The Atlantic Slave Trade

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The Atlantic Slave Trade
Contents
Articles
Atlantic slave trade 1
Triangular trade 32
Abolitionism 39
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom 56
Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade 67
Granville Sharp 74
Thomas Clarkson 84
Josiah Wedgwood 92
Olaudah Equiano 97
Clapham Sect 107
Quakers 109
William Wilberforce 135
References
Article Sources and Contributors 152
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 156
Article Licenses
License 159
Atlantic slave trade
1
Reproduction of a handbill advertising a slave
auction in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1769.
Slavery
Contemporary
Africa
Bangladesh
Chad
China
Congo
Ethiopia
Europe
Haiti
India
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
United States
Contemporary types
Child labour
2
Conscription
country
Debt
Forced marriage
bride-buying
wife selling
Forced prostitution
Human trafficking
country
Peonage
Penal labour
U.S.
Sexual slavery
Historic
History of slavery
Antiquity
Middle Passage
Arab slave trade
Saqaliba
mamluk
Aztec
Babylonia
Blackbirding
Byzantine Empire
Chattel
field slaves
house slaves
Coolie
Corve labor
Ancient Greece
Pirates
Impressment
Kholop
Medieval Europe
Thrall
Ancient Rome
Serfs
history
Russia
Shanghaiing
Slave ship
list
revolts
Slave raiding
Galley slave
Panyarring
By country or region
3
Africa
Barbary Coast
Slave Coast
Americas indigenous
U.S. Natives
Asia
Angola
Australia and Oceania
Bhutan
Brazil
Lei urea
British Isles
Canada
Caribbean
Barbados
Code Noir
China
booi aha
Cuba
Denmark
Ethiopia
Germany
Haiti
revolt
Holland
India
Iran
Japan
comfort women
Latin America
Libya
Ottoman Empire
Poland
Polynesia
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Seychelles
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
colonies
Sweden
Trinidad
United States
colonial
maps
female
partus
Slave codes
interregional
4
Vietnam
Virgin Islands
Religion
Bible
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Opposition and resistance
Timeline
Abolitionism
U.K.
U.S.
Blockade of Africa
U.K.
U.S.
Compensated emancipation
Freedman
manumission
Freedom suit
Opponents
Slave Power
Underground Railroad
songs
Slave rebellion
Slave Trade Acts
Abolitionist publications
International law
Related topics
Common law
Indentured servant
Unfree labour
Fugitive slaves
laws
Great Dismal Swamp maroons
List of slaves (owners)
Slave narrative
films
songs
Slave name
Slave Route Project
Treatment in U.S.
breeding
court cases
Washington
Jefferson
Adams
Lincoln
40 acres
Freedmen's Bureau
bit
Wage slavery
5
Emancipation Day
v
t
e
[1]
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 16th through to
the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those enslaved that were transported to the New World, many on the
triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, were West Africans from the central and western parts of the continent
sold by West Africans to Western European slave traders, or by direct European capture to the Americas. The
numbers were so great that Africans who came by way of the slave trade became the most numerous Old-World
immigrants in both North and South America before the late 18th century. Far more slaves were taken to South
America than to the north. The South Atlantic economic system centered on producing commodity crops, and
making goods and clothing to sell in Europe, and increasing the numbers of African slaves brought to the New
World. This was crucial to those Western European countries which, in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
were vying with each other to create overseas empires.
The Portuguese were the first to engage in the New World slave trade in the 16th century, and others soon followed.
Ship owners considered the slaves as cargo to be transported to the Americas as quickly and cheaply as possible,
there to be sold to labour in coffee, tobacco, cocoa, sugar and cotton plantations, gold and silver mines, rice fields,
construction industry, cutting timber for ships, in skilled labour, and as domestic servants. The first Africans
imported to the English colonies were classified as "indentured servants," like workers coming from England, and
also, "apprentices for life". By the middle of the 17th century, slavery had hardened as a racial caste; they and their
offspring were legally the property of their owners, and children born to slave mothers were slaves. As property, the
people were considered merchandise or units of labour, and were sold at markets with other goods and services.
The Atlantic slave traders, ordered by trade volume, were: the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Spanish, the
Dutch Empire, and the United States. They had established outposts on the African coast where they purchased
slaves from local African leaders.
[2]
Current estimates are that about 12 million Africans were shipped across the
Atlantic,
[3]
although the number purchased by the traders is considerably higher.
[4][5]
The slave trade is sometimes called the Maafa by African and African-American scholars, meaning "great disaster"
in Swahili. Some scholars, such as Marimba Ani and Maulana Karenga, use the terms "African Holocaust" or
"Holocaust of Enslavement".
Background
See also: History of slavery
Atlantic travel
The Atlantic slave trade arose after trade contacts were first made between the continents of the "Old World"
(Europe, Africa, and Asia) and those of the "New World" (North America and South America). For centuries, tidal
currents had made ocean travel particularly difficult and risky for the ships that were then available, and as such
there had been very little, if any, naval contact between the peoples living in these continents.
[6]
In the 15th century,
however, new European developments in seafaring technologies meant that ships were better equipped to deal with
the problem of tidal currents, and could begin traversing the Atlantic Ocean. Between 1600 and 1800, approximately
300,000 sailors engaged in the slave trade visited West Africa.
[7]
In doing so, they came into contact with societies
living along the west African coast and in the Americas which they had never previously encountered.
[8]
Historian
Pierre Chaunu termed the consequences of European navigation "disenclavement", with it marking an end of
isolation for some societies and an increase in inter-societal contact for most others.
[9]
6
Historian John Thornton noted, "A number of technical and geographical factors combined to make Europeans the
most likely people to explore the Atlantic and develop its commerce".
[10]
He identified these as being the drive to
find new and profitable commercial opportunities outside Europe as well as the desire to create an alternative trade
network to that controlled by the Muslim Empire of the Middle East, which was viewed as a commercial, political
and religious threat to European Christendom. In particular, European traders wanted to trade for gold, which could
be found in western Africa, and also to find a naval route to "the Indies" (India), where they could trade for luxury
goods such as spices without having to obtain these items from Middle Eastern Islamic traders.
[11]
Although the initial Atlantic naval explorations were performed purely by Europeans, members of many European
nationalities were involved, including sailors from Portugal, Spain, the Italian kingdoms, England, France and the
Netherlands. This diversity led Thornton to describe the initial "exploration of the Atlantic" as "a truly international
exercise, even if many of the dramatic discoveries [such as those by Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan]
were made under the sponsorship of the Iberian monarchs." That leadership later gave rise to the myth that "the
Iberians were the sole leaders of the exploration".
[12]
African slavery
Main article: Slavery in Africa
Slavery was practiced in some parts of Africa,
[13]
Europe, Asia and the Americas for many centuries before the
beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. There is evidence that enslaved people from some African states were exported
to other states in Africa, Europe and Asia prior to the European colonization of the Americas.
[14]
The African slave
trade provided a large number of slaves to Europeans and many more to people in Muslim countries.
[15][16]
The Atlantic slave trade was not the only slave trade from Africa, although it was the largest in volume and intensity.
As Elikia Mbokolo wrote in Le Monde diplomatique:
"The African continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across the Sahara,
through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic. At least ten centuries of
slavery for the benefit of the Muslim countries (from the ninth to the nineteenth).... Four million
enslaved people exported via the Red Sea, another four million through the Swahili ports of the Indian
Ocean, perhaps as many as nine million along the trans-Saharan caravan route, and eleven to twenty
million (depending on the author) across the Atlantic Ocean".
[17]
According to John K. Thornton, Europeans usually bought enslaved people who were captured in endemic warfare
between African states.
[18]
Some Africans had made a business out of capturing Africans from neighboring ethnic
groups or war captives and selling them.
[19]
A scathing reminder of this practice is documented in the Slave Trade
Debates of England in the early 19th century: "All the old writers... concur in stating not only that wars are entered
into for the sole purpose of making slaves, but that they are fomented by Europeans, with a view to that object."
[20]
People living around the Niger River were transported from these markets to the coast and sold at European trading
ports in exchange for muskets and manufactured goods such as cloth or alcohol.
[21]
However, the European demand
for slaves provided a large new market for the already existing trade.
[22]
While those held in slavery in their own
region of Africa might hope to escape, those shipped away had little chance of returning to Africa.
7
European colonization and slavery in West Africa
The Portuguese presenting themselves before the Manikongo. The Portuguese initially
fostered a good relationship with the Kingdom of Kongo. Civil War within Kongo would
lead to many of its subjects ending up as enslaved people in Portuguese and other
European vessels.
Upon discovering new lands through
their naval explorations, European
colonisers soon began to migrate to
and settle in lands outside their native
continent. Off the coast of Africa,
European migrants, under the
directions of the Kingdom of Castile,
invaded and colonised the Canary
Islands during the 15th century, where
they converted much of the land to the
production of wine and sugar. Along
with this, they also captured native
Canary Islanders, the Guanches, to use
as slaves both on the Islands and across
the Christian Mediterranean.
[23]
As historian John Thornton remarked,
"the actual motivation for European
expansion and for navigational
breakthroughs was little more than to
exploit the opportunity for immediate profits made by raiding and the seizure or purchase of trade commodities".
[24]
Using the Canary Islands as a naval base, European, at the time primarily Portuguese traders, began to move their
activities down the western coast of Africa, performing raids in which slaves would be captured to be later sold in
the Mediterranean.
[25]
Although initially successful in this venture, "it was not long before African naval forces were
alerted to the new dangers, and the Portuguese [raiding] ships began to meet strong and effective resistance", with
the crews of several of them being killed by African sailors, whose boats were better equipped at traversing the west
African coasts and river systems.
[26]
By 1494, the Portuguese king had entered agreements with the rulers of several West African states that would allow
trade between their respective peoples, enabling the Portuguese to "tap into" the "well-developed commercial
economy in Africa... without engaging in hostilities".
[27]
"Peaceful trade became the rule all along the African coast",
although there were some rare exceptions when acts of aggression led to violence. For instance Portuguese traders
attempted to conquer the Bissagos Islands in 1535.
[28]
In 1571 Portugal, supported by the Kingdom of Kongo, took
control of the south-western region of Angola in order to secure its threatened economic interest in the area.
Although Kongo later joined a coalition in 1591 to force the Portuguese out, Portugal had secured a foothold on the
continent that it continued to occupy until the 20th century.
[29]
Despite these incidences of occasional violence
between African and European forces, many African states ensured that any trade went on in their own terms, for
instance, imposing custom duties on foreign ships. In 1525, the Kongolese king, Afonso I, seized a French vessel and
its crew for illegally trading on his coast.
Historians have widely debated the nature of the relationship between these African kingdoms and the European
traders. The Guyanese historian Walter Rodney (1972) has argued that it was an unequal relationship, with Africans
being forced into a "colonial" trade with the more economically developed Europeans, exchanging raw materials and
human resources (i.e. slaves) for manufactured goods. He argued that it was this economic trade agreement dating
back to the 16th century that led to Africa being underdeveloped in his own time.
[30]
These ideas were supported by
other historians, including Ralph Austen (1987).
[31]
This idea of an unequal relationship was contested by John
Thornton (1998), who argued that "the Atlantic slave trade was not nearly as critical to the African economy as these
8
scholars believed" and that "African manufacturing [at this period] was more than capable of handling competition
from preindustrial Europe".
[32]
However, Anne Bailey, commenting on Thornton's suggestion that Africans and
Europeans were equal partners in the Atlantic slave trade, wrote:
To see Africans as partners implies equal terms and equal influence on the global and intercontinental
processes of the trade. Africans had great influence on the continent itself, but they had no direct
influence on the engines behind the trade in the capital firms, the shipping and insurance companies of
Europe and America, or the plantation systems in Americas. They did not wield any influence on the
building manufacturing centers of the West.
[33]
European colonization and slavery in the Americas
It was not just along the west African coast, but also in the Americas that Europeans started to explore new
commercial opportunities. European Christendom first learned of the Americas after an expedition led by
Christopher Columbus in 1492.
[34]
As in Africa, however, the indigenous peoples widely resisted European
incursions into their territory during the first few centuries of contact, being somewhat effective in doing so. In the
Caribbean, Spanish settlers secured control over the larger islands only by allying themselves with certain Native
American tribal groups in their conflicts with neighbouring societies. Groups such as the Island Carib of the Lesser
Antilles, and the Kalina and Arawak people of (what is now) Venezuela launched effective counterattacks against
Spanish bases in the Caribbean. Their native-built boats were smaller and better suited to the seas around the islands,
and they achieved success in a number of cases at defeating the Spanish ships.
[35]
In the 15th and 16th centuries, colonists from Europe also settled on the otherwise uninhabited islands of the
Atlantic, such as Madeira and the Azores. With no slaves to sell, exporting commodity products became the main
industry.
[36]
16th, 17th and 18th centuries
Portrait of an African Slave Woman,
probably painted by Annibale
Carracci in the 1580s
The Atlantic slave trade is customarily divided into two eras, known as the First
and Second Atlantic Systems.
The First Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans to, primarily, South
American colonies of the Portuguese and Spanish empires; it accounted for
slightly more than 3% of all Atlantic slave trade. It started (on a significant scale)
in about 1502
[37]
and lasted until 1580 when Portugal was temporarily united
with Spain. While the Portuguese were directly involved in trading enslaved
peoples, the Spanish empire relied on the asiento system, awarding merchants
(mostly from other countries) the license to trade enslaved people to their
colonies. During the first Atlantic system most of these traders were Portuguese,
giving them a near-monopoly during the era. Some Dutch, English, and French
traders also participated in the slave trade.
[38]
After the union, Portugal came
under Spanish legislation that prohibited it from directly engaging in the slave
trade as a carrier. It became a target for the traditional enemies of Spain, losing a
large share of the trade to the Dutch, English and French.
The Second Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans by mostly
English, Portuguese, French and Dutch traders. The main destinations of this phase were the Caribbean colonies and
Brazil, as European nations built up economically slave-dependent colonies in the New World.
[39]
Slightly more than
3% of the enslaved people exported from Africa were traded between 1450 and 1600, and 16% in the 17th century.
It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the British,
Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted from Africa. By the 1690s, the
9
English were shipping the most slaves from West Africa. They maintained this position during the 18th century,
becoming the biggest shippers of slaves across the Atlantic.
Following the British and United States' bans on the African slave trade in 1808, it declined, but the period still
accounted for 28.5% of the total volume of the Atlantic slave trade.
[40]
European colonists initially practiced systems of both bonded labour and "Indian" slavery, enslaving many of the
natives of the New World. For a variety of reasons, Africans replaced Native Americans as the main population of
enslaved people in the Americas. In some cases, such as on some of the Caribbean Islands, diseases such as smallpox
and warfare eliminated the natives completely. In other cases, such as in South Carolina, Virginia, and New England,
colonists found they needed alliances with native tribes; together with the availability of enslaved Africans at
affordable prices (beginning in the early 18th century for these colonies), they banned Native American
slavery.Wikipedia:Citation needed
"The Slave Trade" by Auguste Franois Biard,
1840
A burial ground in Campeche, Mexico, suggests slaves had been
brought there not long after Hernn Corts completed the subjugation
of Aztec and Mayan Mexico in the 16th century. The graveyard had
been in use from approximately 1550 to the late 17th century.
[41]
Triangular trade
Main article: Triangular trade
The first side of the triangle was the export of goods from Europe to
Africa. A number of African kings and merchants took part in the
trading of enslaved people from 1440 to about 1833. For each captive,
the African rulers would receive a variety of goods from Europe. These included guns, ammunition and other factory
made goods. The second leg of the triangle exported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
and the Caribbean Islands. The third and final part of the triangle was the return of goods to Europe from the
Americas. The goods were the products of slave-labour plantations and included cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses
and rum.Wikipedia:Citation needed Sir John Hawkins, considered the pioneer of the British slave trade, was the first
to run the Triangular trade, making a profit at every stop.
Brazil (the main importer of slaves) manufactured these goods in South America and directly traded with African
ports, thus not taking part in a triangular trade.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Labour and slavery
10
"Am I Not a Man and a Brother?"
1787 medallion designed by Josiah
Wedgwood for the British
anti-slavery campaign
The Atlantic Slave Trade was the result of, among other things, labour shortage,
itself in turn created by the desire of European colonists to exploit New World
land and resources for capital profits. Native peoples were at first utilized as
slave labour by Europeans, until a large number died from overwork and Old
World diseases. Alternative sources of labour, such as indentured servitude,
failed to provide a sufficient workforce. Many crops could not be sold for profit,
or even grown, in Europe. Exporting crops and goods from the New World to
Europe often proved to be more profitable than producing them on the European
mainland. A vast amount of labour was needed to create and sustain plantations
that required intensive labour to grow, harvest, and process prized tropical crops.
Western Africa (part of which became known as "the Slave Coast"), and later
Central Africa, became the source for enslaved people to meet the demand for
labour.
The basic reason for the constant shortage of labour was that, with large amounts
of cheap land available and lots of landowners searching for workers, free European immigrants were able to become
landowners themselves after a relatively short time, thus increasing the need for workers.
[42]
Thomas Jefferson attributed the use of slave labour in part to the climate, and the consequent idle leisure afforded by
slave labour: "For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is
so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labour."
[43]
African participation in the slave trade
Slave traders in Gore, Senegal, 18th century
Africans played a direct role in the slave trade, selling their captives or
prisoners of war to European buyers.
[]
The prisoners and captives who
were sold were usually from neighbouring or enemy ethnic groups. These
captive slaves were considered "other", not part of the people of the
ethnic group or "tribe" ; African kings held no particular loyalty to them.
Sometimes criminals would be sold so that they could no longer commit
crimes in that area. Most other slaves were obtained from kidnappings, or
through raids that occurred at gunpoint through joint ventures with the
Europeans. But some African kings refused to sell any of their captives
or criminals. King Jaja of Opobo, a former slave, refused to do business
with the slavers completely. However, Shahadah notes that with the rise
of a large commercial slave trade driven by European needs, enslaving
enemies became less a consequence of war, and more and more a reason
to go to war.
European participation in the slave trade
Although Europeans were the market for slaves, Europeans rarely entered the interior of Africa, due to fear of
disease and fierce African resistance.
[44]
The enslaved people would be brought to coastal outposts where they would
be traded for goods. Enslavement became a major by-product of internal wars in Africa as nation states expanded
through military conflicts, in many cases through deliberate sponsorship of benefiting Western European
nations.Wikipedia:Citation needed During such periods of rapid state formation or expansion (Asante and Dahomey
being good examples), slavery formed an important element of political life which the Europeans exploited: as
Queen Sara's plea to the Portuguese courts revealed, the system became "sell to the Europeans or be sold to the
Europeans".Wikipedia:Citation needed In Africa, convicted criminals could be punished by enslavement, a
11
punishment which became more prevalent as slavery became more lucrative. Since most of these nations did not
have a prison system, convicts were often sold or used in the scattered local domestic slave market.
A slave being inspected
As of 1778, Thomas Kitchin estimated that Europeans
were bringing an estimated 52,000 slaves to the
Caribbean yearly, with the French bringing the most
Africans to the French West Indies (13,000 out of the
yearly estimate). The Atlantic slave trade peaked in the
last two decades of the 18th century,
[45]
during and
following the Kongo Civil War.
[46]
Wars among tiny
states along the Niger River's Igbo-inhabited region and
the accompanying banditry also spiked in this period.
Another reason for surplus supply of enslaved people
was major warfare conducted by expanding states, such
as the kingdom of Dahomey,
[47]
the Oyo Empire, and
the Asante Empire.
[48]
The majority of European conquests, raids and enslavements occurred toward the end or after the transatlantic slave
trade. One exception to this is the conquest of Ndongo in present-day Angola. Ndongo's slaves, warriors, free
citizens and even nobility were taken into slavery by the Portuguese conquerors after the fall of the
state.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Slavery in Africa and the New World contrasted
Further information: Slavery in Africa
Forms of slavery varied both in Africa and in the New World. In general, slavery in Africa was not heritable that
is, the children of slaves were free while in the Americas, children of slave mothers were considered born into
slavery. This was connected to another distinction: slavery in West Africa was not reserved for racial or religious
minorities, as it was in European colonies, although the case was otherwise in places such as Somalia, where Bantus
were taken as slaves for the ethnic Somalis.
[49][50]
The treatment of slaves in Africa was more variable than in the Americas. At one extreme, the kings of Dahomey
routinely slaughtered slaves in hundreds or thousands in sacrificial rituals, and slaves as human sacrifices was also
known in Cameroon.
[51]
On the other hand, slaves in other places were often treated as part of the family, "adopted
children," with significant rights including the right to marry without their masters' permission.
[52]
Scottish explorer
Mungo Park wrote:
"The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion of three to one to the freemen. They claim
no reward for their services except food and clothing, and are treated with kindness or severity,
according to the good or bad disposition of their masters.... The slaves which are thus brought from the
interior may be divided into two distinct classes first, such as were slaves from their birth, having been
born of enslaved mothers; secondly, such as were born free, but who afterwards, by whatever means,
became slaves. Those of the first description are by far the most numerous...."
[53]
In the Americas, slaves were denied the right to marry freely and masters did not generally accept them as equal
members of the family. While slaves convicted of revolt or murder were executed, New World colonists did not
submit slaves to arbitrary ritual sacrifice.
[54]
New World slaves were useful and expensive enough to maintain and
care for, but still the property of their owners.
12
Slave market regions and participation
Major slave trading regions of Africa, 15th19th
centuries
There were eight principal areas used by Europeans to buy and
ship slaves to the Western Hemisphere. The number of enslaved
people sold to the New World varied throughout the slave trade.
