2020 -- H 8134

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LC005546

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THAT AUGUST 1ST OF EACH YEAR BE DECLARED

"EMANCIPATION DAY" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

     Introduced By: Representative Anastasia P. Williams

     Date Introduced: September 24, 2020

     Referred To: House Special Legislation

     WHEREAS, By the late 18th century, the anti-slavery movement was gaining ground

within Europe and the United Kingdom. In 1792, Lord Mansfield, a respected British Judge,

emancipated a slave in the Somersetts’s Case and also ruled that slaves could not be transported

out of England against their will. In 1794 France abolished slavery and in 1807, the British

Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act which outlawed the international slave trade, but not

slavery itself; and

     WHEREAS, In 1823, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded in London and they

proceeded to campaign relentlessly for the abolition of slavery. They finally succeeded in 1833

when Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which took effect on August 1 of

1834. This Act made the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal within the British empire except

for the territories in possession of the East India Company (Ceylon-now Sri Lanka, and the Island

of Saint Helena); and

     WHEREAS, Most historians credit European opposition to slavery as being the key

reason why the Confederacy was never recognized by any European nation despite many

European nations’ desire for access to the cotton grown in the South. The abolishment of slavery

on August 1, 1834, in the United Kingdom therefore played an important role in the Union’s

victory in the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, Today, Emancipation Day is widely celebrated on August 1st annually in

many countries throughout the Caribbean, including Anguilla, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados,

Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is also celebrated in

some American cities, and has been celebrated in Providence and Newport since the 19th century;

now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

respectfully requests that August 1st of each year be declared “Emancipation Day” in the State of

Rhode Island; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Governor Gina M. Raimondo.

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