Capitalism & slavery

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Notes:: Examination of how slavery led the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism & Slavery (1944) argues that the British abolition of their Atlantic slave trade in 1807 was motivated primarily by economics, rather than by altruism or humanitarianism. By extension, so was the emancipation of the slaves and the fights against the trading in slaves by other nations. As industrial capitalism and wage labor began to expand, eliminating the competition from slavery became economically advantageous. Because of its aggressive rewriting of British imperial historiography, the text was not published in the United Kingdom until 1964. Despite the twenty-year delay, it still met a hostile reception. Before Williams, the historiography of this issue had been dominated by British writers who generally were prone to depict Britain's actions as unimpeachable. Indeed, Williams' impact on the field of study has proved of lasting significance.