Abolition of Slavery

Denmark and Noraway was the first European country to officially abolish the slave trade in 1792, followed closely by France in 1974 and England (1807) and the United States (1808). At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Britain used its influence to induce other foreign powers to imitate this policy. However, the abolition of slavery dictated by England is in no way philosophical. He is pragmatic: the Industrial Revolution has been there. Slavery is no longer economically profitable.

The abolition of slavery in France

In France, after the 1st abolition decree of February 4, 1794, Napoleon Bonaparte repealed this measure, as soon as peace was won with England. It was not until the revolution of 1848 and the birth of the Second Republic that slavery was, definitively this time, abolished. The decree was written by Victor Schoelcher on April 27, 1848. It provided for broad compensation for slave planters. The decree also included a two-month delay before the release of the 250,000 slaves present in the French colonies. The slave revolts in the islands accelerated the application of the decree: for example, on May 27, 1848, the governor of Guadeloupe abolished slavery to put an end to the revolt.

A long struggle

The abolition of slavery is a long struggle which theoretically ends in 1980, when the last slave country (Mauritania) officially puts an end to this scourge. But other forms of slavery appear today (forced labor, child labor, prostitution, etc.).