As for the distribution of slaves from regions of activity, certain
areas produced far more enslaved people than others. Between
1650 and 1900, 10.24 million enslaved Africans arrived in the
Americas from the following regions in the following
proportions:
[55]
Senegambia (Senegal and the Gambia): 4.8%
Upper Guinea (Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone): 4.1%
Windward Coast (Liberia and Cte d'Ivoire): 1.8%
Gold Coast (Ghana and east of Cte d'Ivoire): 10.4%
Bight of Benin (Togo, Benin and Nigeria west of the Niger
Delta): 20.2%
Bight of Biafra (Nigeria east of the Niger Delta, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon): 14.6%
West Central Africa (Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola): 39.4%
Southeastern Africa (Mozambique and Madagascar): 4.7%
African kingdoms of the era
Ghezo, King of Dahomey, was under
pressure from the British to end the slave
trade
There were over 173 city-states and kingdoms in the African regions
affected by the slave trade between 1502 and 1853, when Brazil became the
last Atlantic import nation to outlaw the slave trade. Of those 173, no fewer
than 68 could be deemed nation states with political and military
infrastructures that enabled them to dominate their neighbours. Nearly
every present-day nation had a pre-colonial predecessor, sometimes an
African Empire with which European traders had to barter.
Ethnic groups
The different ethnic groups brought to the Americas closely corresponds to
the regions of heaviest activity in the slave trade. Over 45 distinct ethnic
groups were taken to the Americas during the trade. Of the 45, the ten most
prominent, according to slave documentation of the era are listed below.
1. The BaKongo of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola
2. The Mand of Upper Guinea
3. The Gbe speakers of Togo, Ghana and Benin (Adja, Mina, Ewe, Fon)
4. The Akan of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire
5. The Wolof of Senegal and the Gambia
6. The Igbo of southeastern Nigeria
7. The Mbundu of Angola (includes both Ambundu and Ovimbundu)
8. The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria
9. The Chamba of Cameroon
10. The Makua of Mozambique
13
Human toll
The transatlantic slave trade resulted in a vast and as yet still unknown loss of life for African captives both in and
outside America. Approximately 1.2 2.4 million Africans died during their transport to the New World.
[56]
More
died soon upon their arrival. The number of lives lost in the procurement of slaves remains a mystery but may equal
or exceed the number who survived to be enslaved.
[57]
The savage nature of the trade led to the destruction of individuals and cultures. The following figures do not include
deaths of enslaved Africans as a result of their labour, slave revolts, or diseases suffered while living among New
World populations.
A database compiled in the late 1990s put the figure for the transatlantic slave trade at more than 11 million people.
For a long time, an accepted figure was 15 million, although this has in recent years been revised down. Estimates by
Patrick Manning are that about 12 million slaves entered the Atlantic trade between the 16th and 19th century, but
about 1.5 million died on board ship. About 10.5 million slaves arrived in the Americas. Besides the slaves who died
on the Middle Passage, more Africans likely died during the slave raids in Africa and forced marches to ports.
Manning estimates that 4 million died inside Africa after capture, and many more died young. Manning's estimate
covers the 12 million who were originally destined for the Atlantic, as well as the 6 million destined for Asian slave
markets and the 8 million destined for African markets.
[58]
African conflicts
Diagram of a slave ship from the Atlantic slave
trade. From an Abstract of Evidence delivered
before a select committee of the House of
Commons in 1790 and 1791.
According to Dr. Kimani Nehusi, the presence of European slavers
affected the way in which the legal code in African societies responded
to offenders. Crimes traditionally punishable by some other form of
punishment became punishable by enslavement and sale to slave
traders. According to David Stannard's American Holocaust, 50% of
African deaths occurred in Africa as a result of wars between native
kingdoms, which produced the majority of slaves. This includes not
only those who died in battles, but also those who died as a result of
forced marches from inland areas to slave ports on the various
coasts.
[59]
The practice of enslaving enemy combatants and their
villages was widespread throughout Western and West Central Africa,
although wars were rarely started to procure slaves. The slave trade
was largely a by-product of tribal and state warfare as a way of
removing potential dissidents after victory, or financing future wars.
[60]
However, some African groups proved particularly adept and brutal at
the practice of enslaving, such as Oyo, Benin, Igala, Kaabu,
Asanteman, Dahomey, the Aro Confederacy and the Imbangala war
bands.
[61]
In letters written by the Manikongo, Nzinga Mbemba Afonso, to the
King Joo III of Portugal, he writes that Portuguese merchandise
flowing in is what is fueling the trade in Africans. He requests the King of Portugal to stop sending merchandise but
should only send missionaries. In one of his letters he writes:
"Each day the traders are kidnapping our peoplechildren of this country, sons of our nobles and vassals,
even people of our
14
Diagram of a large slave ship. Thomas Clarkson:
The cries of Africa to the inhabitants of Europe,
1822?
own family. This corruption and depravity are so widespread
that our land is entirely depopulated. We need in this kingdom
only priests and schoolteachers, and no merchandise, unless it is
wine and flour for Mass. It is our wish that this Kingdom not be
a place for the trade or transport of slaves."
Many of our subjects eagerly lust after Portuguese merchandise
that your subjects have brought into our domains. To satisfy this
inordinate appetite, they seize many of our black free subjects....
They sell them. After having taken these prisoners [to the coast]
secretly or at night..... As soon as the captives are in the hands of
white men they are branded with a red-hot iron.
Before the arrival of the Portuguese, slavery had already existed in
Kongo. Afonso believed that the slave trade should be subject to
Kongo law. When he suspected the Portuguese of receiving illegally
enslaved persons to sell, he wrote to King Joo III in 1526 imploring him to put a stop to the practice.
[62]
The kings of Dahomey sold war captives into transatlantic slavery; they would otherwise have been killed in a
ceremony known as the Annual Customs. As one of West Africa's principal slave states, Dahomey became
extremely unpopular with neighbouring peoples.
[63][64][65]
Like the Bambara Empire to the east, the Khasso
kingdoms depended heavily on the slave trade for their economy. A family's status was indicated by the number of
slaves it owned, leading to wars for the sole purpose of taking more captives. This trade led the Khasso into
increasing contact with the European settlements of Africa's west coast, particularly the French.
[66]
Benin grew
increasingly rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the slave trade with Europe; slaves from enemy states of the
interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin's shore soon came
to be known as the "Slave Coast".
[67]
King Gezo of Dahomey said in the 1840s:
The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth...the mother
lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery...
In 1807, the UK Parliament passed the Bill that abolished the trading of slaves. The King of Bonny (now in Nigeria)
was horrified at the conclusion of the practice:
We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country,
however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself.
[68]
15
Port factories
After being marched to the coast for sale, enslaved people waited in large forts called factories. The amount of time
in factories varied, but Milton Meltzer's Slavery: A World History states this period resulted in or around 4.5% of
deaths during the transatlantic slave trade. In other words, over 820,000 people would have died in African ports
such as Benguela, Elmina and Bonny, reducing the number of those shipped to 17.5 million.
[]
Atlantic shipment
A Liverpool Slave Ship by William Jackson.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
After being captured and held in the factories, slaves entered the
infamous Middle Passage. Meltzer's research puts this phase of the
slave trade's overall mortality at 12.5%. Around 2.2 million
Africans died during these voyages where they were packed into
tight, unsanitary spaces on ships for months at a time. Measures
were taken to stem the onboard mortality rate, such as enforced
"dancing" (as exercise) above deck and the practice of
force-feeding enslaved persons who tried to starve themselves.
The conditions on board also resulted in the spread of fatal
diseases. Other fatalities were suicides, slaves who escaped by
jumping overboard. The slave traders would try to fit anywhere
from 350 to 600 slaves on one ship. Before the African slave trade
was completely banned by participating nations in 1853, 15.3
million enslaved people had arrived in the Americas.
Raymond L. Cohn, an economics professor whose research has
focused on economic history and international migration,
[69]
has
researched the mortality rates among Africans during the voyages
of the Atlantic slave trade. He found that mortality rates decreased
over the history of the slave trade, primarily because the length of
time necessary for the voyage was declining. "In the eighteenth century many slave voyages took at least 2 months.
In the nineteenth century, 2 months appears to have been the maximum length of the voyage, and many voyages
were far shorter. Fewer slaves died in the Middle Passage over time mainly because the passage was shorter."
[70]
Seasoning camps
Meltzer also states that 33% of Africans would have died in the first year at the seasoning camps found throughout
the Caribbean. Many slaves shipped directly to North America bypassed this process; however, most slaves (destined
for island or South American plantations) were likely to be put through this ordeal. The enslaved people were
tortured for the purpose of "breaking" them and conditioning them to their new lot in life.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Jamaica held one of the most notorious of these camps. Dysentery was the leading cause of death. All in all, 5
million Africans died in these camps, reducing the number of survivors to about 10 million.
European competition
The trade of enslaved Africans in the Atlantic has its origins in the explorations of Portuguese mariners down the
coast of West Africa in the 15th century. Before that, contact with African slave markets was made to ransom
Portuguese who had been captured by the intense North African Barbary pirate attacks on Portuguese ships and
coastal villages, frequently leaving them depopulated.
[71]
The first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New
World were the Spaniards, who sought auxiliaries for their conquest expeditions and labourers on islands such as
Cuba and Hispaniola. The alarming decline in the native population had spurred the first royal laws protecting them
16
(Laws of Burgos, 15121513). The first enslaved Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501.
[72]
After Portugal had
succeeded in establishing sugar plantations (engenhos) in northern Brazil ca. 1545, Portuguese merchants on the
West African coast began to supply enslaved Africans to the sugar planters. While at first these planters had relied
almost exclusively on the native Tupani for slave labour, after 1570 they began importing Africans, as a series of
epidemics had decimated the already destabilized Tupani communities. By 1630, Africans had replaced the Tupani
as the largest contingent of labour on Brazilian sugar plantations. This ended the European medieval household
tradition of slavery, resulted in Brazil's receiving the most enslaved Africans, and revealed sugar cultivation and
processing as the reason that roughly 84% of these Africans were shipped to the New World.
Punishing slaves at Calabouco, in Rio de Janeiro,
c. 1822
As Britain rose in naval power and settled continental North America
and some islands of the West Indies, they became the leading slave
traders. At one stage the trade was the monopoly of the Royal Africa
Company, operating out of London. But, following the loss of the
company's monopoly in 1689,
[73]
Bristol and Liverpool merchants
became increasingly involved in the trade.
[74]
By the late 17th century,
one out of every four ships that left Liverpool harbour was a slave
trading ship.
[75]
Much of the wealth on which the city of Manchester,
and surrounding towns, was built in the late eighteenth century, and for
much of the nineteenth century, was based on the processing of
slave-picked cotton and manufacture of cloth.
[76]
Other British cities
also profited from the slave trade. Birmingham, the largest
gun-producing town in Britain at the time, supplied guns to be traded
for slaves.Wikipedia:Citation needed 75% of all sugar produced in the plantations was sent to London, and much of
it was consumed in the highly lucrative coffee houses there.
New World destinations
Recently bought slaves in Brazil on their way to
the farms of the landowners who bought them c.
1830.
The first slaves to arrive as part of a labour force in the New World
reached the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican
Republic) in 1502. Cuba received its first four slaves in 1513. Jamaica
received its first shipment of 4000 slaves in 1518.
[77]
Slave exports to
Honduras and Guatemala started in 1526.
The first enslaved Africans to reach what would become the United
States arrived in January 1526 as part of a Spanish attempt to colonize
South Carolina near Jamestown. By November the 300 Spanish
colonists were reduced to 100, and their slaves from 100 to
70Wikipedia:Please clarify. The enslaved people revolted and joined a
nearby Native American tribe, while the Spanish abandoned the colony
altogether. Colombia received its first enslaved people in 1533. El Salvador, Costa Rica and Florida began their
stints in the slave trade in 1541, 1563 and 1581, respectively.
The 17th century saw an increase in shipments, with Africans arriving in the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia
in 1619. These first kidnapped Africans were classed as indentured servants and freed after seven years. Chattel
slavery was codified in Virginia law in 1656, and
17
A 19th-century lithograph showing a sugarcane
plantation in Suriname.
in 1662, the colony adopted the principle of partus sequitur ventrem,
by which children of slave mothers were slaves, regardless of
paternity. Irish immigrants took slaves to Montserrat in 1651, and in
1655, slaves were shipped to Belize.
By 1802 Russian colonists noted that "Boston" (U.S.-based) skippers were trading African slaves for otter pelts with
the Tlingit people in Southeast Alaska.
Distribution of slaves (15191867)
[78]
Destination Percentage
Portuguese America 38.5%
British America (minus North America) 18.4%
Spanish Empire 17.5%
French Americas 13.6%
British North America 6.45%
English Americas 3.25%
Dutch West Indies 2.0%
Danish West Indies 0.3%
The number of the Africans arrived in each area can be calculated taking into consideration that the total number of
slaves was close to 10,000,000.
[79]
Economics of slavery
Slaves processing tobacco in 17th-century Virginia
The plantation economies of the New World were
built on slave labour. Seventy percent of the enslaved
people brought to the new world were forced to
produce sugar, the most labour-intensive crop. The
rest were employed harvesting coffee, cotton, and
tobacco, and in some cases in mining. The West
Indian colonies of the European powers were some
of their most important possessions, so they went to
extremes to protect and retain them. For example, at
the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, France
agreed to cede the vast territory of New France (now
Eastern Canada) to the victors in exchange for keeping the minute Antillean island of
Guadeloupe.Wikipedia:Citation needed
18
In France in the 18th century, returns for investors in plantations averaged around 6%; as compared to 5% for most
domestic alternatives, this represented a 20% profit advantage. Risksmaritime and commercialwere important
for individual voyages. Investors mitigated it by buying small shares of many ships at the same time. In that way,
they were able to diversify a large part of the risk away. Between voyages, ship shares could be freely sold and
bought.
[80]
By far the most financially profitable West Indian colonies in 1800 belonged to the United Kingdom. After entering
the sugar colony business late, British naval supremacy and control over key islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad, the
Leeward Islands and Barbados and the territory of British Guiana gave it an important edge over all competitors;
while many British did not make gains, a handful of individuals made small fortunes. This advantage was reinforced
when France lost its most important colony, St. Dominigue (western Hispaniola, now Haiti), to a slave revolt in
1791
[81]
and supported revolts against its rival Britain, after the 1793 French revolution in the name of liberty.
Before 1791, British sugar had to be protected to compete against cheaper French sugar.
After 1791, the British islands produced the most sugar, and the British people quickly became the largest
consumers. West Indian sugar became ubiquitous as an additive to Indian tea. It has been estimated that the profits of
the slave trade and of West Indian plantations created up to one-in-twenty of every pound circulating in the British
economy at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the latter half of the 18th century.
[82]
Effects
World population (in millions)
[83]
Year 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 1999
World 791 978 1,262 1,650 2,521 5,978
Africa 106 107 111 133 221 767
Asia 502 635 809 947 1,402 3,634
Europe 163 203 276 408 547 729
Latin America and the Caribbean 16 24 38 74 167 511
Northern America 2 7 26 82 172 307
Oceania 2 2 2 6 13 30
World population (by percentage distribution)
Year 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 1999
World 100 100 100 100 100 100
Africa 13.4 10.9 8.8 8.1 8.8 12.8
Asia 63.5 64.9 64.1 57.4 55.6 60.8
Europe 20.6 20.8 21.9 24.7 21.7 12.2
Latin America and the Caribbean 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.5 6.6 8.5
Northern America 0.3 0.7 2.1 5.0 6.8 5.1
Oceania 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.5
Historian Walter Rodney has argued that at the start of the slave trade in the 16th century, although there was a
technological gap between Europe and Africa, it was not very substantial. Both continents were using Iron Age
technology. The major advantage that Europe had was in ship building. During the period of slavery, the populations
19
of Europe and the Americas grew exponentially, while the population of Africa remained stagnant. Rodney
contended that the profits from slavery were used to fund economic growth and technological advancement in
Europe and the Americas. Based on earlier theories by Eric Williams, he asserted that the industrial revolution was at
least in part funded by agricultural profits from the Americas. He cited examples such as the invention of the steam
engine by James Watt, which was funded by plantation owners from the Caribbean.
[84]
Other historians have attacked both Rodney's methodology and accuracy. Joseph C. Miller has argued that the social
change and demographic stagnation (which he researched on the example of West Central Africa) was caused
primarily by domestic factors. Joseph Inikori provided a new line of argument, estimating counterfactual
demographic developments in case the Atlantic slave trade had not existed. Patrick Manning has shown that the
slave trade did have profound impact on African demographics and social institutions, but criticized Inikori's
approach for not taking other factors (such as famine and drought) into account, and thus being highly
speculative.
[85]
Effect on the economy of West Africa
Cowrie shells were used as money in the slave
trade
No scholars dispute the harm done to the enslaved people but the effect
of the trade on African societies is much debated, due to the apparent
influx of goods to Africans. Proponents of the slave trade, such as
Archibald Dalzel, argued that African societies were robust and not
much affected by the trade. In the 19th century, European abolitionists,
most prominently Dr. David Livingstone, took the opposite view,
arguing that the fragile local economy and societies were being
severely harmed by the trade.
Though the negative effects of slavery on the economies of Africa have
been well documented, namely the significant decline in population,
some African rulers likely saw an economic benefit from trading their
subjects with European slave traders. With the exception of Portuguese
controlled Angola, coastal African leaders "generally controlled access to their coasts, and were able to prevent
direct enslavement of their subjects and citizens."
[86]
Thus, as African scholar John Thornton argues, African leaders
who allowed the continuation of the slave trade likely derived an economic benefit from selling their subjects to
Europeans. The Kingdom of Benin, for instance, participated in the African slave trade, at will, from 1715 to 1735,
surprising Dutch traders, who had not expected to buy slaves in Benin. The benefit derived from trading slaves for
European goods was enough to make the Kingdom of Benin rejoin the trans-Atlantic slave trade after centuries of
non-participation. Such benefits included military technology (specifically guns and gunpowder), gold, or simply
maintaining amicable trade relationships with European nations. The slave trade was therefore a means for some
African elite to gain economic advantages.
[87]
Historian Walter Rodney estimates that by c.1770, the King of
Dahomey was earning an estimated 250,000 per year by selling captive African soldiers and enslaved people to the
European slave-traders.
Both Thornton and Fage contend that while African political elite may have ultimately benefited from the slave
trade, their decision to participate may have been influenced more by what they could lose by not participating. In
Fage's article "Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Context of West African History," he notes that for West Africans
"... there were really few effective means of mobilizing labour for the economic and political needs of the state"
without the slave trade.
20
Effects on the British economy
Further information: Historiography of the British Empire Slavery
Historian Eric Williams in 1944 argued that the profits that Britain received from its sugar colonies, or from the
slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean, was a major factor in financing Britain's industrial revolution.
However, he says that by the time of its abolition in 1833 it had lost its profitability and it was in Britain's economic
interest to ban it.
[88]
Other researchers and historians have strongly contested what has come to be referred to as the Williams thesis in
academia. David Richardson has concluded that the profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of
domestic investment in Britain,.
[89]
Economic historian Stanley Engerman finds that even without subtracting the
associated costs of the slave trade (e.g., shipping costs, slave mortality, mortality of British people in Africa, defense
costs) or reinvestment of profits back into the slave trade, the total profits from the slave trade and of West Indian
plantations amounted to less than 5% of the British economy during any year of the Industrial Revolution.
Engermans 5% figure gives as much as possible in terms of benefit of the doubt to the Williams argument, not
solely because it does not take into account the associated costs of the slave trade to Britain, but also because it
carries the full-employment assumption from economics and holds the gross value of slave trade profits as a direct
contribution to Britains national income. Historian Richard Pares, in an article written before Williams book,
dismisses the influence of wealth generated from the West Indian plantations upon the financing of the Industrial
Revolution, stating that whatever substantial flow of investment from West Indian profits into industry there was
occurred after emancipation, not before.
Seymour Drescher and Robert Anstey argue the slave trade remained profitable until the end, and that moralistic
reform, not economic incentive, was primarily responsible for abolition. They say slavery remained profitable in the
1830s because of innovations in agriculture.
[90]
Karl Marx in his influential economic history of capitalism Das Kapital wrote that "...the turning of Africa into a
warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signaled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production." He
argued that the slave trade was part of what he termed the "primitive accumulation" of capital, the 'non-capitalist'
accumulation of wealth that preceded and created the financial conditions for Britain's industrialisation.
Demographics
A Linen Market with enslaved Africans. West Indies, circa 1780
The demographic effects of the slave trade is a
controversial and highly debated issue.
Walter Rodney argued that the export of so many people
had been a demographic disaster and had left Africa
permanently disadvantaged when compared to other parts
of the world, and largely explains the continent's
continued poverty.
[91]
He presented numbers showing
that Africa's population stagnated during this period,
while that of Europe and Asia grew dramatically.
According to Rodney, all other areas of the economy
were disrupted by the slave trade as the top merchants
abandoned traditional industries to pursue slaving, and
the lower levels of the population were disrupted by the
slaving itself.
Others have challenged this view. J. D. Fage compared the number effect on the continent as a whole. David Eltis
has compared the numbers to the rate of emigration from Europe during this period. In the nineteenth century alone
over 50 million people left Europe for the Americas, a far higher rate than were ever taken from Africa.
[92]
21
Other scholars accused Rodney of mischaracterizing the trade between Africans and Europeans. They argue that
Africans, or more accurately African elites, deliberately let European traders join in an already large trade in
enslaved people and were not patronized.
