Interestingly enough all the slave story that we have treated in class has shown that the slave masters used the bible to back up their wrong. But honestly, the forced enslavement and barbaric treatment involved in the transatlantic slave trade certainly broke biblical laws on slavery. The transatlantic slave trade broking biblical laws can be seen by the explanation done by the abolitionist.

Abolitionists repeatedly quoted the Golden Rule in Matt 7 v12 (‘whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.’) They applied this to the British public by trying to get them to imagine what it would be like if they and their families were enslaved. Coupled with this, abolitionists worked hard to evangelize the slaves themselves as their masters often denied them the hearing of the gospel in case it would undermine their service. The abolitionists appealed to people’s consciences by warning them of God’s judgment and wrath against sin, especially God’s anger at the exploitation of the poor. The Quaker Anthony Benezet warned ‘Will not the groans of this deeply afflicted and oppressed people reach heaven, and must not the inevitable consequence be pouring forth of the judgment of God upon their oppressors, must we not tremble to think what a load of guilt lies upon our Nation.’ The abolitionists emphasized to the people that ‘national sins produce national judgments’.