In his preface Richard Hart summarises the content and purpose of Vol.1 — the enslavement (how it came about) of Africans by Europeans; an account of how Africans were enslaved and transported to the West Indies; the disciplinary systems of plantation slavery under the Protestant British and some comparisons with enslavement under the Catholic Iberians. He sets out in addition to account for growth and eventual legislative success of the anti-slavery movement in Britain. Also included in Vol. 1 is the story in brief of the victorious revolution of the slaves in Saint Domingue.