[93]
As Joseph E. Inikori argues, the history of the region shows that the effects were still quite deleterious. He argues
that the African economic model of the period was very different from the European, and could not sustain such
population losses. Population reductions in certain areas also led to widespread problems. Inikori also notes that after
the suppression of the slave trade Africa's population almost immediately began to rapidly increase, even prior to the
introduction of modern medicines.
[94]
Owen Alik Shahadah also states that the trade was not only of demographic
significance in aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, exposure to
epidemics, and reproductive and social development potential.
Legacy of racism
West Indian Creole woman, with her black
servant, circa 1780
Professor Maulana Karenga states that the effects of slavery were that
"the morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved
redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and
future relations with others who only know us through this
stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among
peoples." He states that it constituted the destruction of culture,
language, religion and human possibility.
Walter Rodney states: "Above all, it was the institution of slavery in
the Americas which ultimately conditioned racial attitudes, even when
their more immediate derivation was the literature on Africa or
contacts within Europe itself. It has been well attested that New World
slave-plantation society was the laboratory of modern racism. The
owners contempt for and fear of the black slaves was expressed in
religious, scientific and philosophical terms, which became the stock
attitudes of European and even Africans in subsequent generations.
Although there have been contributions to racist philosophy both
before and after the slave trade epoch, the historical experience of whites enslaving blacks for four centuries forged
the tie between racist and colour prejudice, and produced not merely individual racists but a society where racism
was so all-pervasive that it not even perceived for what it was. The very concept of human racial variants was never
satisfactorily established in biological terms,and the assumptions of scientists and laymen alike were rooted in the
perception of a reality in which Europeans had succeeded in reducing Africans to the level of chattel."
Walter Rodney states, "The role of slavery in promoting racist prejudice and ideology has been carefully studied in
certain situations, especially in the U.S.A. The simple fact is that no people can enslave another for four centuries
without coming out with a notion of superiority, and when the colour and other physical traits of those peoples were
quite different it was inevitable that the prejudice should take a racist form."
Eric Williams argued that, "A racial twist [was] given to what is basically an economic phenomenon. Slavery was
not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery."
22
End of the Atlantic slave trade
Main article: Abolitionism
William Wilberforce (17591833), politician and
philanthropist who was a leader of the movement
to abolish the slave trade.
In Britain, America, Portugal and in parts of Europe, opposition
developed against the slave trade. Davis says that abolitionists assumed
"that an end to slave imports would lead automatically to the
amelioration and gradual abolition of slavery".
[95]
Opposition to the
trade was led by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and
establishment Evangelicals such as William Wilberforce. The
movement was joined by many and began to protest against the trade,
but they were opposed by the owners of the colonial holdings.
[96]
Following Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, slaves became free upon
entering the British isles.
[97]
Under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson,
the new state of Virginia in 1778 became the first state and one of the
first jurisdictions anywhere to stop the importation of slaves for sale; it
made it a crime for traders to bring in slaves from out of state or from
overseas for sale; migrants from other states were allowed to bring
their own slaves. The new law freed all slaves brought in illegally after
its passage and imposed heavy fines on violators.
[98][99]
Denmark,
which had been active in the slave trade, was the first country to ban
the trade through legislation in 1792, which took effect in 1803. Britain
banned the slave trade in 1807, imposing stiff fines for any slave found aboard a British ship (see Slave Trade Act
1807). The Royal Navy, which then controlled the world's seas, moved to stop other nations from continuing the
slave trade and declared that slaving was equal to piracy and was punishable by death. The United States Congress
passed the Slave Trade Act of 1794, which prohibited the building or outfitting of ships in the U.S. for use in the
slave trade. In 1807 Congress outlawed the importation of slaves beginning on January 1, 1808, the earliest date
permitted by the United States Constitution for such a ban.
On Sunday, 28 October 1787, William Wilberforce wrote in his diary: "God Almighty has set before me two great
objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the Reformation of society." For the rest of his life, William
Wilberforce dedicated his life as a Member of the British Parliament to opposing the slave trade and working for the
abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. On 22 February 1807, twenty years after he first began his
crusade, and in the middle of Britain's war with France, Wilberforce and his team's labours were rewarded with
victory. By an overwhelming 283 votes for to 16 against, the motion to abolish the Atlantic slave trade was carried in
the House of Commons.
[100]
The United States acted to abolish the slave trade the same year, but not its internal
slave trade which became the dominant character in American slavery until the 1860s.
[101]
In 1805 the British
Order-in-Council had restricted the importation of slaves into colonies that had been captured from France and the
Netherlands. Britain continued to press other nations to end its trade; in 1810 an Anglo-Portuguese treaty was signed
whereby Portugal agreed to restrict its trade into its colonies; an 1813 Anglo-Swedish treaty whereby Sweden
outlawed its slave trade; the Treaty of Paris 1814 where France agreed with Britain that the trade is "repugnant to the
principles of natural justice" and agreed to abolish the slave trade in five years; the 1814 Anglo-Netherlands treaty
where the Dutch outlawed its slave trade.
23
"Am I not a woman and a sister?"
An antislavery medallion from the late 18th
century
With peace in Europe from 1815, and British supremacy at sea
secured, the Royal Navy turned its attention back to the challenge and
established the West Africa Squadron in 1808, known as the
"preventative squadron", which for the next 50 years operated against
the slavers. By the 1850s, around 25 vessels and 2,000 officers and
men were on the station, supported by some ships from the small
United States Navy, and nearly 1,000 "Kroomen"experienced
fishermen recruited as sailors from what is now the coast of modern
Liberia. Service on the West Africa Squadron was a thankless and
overwhelming task, full of risk and posing a constant threat to the
health of the crews involved. Contending with pestilential swamps and
violent encounters, the mortality rate was 55 per 1,000 men, compared
with 10 for fleets in the Mediterranean or in home waters.
[102]
Between
1807 and 1860, the Royal Navy's Squadron seized approximately 1,600
ships involved in the slave trade and freed 150,000 Africans who were
aboard these vessels.
[103]
Several hundred slaves a year were transported by the navy to the British colony of Sierra
Leone, where they were made to serve as "apprentices" in the colonial economy until the Slavery Abolition Act
1833.
[104]
Action was taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for
example against "the usurping King of Lagos", deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50
African rulers.
[105]
Capture of slave ship El Almirante by the British
Royal Navy in the 1800s. HMSBlack Joke freed
466 slaves.
The last recorded slave ship to land on American soil was the Clotilde,
which in 1859 illegally smuggled a number of Africans into the town
of Mobile, Alabama.
[106]
The Africans on board were sold as slaves;
however, slavery in the U.S. was abolished 5 years later following the
end of the American Civil War in 1865. The last survivor of the
voyage was Cudjoe Lewis, who died in 1935. The last country to ban
the Atlantic slave trade was Brazil in 1831. However, a vibrant illegal
trade continued to ship large numbers of enslaved people to Brazil and
also to Cuba until the 1860s, when British enforcement and further
diplomacy finally ended the Atlantic trade.
The historian Walter Rodney contends that it was a decline in the
profitability of the triangular trades that made it possible for certain
basic human sentiments to be asserted at the decision-making level in a number of European countries- Britain being
the most crucial because it was the greatest carrier of African captives across the Atlantic. Rodney states that
changes in productivity, technology and patterns of exchange in Europe and the Americas informed the decision by
the British to end their participation in the trade in 1807.
24
Legacy
African diaspora
House slaves in Brazil c. 1820, by Jean-Baptiste
Debret
The African diaspora which was created via slavery has been a
complex interwoven part of American history and culture.
[107]
In the
United States, the success of Alex Haley's book Roots: The Saga of an
American Family, published in 1976, and the subsequent television
miniseries based upon it Roots, broadcast on the ABC network in
January 1977, led to an increased interest and appreciation of African
heritage amongst the African-American community.
[108]
The influence
of these led many African Americans to begin researching their family
histories and making visits to West Africa. In turn, a tourist industry
grew up to supply them. One notable example of this is through the
Roots Homecoming Festival held annually in the Gambia, in which
rituals are held through which African Americans can symbolically "come home" to Africa.
[109]
Issues of dispute
have however developed between African Americans and African authorities over how to display historic sites that
were involved in the Atlantic slave trade, with prominent voices in the former criticising the latter for not displaying
such sites sensitively, but instead treating them as a commercial enterprise.
[110]
"Back to Africa"
In 1816, a group of wealthy European-Americans, some of whom were abolitionists and others who were racial
segregationists, founded the American Colonization Society with the express desire of returning African Americans
who were in the United States to West Africa. In 1820, they sent their first ship to Liberia, and within a decade
around two thousand African Americans had been settled in the west African country. Such re-settlement continued
throughout the 19th century, increasing following the deterioration of race relations in the southern states of the US
following Reconstruction in 1877.
[111]
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement, which originated in Jamaica, where 98% of the population are descended from victims of
the Atlantic slave trade, has made great efforts to publicize the slavery, and to ensure it is not forgotten, especially
through reggae music.
[112]
Apologies
Civil societies
In 1998, UNESCO designated August 23 as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its
Abolition. Since then there have been a number of events recognizing the effects of slavery.
On 9 December 1999 Liverpool City Council passed a formal motion apologizing for the City's part in the slave
trade. It was unanimously agreed that Liverpool acknowledges its responsibility for its involvement in three
centuries of the slave trade. The City Council has made an unreserved apology for Liverpool's involvement and the
continual effect of slavery on Liverpool's Black communities.
[113]
25
Benin
In 1999, President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin (formerly the Kingdom of Dahomey) issued a national apology for the
role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade.
[114]
Luc Gnacadja, minister of environment and housing for Benin,
later said: "The slave trade is a shame, and we do repent for it."
[115]
Researchers estimate that 3 million slaves were
exported out of the Slave Coast bordering the Bight of Benin.
Ghana
President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana also apologized for his country's involvement in the slave trade.
World conference against racism
At the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, African nations demanded a clear apology
for slavery from the former slave-trading countries. Some nations were ready to express an apology, but the
opposition, mainly from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States blocked
attempts to do so. A fear of monetary compensation might have been one of the reasons for the opposition. As of
2009, efforts are underway to create a UN Slavery Memorial as a permanent remembrance of the victims of the
Atlantic slave trade.
France
On January 30, 2006, Jacques Chirac (the then French President) said that 10 May would henceforth be a national
day of remembrance for the victims of slavery in France, marking the day in 2001 when France passed a law
recognising slavery as a crime against humanity.
[116]
UK
On 27 November 2006, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a partial apology for Britain's role in the
African slavery trade. However African rights activists denounced it as "empty rhetoric" that failed to address the
issue properly. They feel his apology stopped shy to prevent any legal retort.
[117]
Mr Blair again apologized on
March 14, 2007.
[118]
On 24 August 2007, Ken Livingstone (then Mayor of London) apologized publicly for London's role in the slave
trade. "You can look across there to see the institutions that still have the benefit of the wealth they created from
slavery", he said pointing towards the financial district, before breaking down in tears. He claimed that London was
still tainted by the horrors of slavery. Jesse Jackson praised Mayor Livingstone, and added that reparations should be
made.
[119]
USA
On February 24, 2007 the Virginia General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution Number 728
[120]
acknowledging "with profound regret the involuntary servitude of Africans and the exploitation of Native
Americans, and call for reconciliation among all Virginians." With the passing of that resolution, Virginia became
the first of the 50 United States to acknowledge through the state's governing body their state's involvement in
slavery. The passing of this resolution came on the heels of the 400th anniversary celebration of the city of
Jamestown, Virginia, which was the first permanent English colony to survive in what would become the United
States. Jamestown is also recognized as one of the first slave ports of the American colonies.
On 31 May 2007, the Governor of Alabama, Bob Riley, signed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for
Alabama's role in slavery and apologizing for slavery's wrongs and lingering effects. Alabama is the fourth Southern
state to pass a slavery apology, following votes by the legislatures in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.
[121]
On July 30, 2008, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for American slavery
and subsequent discriminatory laws. The language included a reference to the "fundamental injustice, cruelty,
brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow" segregation.
[122]
26
On 18 June 2009, the United States Senate issued an apologetic statement decrying the "fundamental injustice,
cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery". The news was welcomed by President Barack Obama.
[123]
Uganda
In 1998, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, called tribal chieftains to apologize for their involvement in the
slave trade: "African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other and capturing their own people and selling
them. If anyone should apologise it should be the African chiefs. We still have those traitors here even today."
Nigeria
In 2009, the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria has written an open letter to all African chieftains who participated in
trade calling for an apology for their role in the Atlantic slave trade: "We cannot continue to blame the white men, as
Africans, particularly the traditional rulers, are not blameless. In view of the fact that the Americans and Europe have
accepted the cruelty of their roles and have forcefully apologized, it would be logical, reasonable and humbling if
African traditional rulers ... [can] accept blame and formally apologize to the descendants of the victims of their
collaborative and exploitative slave trade."
[124]
References
Footnotes
[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Slavery& action=edit
[2] Klein, Herbert S. and Jacob Klein. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 103139.
[3] Ronald Segal, The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995),
ISBN 0-374-11396-3, p. 4. "It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic. [Note in original: Paul E. Lovejoy,
"The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature", in Journal of African History 30 (1989), p. 368.]"
[4] Eltis, David and Richardson, David. The Numbers Game. In: Northrup, David: The Atlantic Slave Trade, 2nd edition, Houghton Mifflin Co.,
2002, p. 95.
[5] Basil Davidson. The African Slave Trade.
[6] Thornton 1998, pp. 1517.
[7] [7] Christopher 2006, p.127.
[8] [8] Thornton 1998, p. 13.
[9] Chaunu 1969, pp. 5458.
[10] [10] Thornton 1998, p. 24.
[11] Thornton 1998, pp. 2426.
[12] [12] Thornton 1998, p. 27.
[13] Historical survey > Slave societies (http:/ / www.britannica. com/ blackhistory/ article-24157) Britannica.
[14] Ferro, Mark (1997). Colonization: A Global History. Routledge, p. 221, ISBN 978-0-415-14007-2.
[15] Adu Boahen, Topics In West African History, p. 110.
[16] Kwaku Person-Lynn, African Involvement In Atlantic Slave Trade (http:/ / www. africawithin. com/ kwaku/ afrikan_involvement. htm).
[17] Elikia Mbokolo, "The impact of the slave trade on Africa", Le Monde diplomatique, 2 April 1998. (http:/ / mondediplo. com/ 1998/ 04/
02africa)
[18] [18] Thornton, p. 112.
[19] [19] Thornton, p. 310.
[20] Slave Trade Debates 1806, Colonial History Series, Dawsons of Pall Mall, London 1968, pp. 203-204.
[21] [21] Thornton, p. 45.
[22] [22] Thornton, p. 94.
[23] Thornton 1998, pp. 2829.
[24] [24] Thornton 1998, p. 31.
[25] Thornton 1998, pp. 2931.
[26] [26] Thornton 1998, pp. 37.
[27] [27] Thornton 1998, p. 38.
[28] [28] Thornton 1998, p. 39.
[29] [29] Thornton 1998, p. 40.
[30] [30] Rodney 1972, pp. 95-113.
[31] Austen 1987, pp. 81108.
27
[32] [32] Thornton 1998, p. 44.
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[35] Thornton 1998, pp. 4041.
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[37] Anstey, Roger: The Atlantic Slave Trade and British abolition, 17601810. London: Macmillan, 1975, p. 5.
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[50] Catherine Lowe Besteman, Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), pp.
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[57] Stannard, David. American Holocaust. Oxford University Press, 1993
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2002
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[70] Cohn, Raymond L. "Deaths of Slaves in the Middle Passage", Journal of Economic History, September 1985.
[71] BBC History "British Slaves on the Barbary Coast" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ british/ empire_seapower/ white_slaves_01.
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[72] HEALTH IN SLAVERY (http:/ / www.ukcouncilhumanrights. co. uk/ webbook-chap1. html)
[73] Elkins, Stanley: Slavery. New York: Universal Library, 1963, p. 48.
[74] Rawley, James: London, Metropolis of the Slave Trade, 2003.
[75] Anstey, Roger: The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition, 17601810. London: Macmillan, 1975.
[76] "Slave-grown cotton in greater Manchester" (http:/ / www. revealinghistories. org. uk/
how-did-money-from-slavery-help-develop-greater-manchester/ articles/ slave-grown-cotton-in-greater-manchester-museums. html),
Revealing Histories
28
[77] Wynter, Sylvia (1984a). "New Seville and the Conversion Experience of Bartolom de Las Casas: Part One"". Jamaica Journal 17 (2):
25-32.
[78] Stephen D. Behrendt, David Richardson, and David Eltis, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, Harvard
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[79] Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade, 1972, p. 88.
[80] [80] Daudin 2004
[81] Slave Revolt in St. Domingue (Haiti) (http:/ / www. fsmitha. com/ h3/ h34-np2. html)
[82] Digital History (http:/ / www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ historyonline/ con_economic. cfm)
[83] UN report (http:/ / www. un. org/ esa/ population/ publications/ sixbillion/ sixbilpart1. pdf)
[84] Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. ISBN 0950154644 (http:/ / www. amazon. com/ gp/ reader/ 0882580965/ )
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[86] Thornton, John. A Cultural History of the Atlantic World 1250-1820. 2012, p. 64.
[87] Fage, J. D. "Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Context of West African History", The Journal of African History, Vol. 10. No 3, 1969, p.
400.
[88] Eric Williams, Capitalism & Slavery (University of North Carolina Press, 1944), pp. 98107, 169177,
[89] David Richardson, "The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807," in P. J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British
Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (1998), pp. 440-64.
[90] J.R. Ward, "The British West Indies in the Age of Abolition," in P. J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II:
The Eighteenth Century (1998), pp. 415-39.
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[92] David Eltis, Economic Growth and the Ending of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
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[94] Joseph E. Inikori, "Ideology versus the Tyranny of Paradigm: Historians and the Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on African Societies",
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29
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Austen, Ralph (1987). African Economic History: Internal Development and External Dependency. London:
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Christopher, Emma (2006). Slave Ship Sailors and Their Captive Cargoes, 17301807. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN0-521-67966-4.
Chaunu, Pierre (1969). L'expansion europen du XIIIe XVe sicles. Paris.
Hair, P. E. H.; Law, Robin (1998). "The English in Western Africa to 1700". In Nicholas Canny, ed., The Oxford
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ISBN978-0-198-20562-3.
Rodney, Walter (1972). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle L'Ouverture.
ISBN978-0-9501546-4-0.
Thornton, John (1998). Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 14001800 (2nd ed.). New York:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-62217-2.
Academic articles
Handley, Fiona J.L. (2006). "Back to Africa: Issues of hosting "Roots" tourism in West Africa". African
Re-Genesis: Confronting Social Issues in the Diaspora (London: UCL Press): 2031.
Osei-Tutu, Brempong (2006). "Contested Monuments: African-Americans and the commoditization of Ghana's
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Revealing Histories, Remembering Slavery. (http:/ / www. revealinghistories. org. uk/
how-did-money-from-slavery-help-develop-greater-manchester/ articles/
slave-grown-cotton-in-greater-manchester-museums. html)
Non-academic sources
30
Further reading
Anstey, Roger: The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition, 17601810. London: Macmillan, 1975. ISBN
0-333-14846-0.
Blackburn, Robin (2011). The American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights. London & New
York: Verso. ISBN978-1-84467-569-2.
Cheney, Glenn Alan, Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil's Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves, Hanover, CT:New London
Librarium, 2014. ISBN 978-0-9905899-0-7
Clarke, Dr. John Henrik: Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European
Capitalism. Brooklyn, N.Y.: A & B Books, 1992. ISBN 1-881316-14-9.
Curtin, Philip D: Atlantic Slave Trade. University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.
Daudin, Guillaume: "Profitability of slave and long distance trading in context: the case of eighteenth century
France", Journal of Economic History, 2004.
Diop, Er. Cheikh Anta: Precolonial Black Africa: A Comparative Study of the Political and Social Systems of
Europe and Black Africa. Harold J. Salemson, trans. Westport, Conn.: L. Hill, 1987. ISBN 0-88208-187-X, ISBN
0-88208-188-8.
Doortmont, Michel R.; Jinna Smit (2007). Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands. An
annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 15931960s.
Leiden: Brill. ISBN978-90-04-15850-4.
Drescher, Seymour: From Slavery to Freedom: Comparative Studies in the Rise and Fall of Atlantic Slavery.
London: Macmillan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-333-73748-2.
Emmer, Pieter C.: The Dutch in the Atlantic Economy, 15801880. Trade, Slavery and Emancipation. Variorum
Collected Studies Series CS614. Aldershot [u.a.]: Variorum, 1998. ISBN 0-86078-697-8.
Gleeson, David T. and Simon Lewis. eds. Ambiguous Anniversary: The Bicentennial of the International Slave
Trade Bans (University of South Carolina Press; 2012) 207 pp.
Gomez, Michael Angelo: Exchanging Our Country Marks (The Transformation of African Identities in the
Colonial and AnteBellum South). Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. ISBN
0-8078-4694-5.
Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo: Slavery and African Ethnicities in the Americas: Restoring the Links. Chapel Hill, N.C.:
The University of North Carolina Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8078-2973-0.
Horne, Gerald: The Deepest South: The United States, Brazil, and the African Slave Trade. New York, NY: New
York Univ. Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8147-3688-3, ISBN 978-0-8147-3689-0.
Inikori, Joseph E., and Stanley L. Engerman eds (1992). The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies,
Societies and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=abvkqNGSTZ0C). Duke UP.
James, E. Wyn: "Welsh Ballads and American Slavery" (http:/ / www. cardiff. ac. uk/ insrv/ libraries/ scolar/
digital/ welshballads/ welsh-ballads-and-american-slavery. html), Welsh Journal of Religious History, 2 (2007),
pp.5986. ISSN 0967-3938.
