A strong movement emerged in 18th-century Britain to put an end to the buying and selling of human beings. This campaign to abolish the slave trade developed alongside international events such as the French Revolution, as well as retaliation by maroon communities, sporadic unrest, and individual acts of resistance from enslaved people in the British colonies.
The campaigners faced a long and difficult struggle. These early activists included men such as Thomas Clarkson and George Fox, who argued that the only way to end the suffering of enslaved Africans was to make the slave trade illegal by banning British ships from taking part in the trade. Those involved came together in 1787 to form the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.