Metropolitan abolitionists lost the initial parliamentary battle over colonial slavery

Evidence

Discussion of slavery and the slave trade was effectively tabled in the assembly, and the society was saddled with a powerful accusation: that its activities might set in motion another, much more dangerous, revolution in the colonies. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 265

Categorization

• QUESTION: The accusation of fomenting another revolution would later prove self-fulfilling — worth tracing how elite fears of colonial insurrection shaped repression policy.