Klein, Herbert S.: The Atlantic Slave Trade (2nd ed. 2010)
Lindsay, Lisa A. "Captives as Commodities: The Transatlantic Slave Trade". Prentice Hall, 2008. ISBN
978-0-13-194215-8
McMillin, James A. The final victims: foreign slave trade to North America, 17831810. (Includes database on
CD-ROM) ISBN 978-1-57003-546-3
Meltzer, Milton: Slavery: A World History. New York: Da Capo Press, 1993. ISBN 0-306-80536-7.
Northrup, David: The Atlantic Slave Trade (3rd ed. 2010)
Rediker, Marcus (2007). The Slave Ship: A Human History (http:/ / www. marcusrediker. com/ Books/
Slave_Ship/ Synopsis_of_Slave_Ship. htm). New York, NY: Viking Press. ISBN978-0-670-01823-9.
31
Rodney, Walter: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press; Revised edn,
1981. ISBN 0-88258-096-5.
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. Armonk, N.Y.:
M.E. Sharpe, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7656-1257-1.
Solow, Barbara (ed.). Slavery and the Rise of the Atlantic System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
ISBN 0-521-40090-2.
Thomas, Hugh: The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 14401870. London: Picador, 1997.
ISBN 0-330-35437-X.; comprehensive history
Thornton, John: Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 14001800, 2nd edn. Cambridge
University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-62217-4, ISBN 0-521-62724-9, ISBN 0-521-59370-0, ISBN 0-521-59649-1.
Williams, Eric (1994) [1944]. Capitalism & Slavery. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
ISBN0-8078-2175-6.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slavery.
Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (http:/ / www. slavevoyages. org/ tast/ index. faces)
African Holocaust: The legacy of Slavery remembered (http:/ / www. africanholocaust. net/ ah_articles. htm)
BBC | Africa|Quick guide: The slave trade (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ world/ africa/ 6445941. stm)
Teaching resources about Slavery and Abolition on blackhistory4schools.com (http:/ / www.
blackhistory4schools. com/ slavetrade/ )
British documents on slave holding and the slave trade, 17881793 (http:/ / fax. libs. uga. edu/ HT857xA1/
stamenu. html)
Triangular trade
32
Triangular trade
Depiction of the classical model of the Triangular trade
Depiction of the Triangular Trade of slaves, sugar, and rum with New England instead of
Europe as the third corner
Triangular trade, or triangle trade,
is a historical term indicating trade
among three ports or regions.
Triangular trade usually evolves when
a region has export commodities that
are not required in the region from
which its major imports come.
Triangular trade thus provides a
method for rectifying trade imbalances
between the above regions.
The particular routes were historically
also shaped by the powerful influence
of winds and currents during the age of
sail. For example, from the main
trading nations of Western Europe it
was much easier to sail westwards
after first going south of 30 N latitude
and reaching the so-called "trade
winds"; thus arriving in the Caribbean
rather than going straight west to the
North American mainland. Returning
from North America, it is easiest to
follow the Gulf Stream in a
northeasterly direction using the
westerlies. A similar triangle to this,
called the volta do mar was already
being used by the Portuguese, before
Columbus' voyage, to sail to the
Canary Islands and the Azores.
Columbus simply expanded the
triangle outwards, and his route
became the main way for Europeans to
reach, and return from, the Americas.
Atlantic triangular slave
trade
Slavery Contemporary
Africa
Bangladesh
Triangular trade
33
Chad
China
Congo
Ethiopia
Europe
Haiti
India
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
United States
Contemporary types
Child labour
Conscription
country
Debt
Forced marriage
bride-buying
wife selling
Forced prostitution
Human trafficking
country
Peonage
Penal labour
U.S.
Sexual slavery
Historic
History of slavery
Antiquity
Middle Passage
Arab slave trade
Saqaliba
mamluk
Aztec
Babylonia
Triangular trade
34
Blackbirding
Byzantine Empire
Chattel
field slaves
house slaves
Coolie
Corve labor
Ancient Greece
Pirates
Impressment
Kholop
Medieval Europe
Thrall
Ancient Rome
Serfs
history
Russia
Shanghaiing
Slave ship
list
revolts
Slave raiding
Galley slave
Panyarring
Africa
Barbary Coast
Slave Coast
Americas indigenous
U.S. Natives
Asia
Angola
Bhutan
Brazil
Lei urea
British Isles
Canada
Caribbean
Barbados
Triangular trade
35
Code Noir
China
booi aha
Cuba
Denmark
Ethiopia
Germany
Haiti
revolt
Holland
India
Iran
Japan
comfort women
Latin America
Libya
Ottoman Empire
Poland
Polynesia
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Seychelles
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
colonies
Sweden
Trinidad
United States
colonial
maps
female
partus
Slave codes
interregional
Vietnam
Virgin Islands
Religion
Bible
Triangular trade
36
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Timeline
Abolitionism
U.K.
U.S.
Blockade of Africa
U.K.
U.S.
Freedman
manumission
Freedom suit
Opponents
Slave Power
songs
Slave rebellion
Slave Trade Acts
International law
Related topics
Common law
Indentured servant
Unfree labour
Fugitive slaves
laws
Slave narrative
films
songs
Slave name
Slave Route Project
Treatment in U.S.
breeding
court cases
Washington
Jefferson
Triangular trade
37
Adams
Lincoln
40 acres
Freedmen's Bureau
bit
Wage slavery
Emancipation Day
v
t
e
[1]
See also: Atlantic slave trade
The best-known triangular trading system is the transatlantic slave trade, that operated from the late 16th to early
19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American
colonies and the European colonial powers, with the northern colonies of British North America, especially New
England, sometimes taking over the role of Europe.
[1]
The use of African slaves was fundamental to growing
colonial cash crops, which were exported to Europe. European goods, in turn, were used to purchase African slaves,
which were then brought on the sea lane west from Africa to the Americas, the so-called Middle Passage.
[2]
A classic example would be the trade of sugar (often in its liquid form, molasses) from the Caribbean to Europe or
New England, where it was distilled into rum. The profits from the sale of sugar were used to purchase manufactured
goods, which were then shipped to West Africa, where they were bartered for slaves. The slaves were then brought
back to the Caribbean to be sold to sugar planters. The profits from the sale of the slaves were then used to buy more
sugar, which was shipped to Europe, etc. The trip itself took five to twelve weeks.
The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to Africa, in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade,
such as copper, cloth, trinkets, slave beads, guns and ammunition.
[3]
When the ship arrived, its cargo would be sold
or bartered for slaves. On the second leg, ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New
World. Many slaves died of disease in the crowded holds of the slave ships. Once the ship reached the New World,
enslaved survivors were sold in the Caribbean or the American colonies. The ships were then prepared to get them
thoroughly cleaned, drained, and loaded with export goods for a return voyage, the third leg, to their home port,
[4]
from the West Indies the main export cargoes were sugar, rum, and molasses; from Virginia, tobacco and hemp. The
ship then returned to Europe to complete the triangle.
Triangular trade
38
Diagram illustrating the stowage of African slaves on a British slave
ship.
However, because of several disadvantages that slave
ships faced compared to other trade ships, they often
returned to their home port carrying whatever goods
were readily available in the Americas and filled up a
large part or all of their capacity with ballast. Other
disadvantages include the different form of the ships (to
carry as many humans as possible, but not ideal to
carry a maximum amount of produce) and the
variations in the duration of a slave voyage, making it
practically impossible to pre-schedule appointments in
the Americas, which meant that slave ships often
arrived in the Americas out-of-season. Instead, the cash
crops were transported mainly by a separate fleet which
only sailed from Europe to the Americas and back. The
Triangular trade is a trade model, not an exact
description of the ship's route.
[5]
New England
New England also benefited from the trade, as many
merchants from New England, especially the state of
Rhode Island, replaced the role of Europe in the triangle. New England also made rum from the Caribbean sugar and
molasses, which it shipped to Africa as well as within the New World.
[6]
Yet, the "triangle trade" as considered in
relation to New England was a piecemeal operation. No New England traders are known to have completed a
sequential circuit of the full triangle, which took a calendar year on average, according to historian Clifford
Shipton.
[7]
The concept of the New England Triangular trade was first suggested, inconclusively, in an 1866 book by
George H. Moore, was picked up in 1872 by historian George C. Mason, and reached full consideration from a
lecture in 1887 by American businessman and historian William B. Weeden.
[8]
The song "Molasses to Rum" from
the musical 1776 vividly describes this form of the triangular trade.
Other triangular trades
The term "triangular trade" also refers to a variety of other trades.
A trade pattern which evolved before the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain, the colonies of
British North America, and British colonies in the Caribbean. This typically involved exporting raw resources,
such as fish (especially salt cod), agricultural produce or lumber, from British North American colonies to slaves
and planters in the West Indies; sugar and molasses from the Caribbean; and various manufactured commodities
from Great Britain.
[9]
The shipment of Newfoundland salt cod and corn from Boston, Massachusetts in British vessels to southern
Europe.
[10]
This also included the shipment of wine and olive oil to Britain.
A new "sugar triangle" developed in the 1820s and 1830s whereby American ships took local produce to Cuba,
then brought sugar or coffee from Cuba to the Baltic coast (Russian Empire and Sweden), then bar iron and hemp
back to New England.
[11]
Triangular trade
39
Notes
[1] About.com: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (http:/ / africanhistory. about. com/ library/ weekly/ aa080601a. htm). Accessed 6 November
2007.
[2] National Maritime Museum - Triangular Trade (http:/ / www. nmm. ac. uk/ freedom/ viewTheme. cfm/ theme/ triangular). Accessed 26
March 2007.
[3] Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade (http:/ / www. ltscotland. org. uk/ abolition/ ). Accessed 28 March 2007.
[4] A. P. Middleton, Tobacco Coast.
[5] Emmer, P.C.: The Dutch in the Atlantic Economy, 15801880. Trade, Slavery and Emancipation. Variorum Collected Studies Series CS614,
1998.
[6] Slavery in Rhode Island (http:/ / www.slavenorth.com/ rhodeisland. htm) Slavery in the North Accessed 11 September 2011.
[7] Curtis, Wayne. And a Bottle of Rum. New York: Three Rivers Press, 20062007. ISBN 978-0-307-33862-4. page 117.
[8] Curtis, Wayne. And a Bottle of Rum. New York: Three Rivers Press, 20062007. ISBN 978-0-307-33862-4. page 119.
[9] Kurlansky, Mark. Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. New York: Walker, 1997. ISBN 0-8027-1326-2.
[10] Morgan, Kenneth. Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN
0-521-33017-3. Pages 6477.
[11] Chris Evans and Gran Rydn, Baltic Iron in the Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century : Brill, 2007 ISBN 978-90-04-16153-5, 273.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triangular trade.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (http:/ / www. slavevoyages. org), a portal to data concerning the history
of the triangular trade of transatlantic slave trade voyages.
Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice (http:/ / www. brown. edu/ Research/
Slavery_Justice/ documents/ SlaveryAndJustice. pdf)
Abolitionism
For other uses, see Abolitionism (disambiguation).
"Anti-slavery" redirects here. For the British NGO working for the eradication of slavery, see Anti-Slavery
International.
Abolitionism
40
"Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" 1787 medallion
designed by Josiah Wedgwood for the British
anti-slavery campaign
Collection box for Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.
Circa 1850.
Africa
Bangladesh
Chad
China
Congo
Ethiopia
Europe
Haiti
India
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
United States
Contemporary types
Child labour
Conscription
country
Debt
Forced marriage
bride-buying
wife selling
Forced prostitution
Human trafficking
country
Peonage
Penal labour
U.S.
Sexual slavery
Historic
History of slavery
Antiquity
Abolitionism
41
Middle Passage
Arab slave trade
Saqaliba
mamluk
Aztec
Babylonia
Blackbirding
Byzantine Empire
Chattel
field slaves
house slaves
Coolie
Corve labor
Ancient Greece
Pirates
Impressment
Kholop
Medieval Europe
Thrall
Ancient Rome
Serfs
history
Russia
Shanghaiing
Slave ship
list
revolts
Slave raiding
Galley slave
Panyarring
Africa
Barbary Coast
Slave Coast
Americas indigenous
U.S. Natives
Asia
Angola
Bhutan
Abolitionism
42
Brazil
Lei urea
British Isles
Canada
Caribbean
Barbados
Code Noir
China
booi aha
Cuba
Denmark
Ethiopia
Germany
Haiti
revolt
Holland
India
Iran
Japan
comfort women
Latin America
Libya
Ottoman Empire
Poland
Polynesia
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Seychelles
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
colonies
Sweden
Trinidad
United States
colonial
maps
female
partus
Abolitionism
43
Slave codes
interregional
Vietnam
Virgin Islands
Religion
Bible
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Timeline
Abolitionism
U.K.
U.S.
Blockade of Africa
U.K.
U.S.
Freedman
manumission
Freedom suit
Opponents
Slave Power
songs
Slave rebellion
Slave Trade Acts
International law
Related topics
Common law
Indentured servant
Unfree labour
Fugitive slaves
laws
Slave narrative
films
songs
Slave name
Abolitionism
44
Slave Route Project
Treatment in U.S.
breeding
court cases
Washington
Jefferson
Adams
Lincoln
40 acres
Freedmen's Bureau
bit
Wage slavery
Emancipation Day
v
t
e
[1]
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery, whether formal or informal. In Western European and America,
abolitionism was a historical movement to end the African and Indian slave trade and set slaves free. The Spanish
King in Spain following the example of the Swedish Monarch passed a law which would have abolished colonial
slavery in 1542, although this law was not passed in the largest colonial states, and so was not enforced. Later, in the
17th century, English Quakers and evangelical religious groups condemned slavery (by then applied mostly to
Africans) as un-Christian; in the 18th century, abolition was part of the message of the First Great Awakening in the
Thirteen Colonies; and in the same period, rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the
rights of man. James Edward Oglethorpe was among the first to articulate the Enlightenment case against slavery,
banning it in the Province of Georgia on humanistic grounds, arguing against it in Parliament, and eventually
encouraging his friends Granville Sharp and Hannah More to vigorously pursue the cause. Soon after his death in
1785, they joined with William Wilberforce and others in forming the Clapham Sect.
[1]
The Somersett's case in
1771, which emancipated a slave in England, helped launch the British movement to abolish slavery. Though
anti-slavery sentiments were widespread by the late 18th century, the colonies and emerging nations that used slave
labor continued to do so: French and English territories in the West Indies, South America, and the South of the
United States.
After the American Revolution established the United States, northern states, beginning with Pennsylvania in 1780,
passed legislation during the next two decades abolishing slavery, sometimes by gradual emancipation.
Massachusetts ratified a constitution that declared all men equal; freedom suits challenging slavery based on this
principle brought an end to slavery in the state. In other states, such as Virginia, similar declarations of rights were
interpreted by the courts not applicable to Africans. During the following decades, the abolitionist movement grew in
northern states, and Congress regulated the expansion of slavery in new states admitted to the union.
Revolutionary France abolished slavery in 1794, but it was restored by Napoleon in the French colonies in 1802.
Haiti achieved independence from France in 1804 and brought an end to slavery in its territory, establishing the
second republic in the New World. Britain banned the importation of African slaves in its colonies in 1807, and the
United States criminalized the international slave trade in the following year. Britain abolished slavery throughout
the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, the French colonies abolished it in 1848 and the United
States in 1865.
In Eastern Europe, groups organized to abolish the enslavement of the Roma in Wallachia and Moldavia; and to
emancipate the serfs in Russia (Emancipation reform of 1861). It was declared illegal in 1948 under the Universal
Abolitionism
45
Rights of Man of the United Nations. The last country to abolish legal slavery was Mauritania, where it was
officially abolished by presidential decree in 1981.
[2]
Today, child and adult slavery and forced labour are illegal in
most countries, as well as being against international law, but a high rate of human trafficking for labor and for
sexual bondage continues to affect tens of millions of adults and children.
France
Abolition in continental France (1315)
In 1315, Louis X, king of France, published a decree proclaiming that "France signifies freedom" and that any slave
setting foot on the French ground should be freed. This prompted subsequent governments to circumscribe slavery in
the overseas colonies.
[3]
Some cases of African slaves freed by setting foot on the French soil were recorded such as this example of a
Norman slave merchant who tried to sell slaves in Bordeaux in 1571. He was arrested and his slaves were freed
according to a declaration of the Parlement of Guyenne which stated that slavery was intolerable in France.
[4]
Code Noir and Age of Enlightenment
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, known as the
"Black Mozart", was, by his social position, and
by his political involvement, a figurehead of the
emancipation of slaves
As in other New World colonies, the French relied on the Atlantic
slave trade for labor for their sugar cane plantations in their Caribbean
colonies; the French West Indies. In addition, French colonists in
Louisiane in North America held slaves, particularly in the South
around New Orleans, where they established sugar cane plantations.
Over time in all these areas, a class of free people of color (Gens de
couleur libres) developed, many of whom became educated, property
owners and sometimes slave owners.
Louis XIV's Code Noir regulated the slave trade and institution in the
colonies. Although the Code Noir authorized and codified corporal
punishment against slaves under certain conditions, it forbid slave
owners to torture them and encouraged them to instruct them in the
Catholic faith. It was instrumental in asserting that Africans were
human beings endowed with a soul.
During the Age of Enlightenment, many philosophers wrote pamphlets
against slavery and its moral and economical justifications, including
Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) or in the Encyclopdie.
In 1788, Jacques Pierre Brissot founded the Society of the Friends of
the Blacks (Socit des Amis des Noirs) to work for abolition of slavery.
After the Revolution, on 4 April 1792, France granted free people of color full citizenship.
The revolt of slaves in the largest Caribbean French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1791 was the beginning of what
became the Hatian Revolution led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Rebellion swept through the north of the island, and
many whites and free people of color were killed, as well as slaves. Slavery was first abolished in 1793 in St.
Domingue by Sonthonax, a French Commissioner sent by the Convention in order to safeguard the allegiance of the
population to revolutionary France.
Abolitionism
46
First general abolition of slavery (1794)
Jacques Pierre Brissot (17541793), who
organised the Society of the Friends of the
Blacks in 1788 in the midst of the French
Revolution.
The Convention, the first elected Assembly of the First Republic
(17921804), on 4 February 1794, under the leadership of Maximilien
Robespierre, abolished slavery in law in France and its colonies. Abb
Grgoire and the Society of the Friends of the Blacks were part of the
abolitionist movement, which had laid important groundwork in building
anti-slavery sentiment in the metropole. The first article of the law stated
that "Slavery was abolished" in the French colonies, while the second
article stated that "slave-owners would be indemnified" with financial
compensation for the value of their slaves. The French constitution
passed in 1795 included in the declaration of the Rights of Man that
slavery was abolished.
Re-establishment of slavery in the colonies (1802)
During the French Revolutionary Wars, French slave-owners massively
joined the counter-revolution and, through the Whitehall Accord, they
threatened to move the French Caribbean colonies under British control,
as Great-Britain still allowed slavery. Fearing secession from these
islands, successfully lobbied by planters and concerned about revenues from the West Indies, Napoleon Bonaparte
decided to re-establish slavery after becoming First Consul. He promulgated the law of 20 May 1802 and sent
military governors and troops to the colonies to impose it. On 10 May 1802, Colonel Delgrs launched a rebellion in
Guadeloupe against Napoleon's representative, General Richepanse. The rebellion was repressed, and slavery was
re-established. The news of this event sparked another wave of rebellion in Saint-Domingue. Although from 1802,
Napoleon sent more than 20,000 troops to the island, two-thirds died mostly due to yellow fever. He withdrew the
remaining 7,000 troops and slaves achieved an independent republic they called Hati in 1804. Seeing the failure of
the Saint-Domingue expedition, in 1803 Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The
French governments initially refused to recognise Haiti. It forced the nation to pay a substantial amount of
reparations (which it could ill afford) for losses during the revolution and did not recognise its government until
1825.
Second abolition (1848) and subsequent events
"Abolition of Slavery in French Colonies, 1848"
by Auguste Franois Biard (1849).
On 27 April 1848, under the Second Republic (184852), the
decree-law of Schlcher abolished slavery in the remaining colonies.
The state bought the slaves from the colons (white colonists; Bks in
Creole), and then freed them.
At about the same time, France started colonising Africa and gained
possession of much of West Africa by 1900. In 1905, the French
abolished slavery in most of French West Africa. The French also
attempted to abolish Tuareg slavery following the Kaocen Revolt. In
the region of the Sahel, slavery has however long persisted.
Passed on 10 May 2001, the Taubira law officially acknowledges
slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade as a crime against humanity. 10 May was chosen as the day dedicated to
recognition of the crime of slavery.
Abolitionism
47
Great Britain
Main articles: Slavery in Britain and Ireland and Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
Lord Mansfield (17051793), whose
opinion in Somerset's Case (1772) was
widely taken to have held that there was
no basis in law for slavery in England.
The last known form of enforced servitude of adults (villeinage) had
disappeared in England by the beginning of the 17th century. In a 1569 court
case involving Cartwright, who had bought a slave from Russia, the court
ruled that English law could not recognise slavery, as it was never established
officially. This ruling was overshadowed by later developments. It was
upheld in 1700 by the Lord Chief Justice John Holt when he ruled that a slave
became free as soon as he arrived in England.
[5]
In addition to English colonists importing slaves to the North American
colonies, by the 18th century, traders began to import slaves from Africa,
India and East Asia (where they were trading) to London and Edinburgh to
work as personal servants. Men who migrated to the North American colonies
often took their East Indian slaves or servants with them, as East Indians have
been documented in colonial records.
