ABSTRACT
The rich and evocative dialogue between proslavery and antislavery camps helped to transform the nature of British culture and national character. This chapter maps the changes in antislavery and proslavery rhetoric after the formation of the abolitionist societies in order to understand how the slave-trade debates constructed national identity. It explores the convergence of rhetorical circumference between abolitionist and proslavery writers transformed the definition of the act. Abolitionist rhetoric incorporated a charismatic appeal to singular characteristics that Britons had perfected above all other civilized nations. The abolitionists effectively challenged their humanity by recounting the punishments or tortures inflicted upon slaves during the middle passage and on the plantations. Regulationists needed to construct a vision of humanity that incorporated and supported the practice of slavery. On 25 March 1807, the bill to abolish the slave trade was passed by Parliament and the slave-trade debates came to an end at least on paper and in the public imaginary.
