The Abolition of Slavery

The movement to abolish slavery was started by a very religious member of Parliament named William Wilberforce. He wanted to end slave trade and slavery in the British Empire. In 1807 Parliament passed a bill to end the slave trade in the British West Indies. In 1833 the British Empire finally abolished slavery. The United States followed in Great Britain's footsteps and also abolished slavery after the U.S. Civil War except in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil. Slavery ended in Puerto Rico in 1873, in Cuba in 1886, and in Brazil in 1888.