William Pitt on Abolition

Title page of The Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, in the House of Commons, on Monday the Second of April, 1792 (London : Printed by Jems Phillips, 1792)

Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy to the Boston Medical Library, 1921

The Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, in the House of Commons, on Monday the Second of April, 1792 (London : Printed by Jems Phillips, 1792)

Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy to the Boston Medical Library, 1921

The younger William Pitt (1759-1806) was the Prime Minister of Great Britain when he addressed the House of Commons, urging the abolition of the slave trade, stating, "We may now consider this trade as having received its condemnation; that its sentence is sealed; that this Curse of mankind is seen by the House in its true light; and that the greatest stigma on our national character which ever yet existed, is about to be removed!"

Although there was abolitionist sentiment in England in the late 18th century, Parliament did not abolish the slave trade until 1807; slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire in 1833.