Wilberforce and his supporters felt that the moral scourge was so strong that it took them several efforts to pass legislation. The first attempts were dramatic failures, but through the combination of luck and understanding how the parliamentary system worked, they finally passed legislation in July 1833, just days before his death, Parliament passed the Abolition of Slavery Bill. Wilberforce never served in cabinet.
Regrettably, while Wilberforce’s legislation turned the tide against the sale and transportation of slaves, these efforts did not lead to the end of global slavery. In fact, there are far more slaves in the world today than at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. By some estimates, more than 40 million people are currently enslaved around the globe.
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