Slave Trade Act 1807

2007-03-27T11:20:38Z

Dsergeant: remove extra brackets

{{British legislation lists, Acts}}

The '''Slave Trade Act''' (citation ''47 Geo III Sess. 1 c. 36'') was an [[Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 25 March, 1807 the long title of which is "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade". The original act is still held among the collections of the [[Parliamentary Archives]].
{{main|Atlantic slave trade}} <br />
The act abolished the [[slavery|slave]] trade in the [[British empire]]. The trade had begun in [[1562]], during the reign of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] when [[John Hawkins]] led the first slaving expedition.

The people who pushed the act through were a group of [[Evangelism|Evangelical]] [[Protestant]]s allied with [[Quakers]] and united in their opposition to slavery and the slave trade. The Quakers had long viewed slavery as immoral, a blight upon humanity. By [[1807]] the anti-slave-trade groups had a very sizable faction of like-minded members in the [[United Kingdom|British]] Parliament. They controlled, at their height, some 35-40 seats.

Known as the "saints" this alliance was led by [[William Wilberforce]], the most important of the anti-slavetrade campaigners. These parliamentarians had access to the legal draughtmanship of [[James Stephen]], Wilberforce's brother-in-law, and were extremely dedicated. They often saw their personal battle against slavery as a divinely ordained crusade.

In addition, many who were formerly neutral on the slavery question were swayed to the abolitionist side from security concerns after the successful [[Haitian Revolution]] in [[1804]].

Their numbers were magnified by the precarious position of the current government under [[William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville|Lord Grenville]] (his short term as Prime Minister was known as [[Ministry of all The Talents]]). Not long after the act was passed, Grenville's government lost power to [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|the Duke of Portland]]. Despite this change, the later British governments continued to support the policy of ending the slave trade.

After the British ended their own slave trade, they felt forced by economics to press other nations into placing themselves in the same economic straitjacket, or else the British colonies would become uncompetitive with those of other nations. The British campaign against the slave trade by other nations was an unprecedented foreign policy effort. The United States also abolished its African slave trade at the same time, though it did not attempt to abolish slavery then practised within American borders.

Both the British and American laws were finalized in March of 1807, the British law being effective on May 1, 1807 and the American law on January 1, 1808. Other small trading nations that did not have a great deal to give up, such as [[Sweden]], quickly followed suit, as did the [[Netherlands|Dutch]], who were also by then a minor player.

The British navy declared that ships transporting slaves were the same as pirates, and so ships carrying slaves were subject to destruction and any men captured were (potentially) subject to execution. Enforcement of the US law was less effective, and the US government refused to comply with joint enforcement (partly because of concern over British [[impressment]]).

==External links==
*[http://www.pdavis.nl/Legis_06.htm Text of Act]
*[http://www.parliament.uk/slavetrade Parliamentary Archives Image of the 1807 Act]
*[http://www.parliament.uk/archives The Parliamentary Archives holds the original of this historic record]
*[http://www.parliament.uk/slavetrade Anti Slave Trade Petition of 1806 supporting the Act of Abolition]
*[http://www.blackhistory4schools.com/slavetrade/ Teaching resources about Slavery and Abolition on blackhistory4schools.com]

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[[Category:1807 in law]]
[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1807]]
[[Category:Slave trade]]
[[Category:Abolitionism]]))

Light Railways Act

2006-08-05T13:51:10Z

Dsergeant: Lindsey

The '''Light Railways Act 1896''' (59 & 60 Vict c. 48) of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] defined a class of [[railway]]s with the intention of enabling development of such railways without [[legislation]] specific to each line. A light railway is not a tramway but a separate class of railway. The creation of the act was triggered by a combination of problems with the complexity of creating low cost railways that were needed at the time for rural areas, and the successful use of tramway rules to create the [[Wisbech and Upwell Tramway]] in [[1882]] which was in fact a light railway in all but name.

The act limited [[weight]]s to a maximum of 12 [[ton]]s on each [[axle]] and [[speed]]s to a maximum of 25 [[miles per hour|miles per hour (mph)]], and 8 mph on bends. It did not exclude [[standard gauge|standard-gauge track]], but [[narrow gauge|narrow-gauge track]]s were used for many railways built under its provisions.

The light railway act was never a great success. By the [[1920s]] the use of road transport killed the majority of these little railways although some survived thanks to clever management and tight financial control.

Until new rules introduced [[Transport Works Order]]s, preserved railways in the UK were operated under Light Railway Orders.

== Railways built under the act ==

* [[Lee-on-Solent Light Railway]], opened in [[1894]] (re-authorized under the act, [[1897]])
* [[Bankfoot Light Railway]], opened in [[1898]]
* [[Forsinard, Melvich & Port Skerry Light Railway]], opened in [[1898]]
* [[Lauder Light Railway]], opened in [[1898]]
* [[Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway]], opened [[1885]] but reincorporated under the act in [[1899]]
* [[Wick & Lybster Light Railway]], opened in [[1899]]
* [[Kent & East Sussex Railway]], opened in [[1900]]
* [[Poole & District Light Railway]], opened in [[1901]]
* [[Bentley to Bordon Light Railway]], opened in [[1902]]
* [[Cromarty & Dingwall Light Railway]], opened in 1902
* [[Vale of Rheidol Railway|Vale of Rheidol Light Railway]], opened in 1902
* [[Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway]], opened in [[1903]]
* [[Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway]], opened in [[1904]]
* [[Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway]], opened in 1904
* [[Tanat Valley Railway]], opened in 1904
* [[Cairn Valley Light Railway]], opened in [[1905]]
* [[Horton Light Railway]], opened in [[1905]]
* [[Mid-Suffolk Light Railway]], opened in [[1905]]
* [[Falkland Light Railway]], opened in [[1906]]
* [[North Lindsey Light Railway]], opened in stages from [[1906]]
* [[Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway|Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway]], opened in [[1911]]
* [[Derwent Valley Light Railway]], opened in [[1913]]
* [[Elsenham and Thaxted Light Railway]], opened in 1913
* [[Ashover Light Railway]], opened in [[1925]]
* [[Basingstoke to Alton Light Railway]], opened in 1925

A number of railways have, over the years, been built on private land and called names that end in ''Light Railway''. These have not needed parliamentary powers or a light railway order. The name has only reflected light nature of the railway. Many miniature railways are named in this way.

{{UK-rail-stub}}

[[Category:Railway Acts]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1896]]

Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Slave Trade Act 1807

Light Railways Act