Why did abolition happen?
Abolition had many authors: enslaved people who resisted, campaigners who organised, and economics that shifted.
Part of your national curriculum
- Britain 1066-1901: Understand Britain's transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition
- Historical enquiry: Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance
- Challenges 1901 to the present: Understand Britain's transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition, in the context of empire
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Explain the causes of abolition
Key learning points
- • Resistance and revolt
- • Campaigning and interest
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 16 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 16
Watch first
Why did abolition happen?
An English teaching video on this topic from Homeschool History. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Explain the causes of abolition
What you already know
Part 2 of 16
Before we start
What you already know
You should already know how the transatlantic slave trade operated and who profited from it.
Key words
Part 3 of 16
Key words
Words you'll need today
- Abolition
- Ending the slave trade, and later slavery itself, by law.
- Revolt
- An organised rising against enslavement.
- Petition
- A signed public demand presented to Parliament.
- Self-interest
- Acting because a change benefits you, not only because it is right.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 16
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Resistance from the enslaved
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 16
Learn
Resistance and revolt
Rebellion in the Caribbean, especially the Haitian Revolution, and constant everyday resistance made the system costly and unstable.
Quick check
Part 6 of 16
Quick check
The Haitian Revolution showed…
Reset break
Part 7 of 16
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 8 of 16
Quick check
Olaudah Equiano contributed by…
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 16
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Campaigns, profit and politics
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 16
Learn
Campaigning and interest
Equiano's writing, Clarkson's evidence-gathering, mass petitions and sugar boycotts built public pressure — alongside changing commercial interests.
Quick check
Part 11 of 16
Quick check
Abolition is best explained by…
Common mix-ups
Part 12 of 16
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- People often say white campaigners ended slavery. Resistance by enslaved people, especially in Haiti, was decisive.
- People often treat 1807 as the end. The trade was banned then; slavery in British colonies continued until the 1830s.
Challenge round
Part 13 of 16
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 14 of 16
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Rebellion in the Caribbean, especially the Haitian Revolution, and constant everyday ____ made the system costly and unstable.
Mastery quiz
Part 15 of 16
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Why did abolition happen?
6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. The 1807 Act abolished…
2. The Haitian revolution showed…
3. Which factor is often underplayed in abolition?
4. Sugar boycotts worked by…
5. Economic self-interest mattered because…
6. A strong answer on abolition…
Lesson round-up
Part 16 of 16
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
A factory inspector's notebook, 1842
"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."
"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."
"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."
Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
- What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
- How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.
Source work
ReadingRead the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.
2 paragraphs
Essay answer
WritingAnswer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.
300–400 words
Timeline
DiagramDraw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.
6–8 events
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand Britain's transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition
- Not looked at yet
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance
- Not looked at yet
Understand Britain's transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition, in the context of empire