[6][7]
Some of the first freedom suits, court cases in the British Isles to challenge
the legality of slavery, took place in Scotland from 1755 to 1778. The cases
were Montgomery v. Sheddan (1755), Spens v. Dalrymple (1769), and Knight
v. Wedderburn (1778). Each of the slaves had been baptized in Scotland and challenged the legality of slavery. They
set the precedent of legal procedure in British courts that would later lead to successful outcomes for the plaintiffs. In
the first two cases, deaths of the plaintiff and defendant, respectively, brought an end before court decisions. The
Knight case was decided in favor of the plaintiff, the former slave.
African slaves were not bought or sold in London but were brought by masters from other areas. Together with
people from other nations, especially non-Christian, Africans were considered foreigners, not able to be English
subjects. At the time, England had no naturalization procedure. The African slaves' legal status was unclear until
1772 and Somersett's Case, when the fugitive slave James Somersett forced a decision by the courts. Somersett had
escaped, and his master, Charles Steuart, had him captured and imprisoned on board a ship, intending to ship him to
Jamaica to be resold into slavery. While in London, Somersett had been baptised; three godparents issued a writ of
habeas corpus. As a result, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench, had to judge whether
Somersett's abduction was lawful or not under English Common Law. No legislation had ever been passed to
establish slavery in England. The case received national attention, and five advocates supported the action on behalf
of Somersett.
In his judgment of 22 June 1772, Mansfield declared:
"The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or
political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time
itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to
support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot
say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be
discharged."
[8]
Although the exact legal implications of the judgement are unclear when analysed by lawyers, the judgement was
generally taken at the time to have determined that slavery did not exist under English common law and was thus
prohibited in England.
[9]
The decision did not apply to the British overseas territories; by then, for example, the
American colonies had established slavery by positive laws.
[10]
Somersett's case became a significant part of the
common law of slavery in the English-speaking world and it helped launch the movement to abolish slavery.
[11]
Abolitionism
48
After reading about Somersett's Case, Joseph Knight, an enslaved African who had been purchased by his master
John Wedderburn in Jamaica and brought to Scotland, left him. Married and with a child, he filed a freedom suit, on
the grounds that he could not be held as a slave in Great Britain. In the case of Knight v. Wedderburn (1778),
Wedderburn said that Knight owed him "perpetual servitude". The Court of Sessions of Scotland ruled against him,
saying that chattel slavery was not recognised under the law of Scotland, and slaves could seek court protection to
leave a master or avoid being forcibly removed from Scotland to be returned to slavery in the colonies.
But at the same time, legally mandated, hereditary slavery of Scots persons in Scotland had existed from 1606 and
continued until 1799, when colliers and salters were emancipated by an act of the Parliament of Great Britain (39
Geo.III. c. 56). Skilled workers, they were restricted to a place and could be sold with the works. A prior law enacted
in 1775 (15 Geo.III. c. 28) was intended to end what the act referred to as "a state of slavery and bondage," but that
was ineffective, necessitating the 1799 act.
Ignatius Sancho (c17291780) gained fame in his time
as "the extraordinary Negro". To 18th-century British
abolitionists, he became a symbol of the humanity of
Africans and the immorality of the slave trade.
Moldavia and Wallachia
Main article: Slavery in Romania
In the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (both now part of
Romania), the government held slavery of the Roma (often
referred to as Gypsies) as legal at the beginning of the 19th
century. The progressive pro-European and anti-Ottoman
movement, which gradually gained power in the two principalities,
also worked to abolish that slavery. Between 1843 and 1855, the
principalities emancipated all of the 250,000 enslaved Roma
people. Many migrated to Western Europe and North
America.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Abolitionism
49
In the Americas
Hugh Elliot was a noted abolitionist. Whilst
Governor in the British West Indies, he was
reported to be the driving force behind the
arrest, trial and execution of a wealthy white
planter Arthur Hodge for the murder of a
slave.
Bartolom de las Casas was a 16th-century Spanish Dominican priest, the
first resident Bishop of Chiapas. As a settler in the New World he
witnessed and opposed the poor treatment of the Native Americans by the
Spanish colonists. He advocated before King Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor on behalf of rights for the natives. Originally supporting the
importation of African slaves as laborers, he eventually changed and
became an advocate for the Africans in the colonies.
[12]
His book, A Short
Account of the Destruction of the Indies, contributed to Spanish passage of
colonial legislation known as the New Laws of 1542, which abolished
native slavery for the first time in European colonial history. It ultimately
led to the Valladolid debate.
Latin America
Punishing slaves at Calabouco, in Rio de Janeiro, c. 1822.
Brazil was the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to
abolish slavery.
During the Independence Wars (18101822), slavery was
abolished in most of Latin America. It continued in the region
until 1873 in Puerto Rico, 1886 in Cuba, and 1888 in Brazil by
the Lei urea or "Golden Law." Chile declared freedom of
wombs in 1811, followed by the United Provinces of the Ro de
la Plata in 1813, but without abolishing slavery completely.
While Chile abolished slavery in 1823, Argentina did so with
the signing of the Argentine Constitution of 1853. Colombia
abolished slavery in 1852. Slavery was abolished in Uruguay
during the Guerra Grande, by both the government of Fructuoso
Rivera and the government in exile of Manuel Oribe.
Canada
Main article: Slavery in Canada
With slaves escaping to New York and New England,
legislation for gradual emancipation was passed in Upper Canada (1793) and Lower Canada (1803). In Upper
Canada the Assembly ruled that no slaves could be imported; slaves already in the province would remain enslaved
until death, no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada, and children born to female slaves would be slaves
but must be freed at age 25. In practice, some slavery continued until abolished in the entire British Empire in the
1830s.
[13]
Abolitionism
50
United States
Main article: Abolitionism in the United States
Uncle Tom's Cabin inflamed public opinion in the
North and in Britain against the personified evils
of slavery.
The historian James M. McPherson defines an abolitionist "as one who
before the Civil War had agitated for the immediate, unconditional,
and total abolition of slavery in the United States." He does not include
antislavery activists such as Abraham Lincoln or the Republican Party,
which called for the gradual ending of slavery.
The first attempts to end slavery in the British/American colonies came
from Thomas Jefferson and some of his contemporaries. Despite the
fact that Jefferson was a lifelong slaveholder, he included strong
anti-slavery language in the original draft of the Declaration of
Independence, but other delegates took it out.
[14]
Benjamin Franklin,
also a slaveholder for most of his life, was a leading member of the
Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, the first recognized
organization for abolitionists in the United States. Following the
Revolutionary War, Northern states abolished slavery, beginning with
the 1777 constitution of Vermont, followed by Pennsylvania's gradual
emancipation act in 1780. Other states with more of an economic
interest in slaves, such as New York and New Jersey, also passed
gradual emancipation laws, but by 1804, all the northern states had
abolished it. Some slaves continued in servitude for two more decades
but most were freed.
Also in the postwar years, individual slaveholders, particularly in the
Upper South, manumitted slaves, sometimes in their wills. Many noted
they had been moved by the revolutionary ideals of the equality of men. The number of free blacks as a proportion of
the black population increased from less than one percent to nearly ten percent from 1790 to 1810 in the Upper
South as a result of these actions.
As President, on March 2, 1807, Jefferson signed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves and it took effect in
1808, which was the earliest allowed under the Constitution. In 1820 he privately supported the Missouri
Compromise, believing it would help to end slavery.
[15]
He left the anti-slavery struggle to younger men after
that.
[16]
William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the
American Anti-Slavery Society
In the 1850s in the fifteen states constituting the American South, slavery was
established legally. While it was fading away in the cities and border states, it
remained strong in plantation areas that grew cotton for export, or sugar,
tobacco or hemp. By the 1860 United States Census, the slave population in
the United States had grown to four million.
[17]
American abolitionism was
based in the North, and white Southerners alleged it fostered slave rebellion.
The white abolitionist movement in the North was led by social reformers,
especially William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery
Society; writers such as John Greenleaf Whittier and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Black activists included former slaves such as Frederick Douglass; and free
blacks such as the brothers Charles Henry Langston and John Mercer
Langston, who helped found the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.
[18]
Some
Abolitionism
51
abolitionists said that slavery was criminal and a sin; they also criticized slave owners of using black women as
concubines and taking sexual advantage of them.
The Republican Party wanted to achieve the gradual extinction of slavery by market forces, for its members believed
that free labor was superior to slave labor. Southern leaders said the Republican policy of blocking the expansion of
slavery into the West made them second-class citizens, and challenged their autonomy. With the 1860 presidential
victory of Abraham Lincoln, seven Deep South states whose economy was based on cotton and slavery decided to
secede and form a new nation. The American Civil War broke out in April 1861 with the firing on Fort Sumter in
South Carolina. When Lincoln called for troops to suppress the rebellion, four more slave states seceded. In 1863,
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves held in the Confederate States; all the border
states (except Delaware) began their own emancipation programs. Thousands of slaves escaped to freedom behind
Union Army lines, and in 1863 many men started serving as the United States Colored Troops. The 13th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect in December 1865 and finally ended slavery throughout the United
States. It also abolished slavery among the Indian tribes.
United States
The Emancipator 1819-1820 - Founded in 1819 by Elihu Embree as the Manumission Intelligencier, The
Emancipator ceased publication in October 1820 due to Embree's illness. It was sold in 1821 and became The
Genius of Universal Emancipation.
Genius of Universal Emancipation 1821-1839 - an abolitionist newspaper published and edited by Benjamin
Lundy. In 1829 it employed William Lloyd Garrison, who would go on to form 'The Liberator.
The Liberator 1831-1865 - a weekly newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison.
The Slave's Friend 1836-1838 - an anti-slavery magazine for children produced by the American Anti-Slavery
Society (AASS).
The Philanthropist 1836-1837 - newspaper published in Ohio for and owned by the Anti-Slavery Society.
The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom 1839-1858 - an annual gift book edited and published by Maria Weston
Chapman, to be sold or gifted to participants in the National Anti-Slavery Bazaar organized by the Boston Female
Anti-Slavery Society.
National Anti-Slavery Standard 1840-1870 - the official weekly newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society,
the paper published continuously until the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution in 1870.
The Unconstitutionality of Slavery (1845) - a pamphlet by Lysander Spooner advocating the view that the U.S.
Constitution prohibited slavery.
The National Era 1847-1860 - a weekly newspaper which featured the works of John Greenleaf Whittier, who
served as associate editor, and first published, as a serial, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851).
North Star 1847-1851 - an anti-slavery American newspaper published by the escaped slave, author, and
abolitionist, Frederick Douglass.
Abolitionism
52
International
Slave narratives, books published in the U.S. and elsewhere by former slaves or about former slaves, relating their
experiences.
Anti-Slavery International publications
Notable opponents of slavery
Main article: List of opponents of slavery
National abolition dates
Main article: Abolition of slavery timeline
Jos Gregorio Monagas abolished slavery in Venezuela in
1854.
Commemoration
The abolitionist movements and the abolition of slavery
have been commemorated in different ways around the
world in modern times. The United Nations General
Assembly declared 2004 the International Year to
Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its
Abolition. This proclamation marked the bicentenary of the
birth of the first black state, Haiti. Numerous exhibitions,
events and research programmes were connected to the
initiative.
2007 witnessed major exhibitions in British museums and
galleries to mark the anniversary of the 1807 abolition act
1807 Commemorated 2008 marks the 201st anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire. It
also marks the 175th anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire.
The Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa held a major international conference entitled, "Routes to Freedom:
Reflections on the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade", from 14 to 16 March 2008. Actor and human
rights activist Danny Glover delivered the keynote speech announcing the creation of two major scholarships
intended for University of Ottawa law students specializing in international law and social justice at the conference's
gala dinner.
Brooklyn, New York has begun work on commemorating the abolitionist movement in New York.
Contemporary abolitionism
On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Article 4 states:
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their
forms.
Although outlawed in most countries, slavery is nonetheless practiced secretly in many parts of the world.
Enslavement still takes place in the United States, Europe, and Latin America,
[19]
as well as parts of Africa, the
Middle East, and South Asia.
[20]
There are an estimated 27 million victims of slavery worldwide. In Mauritania
alone, estimates are that up to 600,000 men, women and children, or 20% of the population, are enslaved. Many of
them are used as bonded labour.
Abolitionism
53
Modern-day abolitionists have emerged over the last several years, as awareness of slavery around the world has
grown, with groups such as Anti-Slavery International, the American Anti-Slavery Group, International Justice
Mission, and Free the Slaves working to rid the world of slavery. Zach Hunter, for example, began a movement
called Loose Change to Loosen Chains when he was in seventh grade. Also featured on CNN and other national
news organizations, Hunter has gone on to help inspire other teens and young adults to take action against injustice
with his books, Be the Change and Generation Change.
In the United States, The Action Group to End Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery is a coalition of NGOs,
foundations and corporations working to develop a policy agenda for abolishing slavery and human trafficking.
Since 1997, the United States Department of Justice has, through work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers,
prosecuted six individuals in Florida on charges of slavery in the agricultural industry. These prosecutions have led
to freedom for over 1000 enslaved workers in the tomato and orange fields of South Florida. This is only one
example of the contemporary fight against slavery worldwide. Slavery exists most widely in agricultural labor,
apparel and sex industries, and service jobs in some regions.
In 2000, the United States passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) "to combat
trafficking in persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and involuntary servitude."
[21]
The TVPA also "created
new law enforcement tools to strengthen the prosecution and punishment of traffickers, making human trafficking a
Federal crime with severe penalties."
[22]
The United States Department of State publishes the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, identifying countries as
either Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3, depending upon three factors: "(1) The extent to which the country
is a country of origin, transit, or destination for severe forms of trafficking; (2) The extent to which the government
of the country does not comply with the TVPA's minimum standards including, in particular, the extent of the
government's trafficking-related corruption; and (3) The resources and capabilities of the government to address and
eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons."
References
[1] Wilson, Thomas, The Oglethorpe Plan, 201-206
[2] " Slavery's last stronghold (http:/ / edition.cnn.com/ interactive/ 2012/ 03/ world/ mauritania. slaverys. last. stronghold/ index. html)". CNN.
March 2012.
[3] Christopher L. Miller, The French Atlantic triangle: literature and culture of the slave trade, p.20. (http:/ / books. google. fr/
books?id=480BBURkreYC& pg=PA122& lpg=PA122& dq=The+ French+ Atlantic+ triangle:+ literature+ and+ culture+ of+ the+ slave+
trade& source=bl& ots=JLHt0HSVOh& sig=jGgNK6Ek6fya_s6jHX6VEPPx3h4& hl=fr& ei=h4XkSpTOH4Gr4QbljvX5AQ& sa=X&
oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CAsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q=& f=false)
[4] http:/ / books. google. be/ books?id=btNeAEelkNMC& pg=PA54& dq=bordeaux+ slaves+ freed+ 1571& hl=fr& sa=X&
ei=WpTtUb6bDemu0AWTwIGIDg& ved=0CEMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage& q=bordeaux%20slaves%20freed%201571& f=false Malick W.
Ghachem, The Old Regime and the Haitian Revolution, p.54
[5] V.C.D. Mtubani, "African Slaves and English Law" (http:/ / archive. lib. msu. edu/ DMC/ African Journals/ pdfs/ PULA/ pula003002/
pula003002007.pdf), PULA Botswana Journal of African Studies, Vol 3 No 2 November 1983, Retrieved 24 February 2011
[6] Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware, 19992005 (http:/ / www.
freeafricanamericans. com), "WEAVER FAMILY: Three members of the Weaver family, probably brothers, were called "East Indians" in
Lancaster County,[VA] [court records] between 1707 and 1711."; "'The indenture of Indians (Native Americans) as servants was not common
in Maryland... the indenture of East Indian servants was more common.", Retrieved 15 February 2008
[7] Francis C. Assisi, "First Indian-American Identified: Mary Fisher, Born 1680 in Maryland" (http:/ / www. indolink. com/ Analysis/
a121403-021037.php), IndoLink, Quote: "Documents available from American archival sources of the colonial period now confirm the
presence of indentured servants or slaves who were brought from the Indian subcontinent, via England, to work for their European American
masters.", Retrieved 20 April 2010
[8] Frederick Charles Moncreiff (2006). The Wit and Wisdom of the Bench and Bar, pp.8586. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.,
[9] Mowat, Robert Balmain, History of the English-Speaking Peoples (Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 162
[10] MacEwen, Martin, Housing, Race and Law: The British Experience (Routledge, 2002), p. 39
[11] Peter P. Hinks, John R. McKivigan, R. Owen Williams, Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007),
p. 643
[12] Blackburn 1997: 136; Friede 1971:165166. Las Casas' change in his views on African slavery is expressed particularly in chapters 102 and
129, Book III of his Historia.
Abolitionism
54
[13] Robin Winks, Blacks in Canada: A History (1971)
[14] [14] Monticello Foundation, 2012
[15] [15] Peterson, 1960 p.189
[16] [16] Cogliano 2006, p.219.
[17] Introduction Social Aspects of the Civil War (http:/ / www. itd. nps. gov/ cwss/ manassas/ social/ introsoc. htm), National Park Service
[18] Leon F. Litwack and August Meier, eds., "John Mercer Langston: Principle and Politics", in Black Leaders of the 19th century, University of
Illinois Press, 1991, pp. 106111
[19] Bales, Kevin. Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves. University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-520-25470-1
[20] Does Slavery Still Exist? (http:/ / anti-slaverysociety. addr. com/ slavery. htm). Anti-Slavery Society.
[21] Public Law 106386 28 October 2000, Victims of trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (http:/ / www. state. gov/
documents/ organization/ 10492.pdf)
[22] US Department of Health and Human Services, TVPA Fact Sheet (http:/ / www. acf. hhs. gov/ trafficking/ about/ TVPA_2000. pdf)
Further reading
Bader-Zaar, Birgitta: Abolitionism in the Atlantic World: The Organization and Interaction of Anti-Slavery
Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (http:/ / nbn-resolving. de/ urn:nbn:de:0159-2011120524),
European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2010, retrieved: June 14, 2012.
Blackwell, Marilyn S., "'Women Were Among Our Primeval Abolitionists': Women and Organized Antislavery in
Vermont, 1834-1848," Vermont History, 82 (Winter-Spring 2014), 13-44.
Carey, Brycchan, and Geoffrey Plank, eds. Quakers and Abolition (University of Illinois Press, 2014), 264 pp.
Davis, David Brion, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 17701823 (1999); The Problem of Slavery
in Western Culture (1988)
Drescher, Seymour. Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery (2009)
Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of Slavery (1999)
Gordon, M. Slavery in the Arab World (1989)
Gould, Philip. Barbaric Traffic: Commerce and Antislavery in the 18th-century Atlantic World (2003)
Hellie, Richard. Slavery in Russia: 14501725 (1982)
Hinks, Peter, and John McKivigan, eds. Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition (2 vol. 2006) ISBN
0-313-33142-1; 846pp; 300 articles by experts
Kolchin, Peter. Unfree Labor; American Slavery and Russian Serfdom (1987)
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. "Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World" (2007)
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery (1997)
Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 14401870 (2006)
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Abolitionism
Wikisource has the text of the 1921 Collier's Encyclopedia article Abolitionists.
Mmoire St Barth | History of St Barthlemy (archives & history of slavery, slave trade and their abolition) (http:/
/ www. memoirestbarth/ EN/ ), Comit de Liaison et d'Application des Sources Historiques.
Largest Surviving Anti Slave Trade Petition from Manchester, UK 1806 (http:/ / www. parliament. uk/ slavetrade)
Original Document Proposing Abolition of Slavery 13th Amendment (http:/ / www. footnote. com/ viewer.
php?image=4346710)
"John Brown's body and blood" (http:/ / www. tls. timesonline. co. uk/ article/ 0,,25340-2597455,00. html) by Ari
Kelman: a review in the TLS (http:/ / tls. timesonline. co. uk/ ), 14 February 2007.
Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade schools resource (http:/ / www. ltscotland. org. uk/ abolition/ )
Abolitionism
55
Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery (http:/ / www. yale. edu/ glc/ events/ cbss/ Miers. pdf)
Elijah Parish Lovejoy: A Martyr on the Altar of American Liberty (http:/ / www. altonweb. com/ history/ lovejoy/
)
Brycchan Carey's pages listing British abolitionists (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ abolition/ )
The National Archives (UK): The Abolition of the Slave Trade (http:/ / www. nationalarchives. gov. uk/
pathways/ blackhistory/ rights/ abolition. htm)
Towards Liberty: Slavery, the Slave Trade, Abolition and Emancipation (https:/ / www. sheffield. gov. uk/
libraries/ archives-and-local-studies/ research-guides/ slavery-and-abolition. html) Produced by Sheffield City
Council's Libraries and Archives (UK)]
The slavery debate (http:/ / www. realnews-online. com/ rn0112. htm)
John Brown Museum (http:/ / www. kshs. org/ places/ johnbrown/ index. htm)
American Abolitionism (http:/ / americanabolitionist. liberalarts. iupui. edu/ )
History of the British abolitionist movement by Right Honourable Lord Archer of Sandwell (http:/ /
anti-slaverysociety. addr. com/ huk-history. htm)
"Slavery The emancipation movement in Britain" (http:/ / www. gresham. ac. uk/ event. asp?PageId=45&
EventId=476), lecture by James Walvin at Gresham College, 5 March 2007 (available for video and audio
download)
Underground Railroad: Escape from Slavery | Scholatic.com (http:/ / teacher. scholastic. com/ activities/ bhistory/
underground_railroad/ index. htmThe)
"Black Canada and the Journey to Freedom" (http:/ / www. virtualmuseum. ca/ blackhistory/ )
1807 Commemorated (http:/ / www. history. ac. uk/ 1807commemorated)
The Action Group (http:/ / www. theactiongroup. org/ index. htm)
US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2008 (http:/ / www. state. gov/ g/ tip/ rls/ tiprpt/ 2008/ )
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (http:/ / www. freedomcenter. org/ ) in Cincinnati, Ohio
The Liberator Files (http:/ / theliberatorfiles. com), Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of
William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive (http:/ / research. udmercy. edu/ find/ special_collections/
digital/ baa/ ), a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the
period.
