1788-Feb.: Prime Minister William Pitt issued an order-in-council in February 1788 to submit the slave trade to a formal parliamentary inquiry.

1788-Feb.: Prime Minister William Pitt issued an order-in-council in February 1788 to submit the slave trade to a formal parliamentary inquiry. He directed the Committee for Trade and Plantations of the Privy Council to conduct a preliminary investigation into the traffic. The inquiry was charged with gathering evidence on African societies, conditions aboard ships, and treatment on plantations. This move was a direct response to a massive petition drive that had saturated Parliament with thousands of signatures. It represented the first formal step taken by the British government to examine the legality and conduct of the trade.