Army officer Isaac Gascoyne gave a speech to the House of Commons on 10 June 1806 in which he argued that slavery was authorised by Leviticus 25:44-46. : 10īritish pro-slavery thinkers defended slavery on the basis of the Bible. Dumas traces the beginning of organised British pro-slavery movement to 1787, when the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants formed a subcommittee to organise opposition to abolitionism. : 3 However, other authors do not so clearly draw such a distinction and include what Dumas calls anti-abolitionism in the topic of proslavery. Dumas notes that pro-slavery (as opposed to anti-abolitionist) positions largely disappeared from the British parliament after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. Proslavery arguments, on the other hand, positively promoted slavery and the slave trade". Dumas, in her study of the history of the British pro-slavery movement, draws a distinction between anti-abolitionist and pro-slavery positions: "Anti-abolition arguments in this period focused on defects in the abolitionist platform, emphasising the illegal, illogical, inhumane, or pro-French nature of their aims.
Most of the British defenders of slavery were absentee owners of plantations in the British West Indies who economically benefited from the continuation of the institution. The British pro-slavery movement opposed the abolition of the slave trade – from when the campaign for its abolition first began in 1783 until 1807, when it was abolished – and then opposed the abolition of slavery itself in British colonies until that was legislated in 1833. However, a minority of contemporary Islamic jurists defend slavery by arguing that it is still relevant and permissible today, and it is actively practiced by Islamist extremist groups. While Islam traditionally permits slavery, most contemporary Islamic authorities argue that the practice is inapplicable in the modern world. Islamic views įurther information: Islamic views on slavery and Slavery in 21st-century Islamism He viewed the natural state of humanity as that which had existed prior to the fall of man, in which slavery was non-existent on those grounds, many commentators see him as rejecting Aristotle's claim that some people were naturally slaves, although it is a matter of controversy as to whether he fully rejected Aristotle's views on the matter. Thomas Aquinas argued that slavery was not part of natural law, and considered it as a consequence of human sinfulness. But do it in a loving and not a cruel spirit." John Chrysostom wrote that "to discipline and punish ignorant slaves is a great accolade, and not a perchance commendation". Rather, he is angered if you do not lash the slave. According to Augustine, God approved of the flogging of slaves described as living badly: "You must use the whip, use it! God allows it. Early Christian views Īmong the Church Fathers, the majority opinion was in favour of the permissibility of slavery.
For he is a slave by nature who is capable of belonging to another–which is also why he belongs to another–and who participates in reason only to the extent of perceiving it, but does not have it. For them it is better to be ruled in accordance with this sort of rule, if such is the case for the other things mentioned.
He wrote in book I of the Politics:Īccordingly, those who are as different as the soul from the body or man from beast-and they are in this state if their work is the use of the body, and if this is the best that can come from them-are slaves by nature. However, what Aristotle meant by the word "slavery" is regarded by some political philosophers today to be a subject of controversy. Greek philosopher Aristotle claimed that some people ( those whom would today be regarded as mentally unfit to take care of themselves) were slaves by nature, and as a result of this belief, he argued that their enslavement was the only way to serve their best interests. 5.4 Proslavery views in the 20th century.