treated as slaves. Even in this country agricultural workers at that time were being treated abysmally and children were working down mines or being pushed up chimneys.

The more 'official' slavery was simply a way of obtaining an even cheaper form of labour. Of course it was cruel and offensive, but it was the order of the day and should not be judged by today's standards.

Answer 4

Requirements for a work force and at the time of Slavery the world was a different place and economic slavery was an established way. For instance, tithed farms where a type of slavery, Itinarent workers or Indentured workers (criminals with transportation orders) where treated no better than slaves, apprentaces in many guilds where sold to people for work, the Poor Houses and Work houses often used the poor for harsh and demanding labour with only minimal food and board which is another form of slavery. Press gangs which roamed the ports of England in the mid 1700's on to the early 1800's where not much better than Barbary Pirates for impressing men and putting them into ships (admitted that this was the final form of Pressing, when all else had failed and most where better off in the Navy).
So justification is not an issue, it was a way of life and had been for many centuries

Answer 5

The britons and white Americans at this time justified (rationalized) slavery by dehumanizing the enslaved people, in this case those of African descent. Many today think nothing of owning a horse, because they are less than human. The same rationale existed a couple hundred years ago.

Also, slavery has existed in humanity for thousands of years. It certainly isn't a new concept. Many of the Brits and Americans felt that slavery was justified in the Bible as slavery rules were set out in Deuteronomy as well as in the writings of Paul.

Answer 6

Just like any other culture, either by pretending that the slaves are less than human or, more often, by thinking that slave ownership is no different from being a head of an extended family where junior members, relatives and slaves alike, owe the head of the family the debt of obedience.

Recall that children of nobility were expected to do their parents' bidding, including the choice of career and spouse... From there, the leap to slavery is not a particularly long one...

Answer 7

The same way every Nation in history did, they felt superior and also often many were taken as prisoners of war from tribes friendly to the Brits and other European nations...YES Africans sold their own people but they did NOT consider them the same people back then for they were a warring tribe!! Hope that makes sense.

The Brits and Europe were among the first to outlaw slavery though with the USA being one of the last.

Answer 8

Britons at the time had no need to justify the existence of slavery since the vast majority were not involved or had any control over it.
Likewise Britons today cannot feel responsiible for what happened centuries ago and cannot apologise for it.
Our Leaders are wrong to apologise on our behalf, we were not involved.
Simple as that.

Answer 9

There were lots of "scientific" papers explaining why Africans were subhuman, or not human at all, childlike, and unsuited to life as independent people. It was argued that slavery was their natural condition, and it would be unkind to abandon them, as we had a duty to take care of them. More practical arguments said that slavery was a fact of life, that it was condoned in the Bible, that there always had been and always would be slaves, and if Britain didn't participate, it would just mean the benefits would go to someone else.

Answer 10

Read a book called White Gold I'm sure your be very interested it go's back centuries to the time when ships used to come over to England & take the people from the coastal villages then ship them back over to Africa to sell as slaves plus try to convert them to Muslims at the same time,the slaves that was trasported through the deserts & died on the way had thier heads chopped off just to prove that they did die,So read this book then post another Question of truth,we all have things to explain weather we are white,black or probaly even green from different planets.

Answer 11

Britain suffered slavery under the Romans and by the Vikings so it just seemed economically viable.