Abolitionist movement (http:/ / histclo. com/ Act/ work/ slave/ ast/ abol. html)
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
56
Lord Mansfield (17051793), whose
opinion in Somerset's Case (1772) was
widely taken to have held that there was
no basis in law for slavery in England.
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries to end slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United
Kingdom and its colonies.
In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historical movement
to end the African slave trade and set slaves free. Later, in the 17th century,
English Quakers and evangelical religious groups condemned slavery (by
then applied mostly to Africans) as un-Christian; in the 18th century,
abolition was part of the message of the First Great Awakening in the
Thirteen Colonies; and in the same period, rationalist thinkers of the
Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man. James Edward
Oglethorpe was among the first to articulate the Enlightenment case against
slavery, banning it in the Province of Georgia on humanistic grounds, arguing
against it in Parliament, and eventually encouraging his friends Granville
Sharp and Hannah More to vigorously pursue the cause. Soon after his death
in 1785, they joined with William Wilberforce and others in forming the
Clapham Sect.
[1]
Though anti-slavery sentiments were widespread by the late
18th century, the colonies and emerging nations that used slave labor continued to do so.
Africa
Bangladesh
Chad
China
Congo
Ethiopia
Europe
Haiti
India
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
United States
Contemporary types
Child labour
57
Conscription
country
Debt
Forced marriage
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Forced prostitution
Human trafficking
country
Peonage
Penal labour
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Sexual slavery
Historic
History of slavery
Antiquity
Middle Passage
Arab slave trade
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58
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59
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60
songs
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Related topics
Common law
Indentured servant
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court cases
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bit
Wage slavery
Emancipation Day
v
t
e
[1]
The last known form of enforced servitude of adults (villeinage) had disappeared in England by the beginning of the
17th century. In a 1569 court case involving Cartwright, who had bought a slave from Russia, the court ruled that
English law could not recognise slavery, as it was never established officially. This ruling was overshadowed by
later developments. It was upheld in 1700 by the Lord Chief Justice John Holt when he ruled that a slave became
free as soon as he arrived in England.
[2]
In addition to English colonists importing slaves to the North American colonies, by the 18th century, traders began
to import slaves from Africa, India and East Asia (where they were trading) to London and Edinburgh to work as
personal servants. Men who migrated to the North American colonies often took their East Indian slaves or servants
with them, as East Indians have been documented in colonial records.
[3][4]
61
Some of the first freedom suits, court cases in the British Isles to challenge the legality of slavery, took place in
Scotland from 1755 to 1778. The cases were Montgomery v. Sheddan (1755), Spens v. Dalrymple (1769), and Knight
v. Wedderburn (1778). Each of the slaves had been baptized in Scotland and challenged the legality of slavery. They
set the precedent of legal procedure in British courts that would later lead to successful outcomes for the plaintiffs. In
the first two cases, deaths of the plaintiff and defendant, respectively, brought an end before court decisions. The
Knight case was decided in favor of the plaintiff, the former slave.
African slaves were not bought or sold in London but were brought by masters from other areas. Together with
people from other nations, especially non-Christian, Africans were considered foreigners, not able to be English
subjects. At the time, England had no naturalization procedure. The African slaves' legal status was unclear until
1772 and Somersett's Case, when the fugitive slave James Somersett forced a decision by the courts. Somersett had
escaped, and his master, Charles Steuart, had him captured and imprisoned on board a ship, intending to ship him to
Jamaica to be resold into slavery. While in London, Somersett had been baptised; three godparents issued a writ of
habeas corpus. As a result, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench, had to judge whether
Somersett's abduction was lawful or not under English Common Law. No legislation had ever been passed to
establish slavery in England. The case received national attention, and five advocates supported the action on behalf
of Somersett.
In his judgment of 22 June 1772, Mansfield declared:
"The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or
political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time
itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to
support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot
say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be
discharged."
[5]
Although the exact legal implications of the judgement are unclear when analysed by lawyers, the judgement was
generally taken at the time to have determined that slavery did not exist under English common law and was thus
prohibited in England.
[6]
The decision did not apply to the British overseas territories; by then, for example, the
American colonies had established slavery by positive laws.
[7]
Somersett's case became a significant part of the
common law of slavery in the English-speaking world and it helped launch the movement to abolish slavery.
[8]
After reading about Somersett's Case, Joseph Knight, an enslaved African who had been purchased by his master
John Wedderburn in Jamaica and brought to Scotland, left him. Married and with a child, he filed a freedom suit, on
the grounds that he could not be held as a slave in Great Britain. In the case of Knight v. Wedderburn (1778),
Wedderburn said that Knight owed him "perpetual servitude". The Court of Sessions of Scotland ruled against him,
saying that chattel slavery was not recognised under the law of Scotland, and slaves could seek court protection to
leave a master or avoid being forcibly removed from Scotland to be returned to slavery in the colonies.
But at the same time, legally mandated, hereditary slavery of Scots persons in Scotland had existed from 1606 and
continued until 1799, when colliers and salters were emancipated by an act of the Parliament of Great Britain (39
Geo.III. c. 56). Skilled workers, they were restricted to a place and could be sold with the works. A prior law enacted
in 1775 (15 Geo.III. c. 28) was intended to end what the act referred to as "a state of slavery and bondage," but that
was ineffective, necessitating the 1799 act.
62
Ignatius Sancho (c17291780) gained fame in his time
as "the extraordinary Negro". To 18th-century British
abolitionists, he became a symbol of the humanity of
Africans and the immorality of the slave trade.
First steps
Despite the ending of slavery in Great Britain, the United States
continued to rely on it as an institution in the South, and the West
Indian colonies of the British Empire also kept slavery. British
banks continued to finance the commodities and shipping
industries in the colonies they had earlier established that relied
upon slavery, despite the legal developments in Great Britain
itself.
[9]
In 1785, the English poet William Cowper wrote:
"We have no slaves at home Then why abroad?
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
receive our air, that moment they are free, They touch
our country, and their shackles fall. That's noble, and
bespeaks a nation proud. And jealous of the blessing.
Spread it then, And let it circulate through every
vein."
[10]
In 1783, an anti-slavery movement began among the British population. That year a group of Quakers founded the
first British abolitionist organization. The Quakers continued to be influential throughout the lifetime of the
movement, in many ways leading the campaign. On 17 June 1783, Sir Cecil Wray (one of the Members of
Parliament for Westminster) presented the Quaker petition to parliament. Also in 1783, Dr Beilby Porteus, Bishop of
Chester, issued a call to the Church of England to cease its involvement in the slave trade and to formulate a policy
to improve the conditions of Afro-Caribbean slaves. The exploration of the African continent by such British groups
as the African Association (1788), promoted the abolitionists' cause. Such expeditions highlighted the legitimate,
complex cultures of Africans; before this, Europeans had considered them "other" and uncivilized. The African
Association had close ties with William Wilberforce, who became known as a prominent figure in the battle for
abolition in the British Empire.
[11]
Africans played an important part in the abolition movement. In Britain, Olaudah Equiano, whose autobiography
was published in nine editions in his lifetime, campaigned tirelessly against the slave trade.
One aspect of the history of abolitionism during this period was the effective use of images such as the famous
Wedgewood medallion of 1787 and the engraving showing the horrific layout of the infamous slave ship, the
Brookes.
[12]
63
Growth of the movement
William Wilberforce (17591833), politician and
philanthropist who was a leader of the movement to
abolish the slave trade.
After the formation of the Committee for the Abolition of the
Slave Trade in 1787, William Wilberforce led the cause of
abolition through the parliamentary campaign. It finally abolished
the slave trade in the British Empire with the Slave Trade Act
1807. He continued to campaign for the abolition of slavery in the
British Empire, which he lived to see in the Slavery Abolition Act
1833.
The Atlantic slave trade, also called Triangle trade, encompassed
the trafficking in slaves by British merchants who exported
manufactured goods from ports such as Bristol and Liverpool, sold
or exchanged these for slaves in West Africa (where the African
chieftain hierarchy was tied to slavery), and shipped the slaves to
British colonies and other Caribbean countries or the American
colonies. There traders sold or exchanged the slaves for rum and
sugar (in the Caribbean) and tobacco and rice (in the American
South), which they took back to British ports. The merchants
traded in three places with each round-trip. Political influence
against the inhumanity of the slave trade grew strongly in the late
18th century.
People of both European and African ethnicity worked for abolition of the slave trade and slavery. Well-known
abolitionists in Britain included James Ramsay, who had seen the cruelty of the trade at first hand; the Unitarian
William Roscoe who courageously campaigned for parliament in the port city of Liverpool for which he was briefly
M.P., Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood, who produced the "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?"
medallion for the Committee; and other members of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers, as well as Quakers.
The latter made up most of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and were the first to present a
petition against the slave trade to the British Parliament. As Dissenters, Quakers were not eligible to become British
MPs in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Anglican evangelist William Wilberforce led the parliamentary
campaign. Clarkson became the group's most prominent researcher, gathering vast amounts of data, and gaining first
hand accounts by interviewing sailors and former slaves at British ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and London.
64
Olaudah Equiano (c17451797) was one
of the most prominent Africans involved
in the British debate for the abolition of
the slave trade.
Mainly because of Clarkson's efforts, a network of local abolition groups was
established across England. They campaigned through public meetings and
the publication of pamphlets and petitions. One of the earliest books
promoted by Clarkson and the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade was the autobiography of the freed slave Olaudah Equiano. The
movement had support from such freed slaves, from many denominational
groups such as Swedenborgians, Quakers, Baptists, Methodists and others.
They reached out for support from the new industrial workers of the cities in
the midlands and north of England. Even women and children, previously
un-politicised groups, became involved in the campaign. At this time, women
often had to hold separate meetings as there were social rules against their
appearing in public meetings. They could not vote, nor could the majority of
the men in Britain at the time.
The abolitionists negotiated with chieftains in West Africa to purchase land to
establish 'Freetown' a settlement for former slaves of the British Empire
(the Poor Blacks of London) and the United States. Great Britain had
promised freedom to American slaves who left rebel owners to join its cause
during the American Revolutionary War. It evacuated thousands of slaves
together with its troops and transported 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia
for resettlement. About a decade later, they were offered a chance to resettle in Freetown, and several hundred made
the move. Freetown was the first settlement of the colony of Sierra Leone, which was protected under a British Act
of Parliament in 18078. British influence in West Africa grew through a series of negotiations with local chieftains
to end trading in slaves. These included agreements to permit British navy ships to intercept chieftains' ships to
ensure their merchants were not carrying slaves.
Blake's "A Negro Hung Alive by the
Ribs to a Gallows", an illustration to J. G.
Stedman's Narrative, of a Five Years'
Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes
of Surinam (1796).
In 1796, John Gabriel Stedman published the memoirs of his five-year voyage
to the Dutch-controlled Surinam in South America as part of a military force
sent out to subdue bosnegers, former slaves living in the inlands. The book is
critical of the treatment of slaves and contains many images by William Blake
and Francesco Bartolozzi depicting the cruel treatment of runaway slaves. It
was an example of what became a large body of abolitionist literature.
65
Slave Trade Act 1807
Plate to commemorate the abolition of
the slave trade in 1807.
The Slave Trade Act was passed by the British Parliament on 25 March 1807,
making the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire. The Act
imposed a fine of 100 for every slave found aboard a British ship. At a time
when Napoleon decided to revive slavery, which had been abolished during
the French Revolution, and to send his troops to re-enslave the people of
Haiti, Guadeloupe and the other French Caribbean possessions, the British
took the moral high ground with their prohibition of the slave trade.
The act's intention was to entirely outlaw the slave trade within the British
Empire, but the lucrative trade continued through smuggling. Sometimes
captains at risk of being caught by the Royal Navy would throw slaves into
the sea to reduce their fines. In 1827, Britain defined participation in the slave
trade as piracy and punishable by death. Between 1808 and 1860, the Royal
Navy's West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and
freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard.
[13]
Britain took action against
African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for
example, in 1851 it deposed "the usurping King of Lagos". Britain signed anti-slavery treaties with more than 50
African rulers.
[14]
Slavery Abolition Act 1833
Main article: Slavery Abolition Act 1833
"To the Friends of Negro Emancipation",
an engraving in the West Indies,
celebrating the abolition of slavery in the
British Empire in 1833.
After the 1807 Act, slaves were still held, though not sold, within the British
Empire. In the 1820s, the abolitionist movement revived the campaign against
the institution of slavery. In 1823 the first Anti-Slavery Society was founded
in Britain. Many members had previously campaigned against the slave trade.
In 1831 the slave Sam Sharpe led a Christmas rebellion in Jamaica, an event
that catalyzed anti-slavery sentiment.
On 28 August 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent, paving
the way for the abolition of slavery within the British Empire and its colonies.
On 1 August 1834, all slaves in the British Empire were emancipated, but
they were indentured to their former owners in an apprenticeship system that
meant gradual abolition: the first set of apprenticeships came to an end on 1
August 1838, while the final apprenticeships were scheduled to cease on 1
August 1840, two years later.
On 1 August 1834, as the Governor in Port of Spain, Trinidad addressed an
audience about the new laws, the mostly elderly, unarmed slaves began
chanting: "Pas de six ans. Point de six ans" ("Not six years. No six years"),
drowning out his voice. Peaceful protests continued until the government
passed a resolution to abolish apprenticeship and the slaves gained de facto freedom. Full emancipation for all slaves
was legally granted on 1 August 1838, ahead of schedule, making Trinidad the first British slave society to fully end
slavery.
[15]
The government set aside 20 million for compensation of slave owners for their "property" across the
Empire, but it did not offer the former slaves compensation or reparations.
66
"The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840" by Benjamin
Haydon (1841).
Campaigning after the act
In 1839, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
attempted to outlaw slavery in other countries and also to
pressure the government to help enforce the suppression
of the slave trade by declaring slave traders pirates and
pursuing them. The world's oldest international human
rights organization, it continues today as Anti-Slavery
International.
[16]
However, at the time, The British
economy continued to import cotton and other
commodities from the US Deep South, which relied
heavily on slavery for cotton production, to fuel the
spinning and weaving mills in Manchester and other
Northern cities. The finished goods furnished Britain's
low wage export driven manufacturing economy and
export surpluses to Europe and India. London Merchant-Banks continued to profit from loans throughout the
supply-chain to planters, factors, ware-housers, carters, shippers, spinners, weavers, exporters, etc.
References
[1] Wilson, Thomas, The Oglethorpe Plan, 201-206
[2] V.C.D. Mtubani, "African Slaves and English Law" (http:/ / archive. lib. msu. edu/ DMC/ African Journals/ pdfs/ PULA/ pula003002/
pula003002007.pdf), PULA Botswana Journal of African Studies, Vol 3 No 2 November 1983, Retrieved 24 February 2011
[3] Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware, 19992005 (http:/ / www.
freeafricanamericans. com), "WEAVER FAMILY: Three members of the Weaver family, probably brothers, were called "East Indians" in
Lancaster County,[VA] [court records] between 1707 and 1711."; "'The indenture of Indians (Native Americans) as servants was not common
in Maryland... the indenture of East Indian servants was more common.", Retrieved 15 February 2008
[4] Francis C. Assisi, "First Indian-American Identified: Mary Fisher, Born 1680 in Maryland" (http:/ / www. indolink. com/ Analysis/
a121403-021037.php), IndoLink, Quote: "Documents available from American archival sources of the colonial period now confirm the
presence of indentured servants or slaves who were brought from the Indian subcontinent, via England, to work for their European American
masters.", Retrieved 20 April 2010
[5] Frederick Charles Moncreiff (2006). The Wit and Wisdom of the Bench and Bar, pp.8586. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.,
[6] Mowat, Robert Balmain, History of the English-Speaking Peoples (Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 162
[7] MacEwen, Martin, Housing, Race and Law: The British Experience (Routledge, 2002), p. 39
[8] Peter P. Hinks, John R. McKivigan, R. Owen Williams, Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007), p.
643
[9] [9] Christopher Hollis: Two Nations: A Financial Study of English History
[10] Rhodes, Nick William Cowper: Selected Poems (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 84
[11] [11] Hague, William, "William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner"(HarperCollins, 2008), p. 327
[12] The Slave in European Art: From Renaissance Trophy to Abolitionist Emblem, ed Elizabeth Mcgrath and Jean Michel Massing, London
2012
[13] Jo Loosemore, "Sailing against slavery" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ devon/ content/ articles/ 2007/ 03/ 20/ abolition_navy_feature. shtml),
BBC, 20 March 2007
[14] "The West African Squadron and slave trade" (http:/ / www. pdavis. nl/ Background. htm#WAS)
[15] Dryden, John. 1992 "Pas de Six Ans!", In: Seven Slaves & Slavery: Trinidad 1777 1838, by Anthony de Verteuil, Port of Spain, pp.
371379.
[16] Anti-Slavery International (http:/ / portal.unesco. org/ education/ en/ ev. php-URL_ID=9462& URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&
URL_SECTION=201.html) UNESCO. Retrieved 2011-10-11
67
Further reading
Bader-Zaar, Birgitta: Abolitionism in the Atlantic World: The Organization and Interaction of Anti-Slavery
Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (http:/ / nbn-resolving. de/ urn:nbn:de:0159-2011120524),
European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2010, retrieved: June 14, 2012.
Brown, Christopher Leslie. Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism (2006)
Davis, David Brion, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 17701823 (1999); The Problem of Slavery
in Western Culture (1988)
Drescher, Seymour. Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery (2009)
Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of Slavery (1999)
Gould, Philip. Barbaric Traffic: Commerce and Antislavery in the 18th-century Atlantic World (2003)
Hinks, Peter, and John McKivigan, eds. Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition (2 vol. 2006) ISBN
0-313-33142-1; 846pp; 300 articles by experts
Hochschild, Adam. Bury the Chains, Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves (2005)
Morgan, Kenneth. Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America (2008)
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. "Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World" (2007)
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery (1997)
Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 14401870 (2006)
Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave
Trade
The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, (or The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade),
was a British abolitionist group, formed on 22 May 1787, by twelve men who gathered together at a printing shop in
London, England. The Society worked to educate the public about the abuses of the slave trade; it achieved abolition
of the international slave trade in 1807, enforced by the British Navy, and abolition of slavery in the colonies (except
India, where it was part of the indigenous culture) in 1833, with full emancipation completed by 1838.
Origins
The first anti-slavery statement by Dutch and German Quakers met at Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1688. English
Quakers began to express their official disapproval of the slave trade in 1727 and promote reforms. From the 1750s,
a number of Quakers in Britain's American colonies also began to oppose slavery, calling on English Quakers to take
action. They encouraged their fellow citizens, including Quaker slave owners, to improve conditions for slaves,
educate their slaves in Christianity, reading and writing, and gradually emancipate them.
An informal group of six Quakers pioneered the British abolitionist movement in 1783 when the London Society of
Friends' yearly meeting presented its petition against the slave trade to parliament, signed by over 300 Quakers. They
subsequently decided to form a small, committed, non-denominational group so as to gain greater Anglican and
Parliamentary support.
The new, non-denominational committee formed in 1787 had nine Quaker members and three Anglicans. As
Quakers were considered non-conformists and were debarred from standing for Parliament), having Anglican
members strengthened the committee's likelihood of influencing Parliament.
Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
68
Membership
Nine of the twelve founding members of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade were Quakers:
John Barton (17551789); William Dillwyn (1743-1824); George Harrison (1747-1827); Samuel Hoare Jr
(1751-1825); Joseph Hooper (1732-1789); John Lloyd; Joseph Woods Sr (1738-1812); James Phillips (1745-1799);
and Richard Phillips. Five of the Quakers had been amongst the informal group of six Quakers who had pioneered
the movement in 1783, when the first petition against the slave trade was presented to parliament.
Three Anglicans were founding members: Thomas Clarkson, campaigner and author of an influential essay against
the slave trade; Granville Sharp who, as a lawyer, had long been involved in the support and prosecution of cases on
behalf of enslaved Africans; and Philip Sansom.
Women's involvement
Women had increasingly played a larger role in the anti-slavery movementWikipedia:Citation needed but were not
eligible to be represented in Parliament and often, in the manner of the times, had to form their own separate
societies. Many women were horrified that, under slavery, women and children were taken away from their families.
In 1824, Elizabeth Heyrick published a pamphlet titled Immediate not Gradual Abolition. In this Heyrick urged the
immediate emancipation of the slaves. The Anti-Slavery Society had been founded to promote gradual abolition and
though dominated by members with this view, who sought to downplay the challenge, a ginger group of members
formed to campaign for immediate progress. The Female Society for Birmingham had a network of women's
anti-slavery groups and Heyrick's pamphlet was publicized here.
Mission and support
The mission of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was to inform the public of the inhuman and immoral
treatment of enslaved Africans committed in the name of slavery, to campaign in favour of a new law to abolish the
slave trade and enforce this on the high seas, and to establish areas in West Africa where Africans could live free of
the risk of capture and sale into slavery. It pursued these proposals vigorously by writing and publishing anti-slavery
books, abolitionist prints, posters and pamphlets, and organizing lecture tours in the towns and cities of England.
"Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" Medallion created
as part of anti-slavery campaign by Josiah Wedgwood,
1787
Petitions were presented to the House of Commons, anti-slavery
rallies held, and a range of anti-slavery medallions, crockery and
bronze figurines were made, notably with the support of the
Unitarian Josiah Wedgwood whose production of pottery
medallions featuring a slave in chains with the simple but effective
question: Am I not a man and a brother? was very effective in
bringing public attention to abolition.
[1]
The Wedgwood medallion
was the most famous image of a black person in all of
18th-century art. Thomas Clarkson wrote; "ladies wore them in
bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner
as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became
general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to
worthless things, was seen for once in the honourable office of
promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom".
By educating the public, the Committee for the Abolition of the
Slave Trade gained many members. In 1787, Thomas Clarkson's
speaking tour of the great ports and cities of England raised public
69
interest. Publication of the African Olaudah Equiano's autobiography heightened public awareness, as the former
slave expressed an unanswerable case against slavery in a work of literary merit. In 1789 Clarkson's promoted the
Committee's cause by encouraging the sale of Equiano's memoir and inviting the former slave to lecture in British
ports linked to the slave trade.
William Wilberforce introduced the first Bill to abolish the slave trade in 1791, which was defeated by 163 votes to
88. As Wilberforce continued to bring the issue of the slave trade before Parliament, Clarkson and others on the
Committee traveled, raised funds, lobbied, and wrote anti-slavery works. They conducted a protracted parliamentary
campaign, during which Wilberforce introduced a motion in favour of abolition almost every year.
Successes
Africa
Bangladesh
Chad
China
Congo
Ethiopia
Europe
Haiti
India
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
United States
Contemporary types
Child labour
Conscription
country
Debt
Forced marriage
bride-buying
wife selling
Forced prostitution
Human trafficking
70
country
Peonage
Penal labour
U.S.
Sexual slavery
Historic
History of slavery
Antiquity
Middle Passage
Arab slave trade
Saqaliba
mamluk
Aztec
Babylonia
Blackbirding
Byzantine Empire
Chattel
field slaves
house slaves
Coolie
Corve labor
Ancient Greece
Pirates
Impressment
Kholop
Medieval Europe
Thrall
Ancient Rome
Serfs
history
Russia
Shanghaiing
Slave ship
list
revolts
Slave raiding
Galley slave
Panyarring
71
Africa
Barbary Coast
Slave Coast
Americas indigenous
U.S. Natives
Asia
Angola
Bhutan
Brazil
Lei urea
British Isles
Canada
Caribbean
Barbados
Code Noir
China
booi aha
Cuba
Denmark
Ethiopia
Germany
Haiti
revolt
Holland
India
Iran
Japan
comfort women
Latin America
Libya
Ottoman Empire
Poland
Polynesia
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Seychelles
Somalia
South Africa
72
Spain
colonies
Sweden
Trinidad
United States
colonial
maps
female
partus
Slave codes
interregional
Vietnam
Virgin Islands
Religion
Bible
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Timeline
Abolitionism
U.K.
U.S.
Blockade of Africa
U.K.
U.S.
Freedman
manumission
Freedom suit
Opponents
Slave Power
songs
Slave rebellion
Slave Trade Acts
International law
Related topics
Common law
Indentured servant
73
Unfree labour
Fugitive slaves
laws
Slave narrative
films
songs
Slave name
Slave Route Project
Treatment in U.S.
breeding
court cases
Washington
Jefferson
Adams
Lincoln
40 acres
Freedmen's Bureau
bit
Wage slavery
Emancipation Day
v
t
e
[1]
Gradual abolition
Even with all of this support, it took twenty years of work by the Society, and others - including captive and freed
Africans, missionaries and evangelical movements in the colonies - to achieve the first stage of legal emancipation in
the colonies. Over the course of this period, the Committee was joined by the Quaker philanthropist William Allen,
who worked closely with Wilberforce and with his fellow Quaker Committee members.
In 1807 the British Parliament voted to abolish the international slave trade and enforce this through its maritime
power. The following year a separate Act was passed to give greater British protection to Freetown in West Africa
(now capital of Sierra Leone), a colony established in 1788 for the resettlement of former slaves and Poor Blacks
from London, as well as Black Loyalists who had initially been relocated to Nova Scotia following the American
Revolutionary War. The Timni chief Nembana sold a strip of land to British official to establish this colony for freed
slaves. When the British Navy later intercepted illegal slave trading ships, its crews frequently resettled the liberated
Africans at Freetown.
Abolition was not achieved for many years, following agreements between the Colonial Office and the various
semi-autonomous colonial governments. After additional British parliamentary legislation, slaves in all of Britain's
colonies were emancipated in 1838. Colonies often established 'replacement' indentured labor schemes that were
closely related to the forced labour of slavery. The Society challenged laws related to these with renewed
anti-slavery campaigning, since such colonial schemes could be used to thwart emancipation in all but name.
74
Slavery continued on a large scale in the United States of America, which had become independent of Britain in
1783. After independence, most northern states abolished slavery (some gradually), as they were not as dependent on
it in their economies. Slavery flourished in the South and was extended west of the Mississippi River, not being
abolished until after the South was defeated in 1865 as a result of the American Civil War.
Slavery abolished
In 1827 the Sheffield Female Society was the first to call for immediate emancipation. In 1830 the Female society
for Birmingham urged the Anti-Slavery Society to support immediate abolition instead of gradual abolition. In 1830
the Anti-Slavery Society finally agreed to support immediate abolition. In Britain the Slavery Abolition Act was
passed in 1833.
References
[1] Did you know? - Josiah WEDGWOOD was a keen advocate of the slavery abolition movement (http:/ / www. thepotteries. org/ did_you/
005. htm)
External links
The history of Sierra Leone (http:/ / www. britishempire. co. uk/ maproom/ sierraleone. htm)
Parliament & The British Slave Trade 16001807 (http:/ / www. parliament. uk/ slavetrade)
Anti Slave Trade Petition Manchester 1806 (http:/ / slavetrade. parliament. uk/ petition_for. php)
Transcript of the First Quaker Petition to Parliament in 1783 (http:/ / abolition. e2bn. org/ source_34. html)
Granville Sharp
For the Labour Party Member of Parliament, see Granville Maynard Sharp.
Granville Sharp
Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 6 July 1813) was one of the
first English campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also
involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp
formulated the plan to settle blacks in Sierra Leone, and founded the
St. George's Bay Company, a forerunner of the Sierra Leone Company.
His efforts led to both the founding of the Province of Freedom, and
later on Freetown, Sierra Leone, and so he is considered to be one of
the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. He was also a biblical scholar and
classicist, and a talented musician.
Life
Granville Sharp was the son of Thomas Sharp (16931759),
Archdeacon of Northumberland, prolific theological writer and
biographer of his father, John Sharp, Archbishop of York. Sharp was
born in Durham in 1735. He had eight older brothers and five younger sisters. Five of his brothers survived their
infancy and by the time Sharp had reached his midteens the family funds set aside for their education had been all
but depleted, so Sharp was educated at Durham School but mainly at home.
He was apprenticed to a London linen-draper at the age of fifteen. Sharp loved to argue and debate, and his keen
intellect found little outlet in the mundane work in which he was involved. However, one of his fellow-apprentices
was Socinian (a Unitarian sect that denied the divinity of Christ), and in order better to argue, Sharp taught himself
Granville Sharp
75
Greek. Another fellow apprentice was Jewish, and so Sharp learned Hebrew in order to be able to discuss theological
matters with his colleague. Sharp also conducted genealogical research for one of his masters, Henry Willoughby,
who had a claim to the barony of Willoughby de Parham, and it was through Sharp's work that Willoughby was able
to take his place in the House of Lords.
Sharp's apprenticeship ended in 1757, and both his parents died a year later. That same year he accepted a position as
Clerk in the Ordnance Office at the Tower of London. This civil service position allowed him plenty of free time to
pursue his scholarly and intellectual pursuits.
The Sharp Family, by Johann Zoffany, 177981,
National Portrait Gallery, London. The family
musical ensemble are pictured on their barge,
Apollo, with All Saints Church, Fulham in the
background. Granville Sharp is the male figure in
the centre.
Sharp had a keen musical interest. Four of his siblings William, later
to become surgeon to George III, James, Elizabeth and Judith had
also come to London, and they met every day. They all played musical
instruments as a family orchestra, giving concerts at William's house in
Mincing Lane and later in the family sailing barge, Apollo, which was
moored at the Bishop of London's steps in Fulham, near William's
country home, Fulham House.
[1]
The fortnightly water-borne concerts
took place from 17751783, the year his brother James died. Sharp had
an excellent bass voice, described by George III as "the best in
Britain", and he played the clarinet, oboe, flageolet, kettle drums, harp
and a double-flute which he had made himself. He often signed his
name in notes to friends as G#.
Sharp died at Fulham House on 6 July 1813, and a memorial of him
was erected in Westminster Abbey. He lived in Fulham, London, and
was buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Fulham. The vicar
would not allow a funeral sermon to be preached in the church because
Sharp had been involved with the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was Nonconformist.
Abolitionism
Sharp is best known for his untiring efforts for the abolition of slavery, although he was involved in many other
causes, fired by a dislike of any social or legal injustice.
Sharp's first involvement: Jonathan Strong
Sharp's brother William held a regular surgery for the local poor at his surgery at Mincing Lane, and one day in 1765
when Sharp was visiting, he met Jonathan Strong. Strong was a young black slave from Barbados who had been so
badly beaten by his master, David Lisle, a lawyer, that he had been cast out into the street as useless. Sharp and his
brother tended to his injuries and had him admitted to Barts Hospital, where his injuries were so bad they
necessitated a four-month stay. The Sharps paid for his treatment and, when he was fit enough, found him
employment with a Quaker apothecary friend of theirs. In 1767, Lisle saw Strong in the street and had him
kidnapped and sold to a planter called James Kerr for 30. Strong was able to get word to Sharp, and in a court
attended by the Lord Mayor and the Coroner of London, Lisle and Kerr were denied possession of Strong. They
instituted a court action against Sharp claiming 200 damages for taking their property, and Lisle challenged Sharp
to a duelSharp told Lisle that he could expect satisfaction from the law.
Sharp consulted lawyers and found that as the law stood it favoured the master's rights to his slaves as property: that
a slave remained in law the chattel of his master even on English soil. Sharp said "he could not believe the law of
England was really so injurious to natural rights." He spent the next two years in study of English law, especially
where it applied to the liberty of the individual.
Granville Sharp
76
Lisle disappeared from the records early, but Kerr persisted with his suit through eight legal terms before it was
dismissed, and Kerr was ordered to pay substantial damages for wasting the court's time. Jonathan Strong was free,
even if the law had not been changed, but he only lived for five years as a free man, dying at 25.
Increasing involvement
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.
The Strong case made a name for Sharp as the "protector of the
Negro"Wikipedia:Citation needed and he was approached by two
more slaves, although in both cases (Hylas v Newton and R v
Stapylton) the results were unsatisfactory, and it became plain that
the judiciary and Lord Mansfield, the Chief Justice of the King's
Bench (the leading judge of the day) in particular was trying
very hard not to decide the issue. By this time, Great Britain was
by far the largest trafficker in slaves, transporting more Africans
across the Atlantic than all other nations put together, and the
slave trade and slave labour were important to the British
economy.
In 1769 Sharp published A Representation of the Injustice and
Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery ..., the first tract in
England attacking slavery.
Somersett's Case
On 13 January 1772, Sharp was visited and asked for help by James Somersett, a slave from Virginia in America,
who had come to England with his master Charles Stewart in 1769 and had run away in October 1771. After evading
slave hunters employed by Stewart for 56 days, Somersett had been caught and put in the slave ship Ann and Mary,
to be taken to Jamaica and sold. Three Londoners had applied to Lord Mansfield for a writ of habeas corpus, which
had been granted, with Somersett having to appear at a hearing on 24 January 1772. Members of the public
responded to Somersett's plight by sending money to pay for his lawyers (who in the event all gave their services pro
bono publico), while Stewart's costs were met by the West Indian planters and merchants.
Calling on his now-formidable knowledge of the law regarding individual liberty, Sharp briefed Somersett's lawyers.
Mansfield's prevarications stretched Somersett's Case over six hearings from January to May, and he finally
delivered his judgment on 22 June 1772. It was a clear victory for Somersett, Sharp and the lawyers who acted for
Somersett: Mansfield acknowledged that English law did not allow slavery, and only a new Act of Parliament
("positive law") could bring it into legality. However, the verdict in the case is often misunderstood to mean the end
of slavery in England. It was no such thing: it only dealt with the question of the forcible sending of someone
overseas into bondage; a slave becomes free the moment he sets foot on English territory. It was one of the most
significant achievements in the campaign to abolish slavery throughout the world, more for its effect than for its
actual legal weight.
Granville Sharp
77
The Zong Massacre
In 1781 the crew of the over-capacity slaver ship Zong massacred an estimated 132
[2]
slaves by tossing them
overboard; an additional ten slaves threw themselves overboard in defiance or despair and over sixty people had
perished through neglect, injuries, disease and overcrowding.
The Zong's crew had mis-navigated her course and underestimated water supplies; according to the maritime law
notion of general average, cargo purposely jettisoned at sea to save the remainder was eligible for insurance
compensation. It was reasoned that as the slaves were cargo, the ship's owners would be entitled to the 30 a head
compensation for their loss if thrown overboard: were the slaves to die on land or at sea of so-called "natural" causes,
no compensation would be forthcoming.
The ship's owners, a syndicate merchants based in Liverpool, filed their insurance claim; the insurers disputed it. In
this first case the court found for the owners. The insurers appealed.
Sharp was visited on 19 March 1783 by Olaudah Equiano, a famous freed slave and later to be the author of a
successful autobiography, who told him of the horrific events aboard the Zong. Sharp immediately became involved
in the court case, facing his old adversary over slave trade matters, the Solicitor General for England and Wales, Mr.
John Lee. Lee notoriously declared that "the case was the same as if asses had been thrown overboard", and that a
master could drown slaves without "a surmise of impropriety".
The judge ruled that the Zong's owners could not claim insurance on the slaves: the lack of sufficient water
demonstrated that the cargo had been badly managed. However, no officers or crew were charged or prosecuted for
the deliberate killing of the slaves, and Sharp's attempts to mount a prosecution for murder never got off the ground.
The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Sharp was not completely alone at the beginning of the struggle: the Quakers, especially in America, were
committed abolitionists. Sharp had a long and fruitful correspondence with Anthony Benezet, a Quaker abolitionist
in Pennsylvania. However, the Quakers were a marginal group in England, and were debarred from standing for
Parliament, and they had no doubt as to who should be the chairman of the new society they were founding, The
Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. On 22 May 1787, at the inaugural meeting of the Committee
nine Quakers and three Anglicans (who strengthened the committee's likelihood of influencing Parliament)
Sharp's position was unanimously agreed. In the 20 years of the society's existence, during which Sharp was
ever-present at Committee meetings, such was Sharp's modesty that he would never take the chair, always contriving
to arrive just after the meeting had started to avoid any chance of having to take the meeting. While the committee
felt it sensible to concentrate on the slave trade, Sharp felt strongly that the target should be slavery itself. On this he
was out-voted, but he worked tirelessly for the Society nevertheless.
Abolition
When Sharp heard that the Act of Abolition had at last been passed by both Houses of Parliament and given Royal
Assent on 25 March 1807, he fell to his knees and offered a prayer of thanksgiving. He was now 71, and had
outlived almost all of the allies and opponents of his early campaigns. He was regarded as the grand old man of the
abolition struggle, and although a driving force in its early days, his place had later been taken by others such as
Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect. Sharp however did not see the final abolition as he
died on 6 July 1813.
Granville Sharp
78
The Province of Freedom
View from Granville Town looking north to Bullom
Shore from Voyages to the River Sierra Leone by John
Matthews, 1788
Although no reliable figures exist, it is thought that in the early
1780s there were around 15,000 black people in Britain, most of
them without employment. Ideas were formulated for a settlement
in Africa where they could return "home". Henry Smeathman, a
plant collector and entomologist who had visited Sierra Leone,
propounded to the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor that
the country would be an excellent location. Worried black people
came to see Sharp, concerned that they might be re-enslaved in
such a place.
Sharp took to the idea with alacrity: he saw it as a perfect
opportunity to create a new model society from scratch. He drew
up plans and regulations, and persuaded the Treasury to finance
the ships and pay 12 a head to each embarking
settler.Wikipedia:Citation needed He named the new, egalitarian,
peaceful Christian society-to-be "The Province of Freedom".
The utopian ideal quickly went sour in the face of tremendous logistical difficulties; fire broke out even before the
ships had left London. 411 people sailed for Africa, including some 60 white women without Sharp's knowledge,
married to the male settlers. It is unclear how many were previously betrothed and how many married in preparation
for the journey; traditionally these women have been characterized as prostitutes from Deptford. The settlers arrived
in May 1787, at the onset of the five-month rainy season, and a settlement of sorts was built, named Granville Town.
The commander of the naval escort that had brought the settlers concluded that they were unfit for the complex
challenge of founding a new settlement in a potentially hostile environment.Wikipedia:Citation needed One of the
settlers whom Granville had rescued from a slave ship left the settlement to work in the slave trade, much to Sharp's
despair. By the end of 1788 Sharp had poured 1,735 18s 8d of his own money into the settlement. In 1789 Granville
Town was burned to the ground by a local Temne chief; this may have been in retaliation for the burning of a Temne
by a slave-trader.
Through The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, in 1790 Granville came into contact with
Thomas Peters, a former American slave who fought with the British during revolution in return for freedom. Sharp
was instrumental in helping Peters to establish Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sharp is considered to be one of the founders
of Sierra Leone alongside Thomas Peters and the Clarkson brothers (Thomas Clarkson and John Clarkson).
Granville Sharp
79
Other activism
A white glass medallion of Granville Sharp by
Catherine Andras, made on 2 April 1809.
Sharp ardently sympathized with the revolt of the American
colonists. He believed in peace in America, but he also believed
they were entitled to "Equitable Representation", an idea repeated
in the famous phrase "No taxation without representation". When
he realised his job in the Ordnance Office meant sending
equipment to British forces fighting the colonists, he took leave of
absence. As the war continued, he wrote to his employers "I
cannot return to my ordnance duty whilst a bloody war is carried
on, unjustly, against my fellow-subjects." Eventually in 1776 he
resigned, never to have paid employment again and supported
willingly by his brothers, who were happy to see him dedicate his
time to his various causes.
Sharp also advocated parliamentary reform and the legislative
independence of Ireland, and agitated against the impressment of
sailors for the Navy. It was through his efforts that bishops for the
United States of America were consecrated by the Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1787. He also argued for the reform of Parliament
based on Magna Carta and to back this up he devised the doctrine
of accumulative authority. This doctrine stated that because almost
innumerable parliaments had approved Magna Carta it would take the same number of Parliaments to repeal it. Like
many others, Sharp accepted the supremacy of Parliament as an institution, but did not believe that this power was
without restraint, and thought that Parliament could not repeal Magna Carta.
Sharp was also one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society and of the Society for the Conversion of
the Jews.
Classical grammarian
One of Granville's letters written in 1778 (published in 1798), propounded what has come to be known as The
Granville Sharp Rule (in actuality only the first of six principles involving the article that Sharp articulated):
When the copulative kai connects two nouns of the same case, if the article ho, or any of its cases, precedes
the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not repeated before the second noun or participle, the latter
always relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the first noun or participle ...
This rule, if true, has a profound bearing on Unitarian doctrine, which led to a celebrated controversy, in which
many leading divines took part, including Christopher Wordsworth.
Daniel B. Wallace says about Sharp:
His strong belief in Christs deity led him to study the Scriptures in the original in order to defend more ably
that precious truth ... As he studied the Scriptures in the original, he noticed a certain pattern, namely, when
the construction article-noun--noun involved personal nouns which were singular and not proper names,
they always referred to the same person. He noticed further that this rule applied in several texts to the deity of
Jesus Christ.
But Wallace claims that this rule is often too broadly applied. Sharps rule Number 1 does not always work with
plural forms of personal titles. Instead, a phrase that follows the form article-noun-and-noun, when the nouns
involved are plurals, can involve two entirely distinct groups, two overlapping groups, two groups of which is one a
subset of the other, or two identical groups.
[3]
In other words, the rule is of very specific and limited application.
Granville Sharp
80
Of Granville Sharp's most successful critic, Calvin Winstanley, Wallace says:
"Winstanley conceded 'There are, you say, no exceptions, in the New Testament, to your rule; that is, I
suppose, unless these particular texts [i.e. the ones Sharp used to adduce Christ's deity] be such ... it is nothing
surprising to find all these particular texts in question appearing as the exceptions to your rule, and the sole
exceptions ... in the New Testament' an obvious concession that he could find no exceptions save for the
ones he supposed exist in the christologically pregnant texts."
What Wallace neglects by use of ellipses (...) is the flow of Winstanley's argument as well as the character of his
theology.
[4]
Winstanley's quote argued that one could not apply Sharp's rule to the possible exceptions unless it could
be shown that extra-biblical literature also followed Sharp's rule. Through multiple examples Winstanley showed
that in classical Greek and in patristic Greek all the literature surrounding the New Testament, the rule simply did
not apply consistently. Wallace's quote comes from the end of Winstanley's argument in which he clearly is not
conceding the point. To complete Winstanley's argument:
"There are, you say, no exceptions, in the New Testament, to your rule; that is, I suppose, unless these
particular texts be such; which you think utterly improbable. You would argue, then, that if these texts were
exceptions, there would be more. I do not perceive any great weight in this hypothetical reasoning. But,
however plausible it may appear, the reply is at hand. There are no other words so likely to yield exceptions;
because there are no other words, between which the insertion of the copulative, would effect so remarkable a
deviation from the established form of constructing them to express one person; and of course, would so
pointedly suggest a difference of signification."
