Two Variants of Anti-Slavery: Religious Organization and Social Mobilization in Britain and France, 1780–1870 (1980)

Abstract

In Great Britain the antislavery movement was an Anglo-American type. It attempted to pressure economic interests and government agencies by using mass propaganda, petitions, public meetings, lawsuits, and boycotts; it was decentralized, all-inclusive, long-lasting, and had numerous fanatical adherents. In France, the abolitionist movement was of the Continental variety. Generally speaking, it worked within the system on a case by case basis with a small, elite group exerting pressure where and when it was deemed necessary or prudent. The Catholic Church's lack of independence from the state and the fear of revolutionary movements among the elites of both those institutions made the French more wary than the British of the anti-slavery movement. English abolitionism and evangelical Nonconformity peaked together.