1800's anti slavery politics

dilbert firestorm's Avatar
amazing grace movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454776/

watched this movie last year. its very good I recommend it. It is a biography of William Wilberforce, a british slavery abolitionist.

the politics behind the british anti-slavery movement was interesting.. what was fascinating about this, it didn't take a war to destroy slavery in the british empire. one legislation did the trick. one abolitionist almost ruined it.

Looking at the american experience. it was prolly more difficult to destroy the american slave lobby the way british slave lobby was. The only thing that came closest to it was the tariff situation. Opposition to it was one of the causes of the american civil war.

was there another way where the slave interests were weakened to eventually allow for abolition of slavery without sparking a war?