Christian Slavery - Bad News About Christianity

Once reform was in the air, the mainstream churches opposed it with all their power. They vilified
reformers (including Wilberforce) and attacked them for daring to question the plain word of God.
Anglican clergymen still owned slaves and continued to oppose abolition well into the nineteenth
century. One of their number was the most effective supporter of slavery during the 1820s
abolitionist campaign in Jamaica 25 . All mainstream Churches agreed with the traditional view that
slavery was ordained by God. To practice slavery was therefore meritorious, and to try to stop the
practice was sinful. With the exception of Quakers, and John Wesley, all denominations agreed.
The two hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade was commemorated in 2007
In 1807 Britain became the first major power to permanently abolish the slave trade, but slave
owning was still legal in the colonies. When the British parliament voted to abolish slavery in the
colonies in 1833, the Bench of Bishops voted against — as they did on almost all reform bills. To
get the bill through, Parliament voted to compensate slave owners (There was no compensation
for the slaves themselves). The Abolition of Slavery Act of 1833 provided for £20 million to be
paid to West Indian plantation slave owners in compensation for the loss of their 'property'. The
Anglican Church received £8,823 8s 9d, for the loss of slave labour on its Codrington plantation
in the West Indies.
Individual Anglican Churchmen had to be compensated separately. Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of
Exeter, and three business associates received nearly £13,000 26 .
Compensation recorded in the British Parliamentary Papers 1836 (597) vol. 49.
(The total actually comes to £12,729 5s 2d)
The Bishop, the Right Rev Henry Philpotts, together with three partners
received:
£4,836 4sh 7d for 236 slaves in the parish of Vere, Middlesex County, Jamaica.
£5,480 13sh 11d for 304 slaves in the parish of Clarendon, Mdx, Jamaica.
£2, 412 6sh 8d for slaves also in the parish of Clarendon.
Total of £12,729 4sh 4d for 665 slaves.
French Slavery in the New World - The Code Noire
The Code Noir (The Black Code) sets out French slave policy regarding the Islands of French
America. The Code initially took the form of King Louis XIV's edict of 1685. Subsequent decrees
modified a few of the code's provisions, but this first document established the principles for the
policing of slavery up to 1789. The code set out a number of rights and responsibilities, mainly
concerning slavery but also mentioning Jews.
The Code Noire