Abolitionism went into hibernation. During their long campaign against the slave trade the abolitionists had repeatedly reassured the slave owners and the pro-slavery West India lobby that once the trade was ended they did not propose to seek the abolition of slavery. Immediate emancipation of the slaves, they argued, would be a disaster for both the slaves and the slave owners. Publicly and privately William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and almost all of the more vocal of the abolitionists were committed to the principle of ‘gradualism’. This view was predicated upon the belief that the
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