How Liberating the Slaves also Clothed the Poor
The closure of slave plantations following the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 had a curious side-effect.
1855
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
The closure of slave plantations following the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 had a curious side-effect.
1855
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
One might imagine that slave labour keeps prices down, but the break-up of the slave trade by the British Empire following the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 demonstrated just how mistaken that supposition is. Low prices come when free people do business together: more freedom, more business, lower prices.
THE African slaves in the West Indies were usually dressed in a shirt and trousers of striped mattress sacking. As soon as they were emancipated, they wished to dress like their late masters, and Jewish entrepreneurs in London heard of it from their colleagues in the Caribbean. So they hastily washed, mended and exported second-hand clothes to the States, allowing ex-slaves to rival their former owner’s wardrobe for an eighth of the price.
Demand soon far exceeded supply. To meet it, Yorkshire mill-owners manufactured a new cloth made from cotton warp and woollen weft, the wool being shoddy, a mix of new and recycled wool.* Indeed, the new business stimulated them to higher flights of invention, learning to comb scraps of wool previously thought too small. This not only reduced waste but enabled the poorer classes all over the world to dress much better for much less.
Chief among those Yorkshire mill owners in Dickens’s time was Sir Titus Salt, who paid generous wages, kept workers on in slack times, and provided excellent working conditions.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 create a surge in demand for fashionable clothing?
The newly liberated slaves clamoured for it.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Britain abolished the slave trade in 1833. Caribbean slaves were set free. They wanted fashionable clothes.