How Far Did Machaw And Janet Shaw's Portrayal Of Slavery?

The slave trade and slavery in the British colonies was a widely debated issue of its time. Three primary sources will be examined to show how they portrayed slavery. These sources are the George Thompson speeches from the soiree in his honour, the Glasgow West Indies Association Petition and Janet Schaw’s diary.
Both Schaw and Thompson sources agree that the conditions the slaves were working under were terrible. They describe the slaves working and being treated similar to animals. Schaw describes them like animals, lined up according to size and marched along with one master whipping them if needed. The Thompson speeches often mention that the slaves are not being treated as equal humans to the Europeans and use descriptions of “chains” and the slaves having “masters” to emphasise this inequality. However they both having different perspectives on whether this is okay or not. The Thompson speeches talk about needing to save the slaves from this treatment. They believe God created all man equal and that just because the slaves have a different coloured skin to Europeans, does not …show more content…
The Association writes a petition to the Earl of Liverpool trying to convince him that the slaves actually are not treated badly. They believe that the slaves are better off working in the plantations than they would be if they did not. They claim that this is their job and their future would be uncertain if slavery was abolished. This source agrees that slaves should be treated fairly and that if anyone is treating them unfairly, they should be punished. They even challenge the Earl to employ people to investigate to see if there is any slaves being mistreated. The Glasgow West Indies Association and the Thompson’s speeches sources both agree that state that the slaves need to be treated humanely. However they disagree about whether this is currently