[5]
Winstanley was Trinitarian, but cautioned that a rule that held true only in the New Testament in all but the disputed
cases was too flimsy a ground on which to try to prove the divinity of Christ to the Socinians (Unitarians). Instead he
said, "[I think] there are much more cogent arguments in reserve, when [Sharp's] rule of interpretation shall be
abandoned."
[6]
His biggest criticisms of Sharp's rule rest in the fact that 1) the early church fathers do not follow it
and 2) the early church father's never invoked this rule to prove the divinity of Christ (though it would have been an
obvious tool against such heresy). He concludes, "Hence it may be presumed that the doctrine then rested on other
grounds."
[7]
However, just because Wallace exaggerates Winstanley's concession does not mean that he has no evidence to refute
Winstanley. Wallace argues that, for various reasons, the only two passages from Granville's eight that truly follow
Sharp's rule (for textual reasons, among others) are Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1.
[8]
Wallace interacts in depth with
Winstanley's critiques of Sharp and shows from grammatical, textual, linguistic, and Patristic evidence that Sharp's
rule is truly valid across Classical, Biblical, Papyrological, and Patristic Greek with some slight modification to the
rules.
[9]
Here is how Wallace restates the issue:
"In native Greek constructions (i.e., not translation Greek), when a single article modifies two substantives connected
by (thus, article-substantive--substantive), when both substantives are (1) singular (both grammatically and
semantically), (2) personal, (3) and common nouns (not proper names or ordinals), they have the same referent."
[10]
Granville Sharp
81
Legacy
Granville Sharp's tomb at All Saints', Fulham, after
restoration.
Inscription on Granville Sharp's tomb.
After his death on 6 July 1813, Granville Sharp was buried at All
Saints' Church, Fulham, beside his brother William Sharp and
sister Elizabeth Prouse. The inscription on his tomb states:
"Here by the Remains of the Brother and Sister whom he tenderly
loved lie those of GRANVILLE SHARP Esqr. at the age of 79 this
venerable Philanthropist terminated his Career of almost
unparalleled activity and usefulness July 6th 1813 Leaving behind
him a name That will be Cherished with Affection and Gratitude
as long as any homage shall be paid to those principles of
JUSTICE HUMANITY and RELIGION which for nearly half a
Century He promoted by his Exertions and adorned by his
Example"
Sharp's portrait was made many times, both during his life and
afterwards. The National Portrait Gallery, London holds seven
portraits, including the large oil of The Sharp Family by Johann
Zoffany and six pencil drawings, etchings and engravings. An oil
portrait of Sharp by Mather Brown is in a private collection.
As well as Granville Town in Sierra Leone, the free village of
Granville in Jamaica was named after Sharp.
A memorial to Sharp was erected in Westminster Abbey, and he
features in carved bas-relief on the side of the Clarkson Memorial,
a memorial to fellow-abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (17601846).
In 2007 the Royal Mail issued a set of stamps to commemorate the
200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom. Sharp featured on the 50p stamp.
In 2007 Sharp's tomb in the graveyard of All Saint's Church, Fulham was also restored to coincide with the
anniversary. In recognition of Sharp's historical importance and preparation for the anniversary, the tomb was listed
as Grade II on 16 March 2007, only three months after the application was made to English Heritage and the
Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The tomb was restored in June 2007 and a ceremony to mark the
completion of the work was held in the church, attended by many notable figures including Professor Simon
Schama. Speaking at the service, Schama said that "Sharp's great contribution was to 'lower the threshold of shame'
in society."
Granville Sharp's papers are deposited at the Gloucestershire Archives, reference D3549. There is also a substantial
collection of his letters at York Minster Library.
Granville Sharp
82
Works
Notable publications are in bold.
1765 An Answer to the Rev. Dr. Kennicot's Charge of Corruptions in the Hebrew Texts of Ezra and Nehemiah
1767 A Short Introduction to Vocal Musick
1767 On the Pronunciation of the English Tongue
1768 Remarks on Several Important Prophecies ...
1769 A Representation of the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery ..., the first tract in
England attacking slavery
1771 An Appendix to the Representation, reinforcing his case against slavery
1771 Remarks Concerning Encroachments on the River Thames
1773 Remarks ... against Duelling
1774 A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, in support of the American
colonists
1775 A Declaration of the People's Natural Right ..., in support of both Americans and Irish
1776 The Law of Retribution
1776 The Just Limitation of Slavery in the Laws of God
1776 The Laws of Passive Obedience
1776 The Laws of Liberty
1777 preface to General James Oglethorpe's The Sailor's Advocate, an attack on press gangs
1777 The Laws of Nature
1777 The Case of Saul
1778 An Address to the People of England ... stating the Illegality of impressing Seamen
1779 The Doctrine of 'Nullum Tempus occurrit Regi' Explained ...
1780 seven tracts on The Legal Means of Political Reformation
1781 seven tracts on Free Militia
1784 Congregational Courts and the ancient English Constitution of Frankpledge
1784 A Tract on the Election of Bishops
1786 An English Alphabet for the Use of Foreigners
1786 Regulations for a New Settlement of Sierra Leone
1790 Free English Territory in Africa
1790 Plan of a Public Charity
1791 A Letter ... (on) the State of the London Workhouse
1792 Causes des Calamits publiques qui rgnent prsent par toute l'tendue de L'Empire Romain
1792 A Collection of Political Papers, with Remarks on the Accomplishment of Prophecies
1793 A Letter to a Gentleman in Maryland respecting the extreme Wickedness of tolerating the Slave Trade ...
1794 A General plan for laying out Towns and Townships in new-acquired Lands ...
1798 Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament, Containing Many
New Proofs of the Divinity of Christ, from Passages Which Are Wrongly Translated in the Common English
Version, which contains the grammatical principle still known as "Sharp's Rule"
1801 The Child's First Book improved, with a Preface addressed to Mothers and Teachers
1801 An Answer to an anonymous Letter on Pre-Destination and Free-will, with a Postscript on Eternal
Punishments
1801 Extract of a Letter on Land-Carriages, Roads, and profitable Labour of Oxen
1804 three tracts on The Syntax and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Tongue
1805 An Inquiry whether the Description of Babylon ... agrees perfectly with Rome, as a City etc. ...
1805 A Letter ... respecting the proposed Catholic Emancipation
1805 Serious Reflections on the Slave Trade and Slavery Addressed to the Peers of Great Britain
Granville Sharp
83
1806 A Dissertation on the supreme Divine Dignity of the Messiah
1806 Remarks on the two last Petitions in the Lord's Prayer ...
1807 The System of Colonial Law compared with the eternal Laws of God, and with the Indispensable Principles
of the British Constitution
1807 A Letter in Answer to some of the leading Principles and Doctrines of the People called Quakers
1807 The Case of Saul, to which is added a short tract wherein the Influence of Demons is further illustrated
1808 Jerusalem ... respecting the Etymology of that Word
1810 Melchisedec; or an Answer to a Question respecting the Reality of Melchisedec's Existence, as King of
Salem and priest of the Most High God
1811 Modus Decimandi
1812 Remarks on an important Passage, Matt. xxi. 18, which has long been perverted by the Church of Rome in
Support of her vain Pretensions to supreme Dominion over all other Episcopal Churches
Notes
[1] Fulham at the time was a village surrounded by countryside, not part of the Greater London conurbation as today. The Sharps' Fulham House
is not the house now known as Fulham House the Sharps' Fulham House was demolished in the 1840s, and stood roughly where the Putney
Travel Inn stands today.
[2] [2] The exact number of deaths is unknown, but First Mate James Kelsall later said that "the outside number of drowned amounted to 142 in the
whole"
[3] Wallace 1983, pp. 7278
[4] Winstanley passim
[5] [5] Winstanley, p. 39
[8] Sharp Redivivus by Wallace (http:/ / bible.org/ article/ sharp-redivivus-reexamination-granville-sharp-rule)
[9] [9] ibid.
[10] ibid. It should be noted that this essay by Wallace is a summary of his dissertation and he has developed it further by publishing the
argument as a book: Granville Sharp's Canon and its Kin
References
Hoare, Prince, Memoirs of Granville Sharp, Esq., Composed from his own Manuscripts and Other Authentic
Documents in the Possession of his Family and of the African Institution London, 1820 (2nd edition of 1828
online at (http:/ / books. google. co. uk/ books?hl=en& id=_LIEAAAAYAAJ& dq=Prince+ Hoare+ granville+
sharp& printsec=frontcover& source=web& ots=YZhVDtdGEU& sig=votGYMmsWCbpMBkSs4QA4Vi-il0&
sa=X& oi=book_result& resnum=1& ct=result)
Hochschild, Adam, Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empires Slaves (Boston,
Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 467 pp., paperback: ISBN 978-0-618-61907-8
Lascelles, Edward Charles Ponsonby, 1928, Granville Sharp and the Freedom of the Slaves in England Oxford
University Press
Nadelhaft, Jerome, 1966, "The Somersett Case and Slavery: Myth, Reality, and Repercussions" in Journal of
Negro History, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Jul., 1966), pp.193208
Pollard, Albert Frederick, "Sharp, Granville". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
18851900.
Stuart, Charles, 1836, A Memoir of Granville Sharp New York: The American Anti-Slavery Society
Winstanley, Calvin. A Vindication of Certain Passages in the Common English Version of the New Testament:
Addressed to Granville Sharp, Esq. Cambridge University Press, 1819 (2nd ed). Online at: (http:/ / upload.
wikimedia. org/ wikipedia/ commons/ 2/ 24/ Winstanley. pdf).
Wise, Steven M., 2005, Though The Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led To The End Of Human
Slavery
Granville Sharp
84
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sharp, Granville". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.;
Moore, F., eds. (1905). "
article name needed
". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Granville Sharp.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Granville Sharp
BBC biography (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ historic_figures/ sharp_granville. shtml)
Granville Sharp Short Biography by Carey Brycchan (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ abolition/ sharp. htm)
Granville Sharp and the Zong (http:/ / www. gloucestershire. gov. uk/ index. cfm?articleid=19007)
Spartacus Schoolnet on Granville Sharp (http:/ / www. spartacus-educational. com/ REsharp. htm)
The complete Granville Sharp Rule Number 1 and examples of plural nouns that agree with Rule number 1 (http:/
/ www. biblefood. com/ and2. html#sharpplurals)
Read or download Granville Sharp's Book (http:/ / www. biblefood. com/ and2. html#sharppdf)
In Favorem Libertatis: The Life and Work of Granville Sharp (http:/ / mises. org/ journals/ jls/ 4_2/ 4_2_7. pdf),
by Carl Watner, in The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. IV. No. 2 (Spring 1980)
Free scores by Granville Sharp at the International Music Score Library Project
Why Sharp's Rule Is Not True (http:/ / whysharpsruleisnottrue. blogspot. com/ )
Thomas Clarkson
For the rugby league footballer, see Thomas Clarkson (rugby league). For the American businessman and
philanthropist, see Thomas S. Clarkson. For the character in the TV series Waterloo Road, see Tom Clarkson.
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson by Carl Frederik von Breda, painting in the National Portrait Gallery.
Thomas Clarkson
85
Born 28 March 1760
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England
Died 26 September 1846 (aged86)
Playford, Suffolk, England
Nationality English
Knownfor Abolitionism
Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 26 September 1846), was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner
against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave
Trade and helped achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which ended British trade in slaves. In his later
years Clarkson campaigned for the abolition of slavery worldwide. In 1840, he was the key speaker at the
Anti-Slavery Society (today known as Anti-Slavery International) conference in London, which campaigned to end
slavery in other countries.
Early life and education
Clarkson was the son of Rev. John Clarkson (17101766). He attended Wisbech Grammar School where his father
was headmaster; then he went on to St Paul's School in London in 1775. He did his undergraduate work at St John's
College, Cambridge, beginning in 1779. An excellent student, he appears to have enjoyed his time at university,
although he was also a serious, devout man. He received his B.A. degree in 1783 and was set to continue at
Cambridge to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the Anglican Church. He was ordained a deacon but never
proceeded to priest's orders.
Revelation of the horrors of slavery
It was at Cambridge in 1785 that Clarkson entered a Latin essay competition that was to set him on the course for
most of the remainder of his life. The topic of the essay, set by university vice-chancellor Peter Peckard, was Anne
liceat invitos in servitutem dare (Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting?),
[1]
and it led Clarkson to consider the
question of the slave trade. He read everything he could on the subject, including the works of Anthony Benezet, a
Quaker abolitionist. Appalled and challenged by what he discovered, Clarkson changed his life. He also researched
the topic by meeting and interviewing those who had personal experience of the slave trade and of slavery.
After winning the prize, Clarkson had what he called a spiritual revelation from God as he travelled on horseback
between Cambridge and London. Having broken his journey at Wadesmill, near Ware, Hertfordshire, as he stopped,
"A thought came into my mind", he later wrote, "that if the contents of the Essay were true, it was time some person
should see these calamities to their end" (Clarkson, History, vol. 1). This experience and sense of calling ultimately
led him to devote his life to abolishing the slave trade.
Having translated the essay into English so that it could gain a wider audience, Clarkson published it in
pamphlet-form in 1786 as "An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African,
translated from a Latin Dissertation", which was honoured with the first prize in the University of Cambridge, for the
year 1785.
[2]
The publication of the essay had an immediate impact, and Clarkson was introduced to many others who were
sympathetic to abolition, some of whom had already published and campaigned against slavery. These included
influential men such as James Ramsay and Granville Sharp, the Quakers, and other Nonconformists. The movement
had been gathering strength for some years, having been founded by Quakers both in Britain and in the United
States, with support from other Nonconformists or from Puritans on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1783, 300 Quakers,
chiefly from the London area, presented Parliament with the first petition against the slave trade.
Thomas Clarkson
86
Following this step, a small offshoot group sought to form the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, a
small non-denominational group that could lobby more successfully by incorporating Anglican and Parliamentary
support (Quakers were barred from Parliament until the early nineteenth century, whereas the Anglican Church had
the right to seats in the House of Lords). The twelve founding members included nine Quakers, and three pioneering
Anglicans Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, and William Wilberforce all evangelical Christians sympathetic
to the religious revival that had predominantly nonconformist origins, but which sought wider non-denominational
support for a "Great Awakening" amongst believers.
Anti-slavery campaign
Encouraged by publication of Clarkson's essay, an informal committee was set up between small groups from the
petitioning Quakers, Clarkson and others, with the aim of lobbying Members of Parliament (MPs). This was to lead,
in May 1787, to the foundation of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The Committee included
Granville Sharp as Chairman and Josiah Wedgwood as well as Clarkson himself. Clarkson also approached the
young William Wilberforce, who as an (Evangelical) Anglican and an MP could offer them a link into the British
Parliament. Wilberforce was one of very few parliamentarians to have had sympathy with the Quaker petition; he
had already put a question about the slave trade before the House of Commons, marking himself out as one of the
earliest Anglican abolitionists.
Clarkson took a leading part in the affairs of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and was given the
responsibility to collect evidence to support the abolition of the slave trade. He faced much opposition from
supporters of the trade in some of the cities he visited. The slave traders were an influential group because the trade
was a legitimate and lucrative business, generating prosperity for many of the ports. On a visit to Liverpool in 1787,
the year the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded, Clarkson was attacked and nearly killed
by a gang of sailors paid to assassinate him. He barely escaped with his life. Elsewhere, however, he gathered
support. Thomas Clarkson's speech at the collegiate church in Manchester (now Manchester Cathedral) on 28
October 1787 galvanized the anti-slavery campaign in the city. That same year, Clarkson published the pamphlet: "A
Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition".
Clarkson was very effective at giving the Committee a high public profile: he spent the next two years travelling
around England, promoting the cause and gathering evidence. He interviewed 20,000 sailors during his research. He
obtained equipment used on slave-ships, such as iron handcuffs, leg-shackles, and thumbscrews; instruments for
forcing open slaves' jaws; and branding irons. He published engravings of the tools in pamphlets and displayed the
instruments at public meetings.
Thomas Clarkson
87
Clarkson visited The Seven Stars in Bristol for
research.
Clarkson's research took him to English ports such as Bristol, where he
received much data from the landlord of the Seven Stars pub. (The
building still stands in Thomas Lane.) He also travelled to Liverpool
and London, collecting vital evidence to support the abolitionist case.
One of the first African trading ships that Clarkson visited was The
Lively. Although not a slave ship, it carried cargo of high quality that
had a powerful impact upon Clarkson. The ship was loaded with
beautiful African goods: carved ivory and woven cloth, along with
produce such as beeswax, palm oil and peppers. Clarkson could see the
craftsmanship and skill required to produce many of the items. The
idea that their creators could be enslaved horrified him. Clarkson
bought samples from the ship and started a collection to which he
added over the years. It included crops, spices and raw materials, along
with refined trade goods.
Clarkson noticed how pictures and artifacts were able to influence
public opinion, more than words alone. He quickly realised that his
collection of fine goods could reinforce the message of his anti-slavery
lectures. He used the items to demonstrate the skill of Africans and
possibilities for an alternative humane trading system. The "box" of his
collection became an important part his public meetings, and was an early example of a visual aid.
He rode by horseback some 35,000miles for evidence and visited local anti-slave trade societies founded across the
country. He enlisted the help of Alexander Falconbridge and James Arnold, two ship's surgeons whom he met in
Liverpool. They had been on many voyages aboard slave ships, and were able to recount their experiences in detail
for publication.
Clarkson also continued to write against the slave trade. He filled his works with vivid firsthand descriptions from
sailors, surgeons and others who had been involved in the slave traffic. Examples included "An Essay on the Slave
Trade", the account of a sailor who had served aboard a slave ship, published in 1789. In 1788 Clarkson published
his Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade (1788), which was printed in large numbers. These works
provided a firm basis for William Wilberforce's first abolitionist speech in the House of Commons on 12 May 1789,
and its twelve propositions.
That same year an autobiographical narrative by Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa) was published; Equiano was an
African with direct experience of the slave trade and slavery; his book became highly influential in the anti-slavery
movement. Clarkson wrote to the Rev. Mr. Jones at Trinity College, to introduce Equiano; Clarkson also asked the
Rev. Jones for assistance in selling Equiano's autobiography and helped arrange for Equiano to visit Cambridge.
In 1791 Wilberforce introduced the first Bill to abolish the slave trade; it was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88. As
Wilberforce continued to bring the issue of the slave trade before Parliament, Clarkson traveled and wrote
anti-slavery works.
It was the beginning of their protracted parliamentary campaign, during which Wilberforce introduced a motion in
favour of abolition almost every year. Clarkson, Wilberforce and the other members of the Committee for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade and their supporters, were responsible for generating and sustaining a national
movement that mobilised public opinion as never before. Parliament, however, refused to pass the bill. The outbreak
of War with France effectively prevented further debate for many years.
By 1794, Clarkson's health was failing, as he suffered from exhaustion. He retired from the campaign and spent
some time in the Lake District, where he bought an estate at Ullswater, and became a friend of the poet William
Wordsworth. In 1796 he married Catherine Buck of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; their only child Thomas was born in
Thomas Clarkson
88
1796. They moved back to the south of England for the sake of Catherine's health, and settled at Bury St Edmunds
from 1806 to 1816, after which they lived at Playford Hall, halfway between Ipswich and Woodbridge, Suffolk.
When the war with France appeared to be almost over, Clarkson and his allies revived the anti-slave trade campaign
in 1804. After ten years, he again mounted his horse to travel all over Great Britain and canvass support for the
measure. He appeared to have returned with all his old enthusiasm and vigour. He was especially active in
persuading MPs to back the parliamentary campaign.
After the passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, Clarkson's efforts were directed toward ensuring enforcement of
the act and furthering the campaign in the rest of Europe. He travelled to Paris in 1814 and Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818,
trying to reach international agreement on a timetable for abolition of the trade. He also published a book in 1808
about the progress of the abolition of the slave trade. For Rees's Cyclopaedia he contributed the article on the Slave
Trade, Vol 33, 1816.
Later career
Clarkson is the central figure in this painting which is of the 1840
Anti-Slavery Convention.<ref name=npg>The Anti-Slavery Society
Convention, 1840
[3]
, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1841, National
Portrait Gallery, London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society in 1880</ref> Move your cursor to identify his
relatives and the great and good (or click icon to enlarge).
After 1823, when the Society for the Mitigation and
Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later the Anti-Slavery
Society) was formed, Clarkson again travelled around
the country. He covered 10,000miles, and activated the
network of sympathetic anti-slavery societies which
had been formed. This resulted in 777 petitions being
delivered to parliament demanding the total
emancipation of slaves. When the society adopted a
policy of immediate emancipation, Clarkson and
Wilberforce appeared together for the last time to lend
their support. In 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act was
passed.
Clarkson lived for a further 13years. Although his
eyesight was failing, he continued to campaign for
abolition, focusing on the United States. He was the
principal speaker at the opening of the World's
Anti-Slavery Convention in Freemasons' Hall, London
in 1840, chaired by Thomas Binney. The conference
was designed to build support for abolishing slavery worldwide and included delegates from France, the USA, Haiti
and Jamaica.
The scene at Clarkson's opening address was painted in a commemorative work, now in the National Portrait
Gallery, London. The emancipated slave, Henry Beckford (a Baptist deacon in Jamaica), appeared in the right
foreground. Clarkson and the prominent abolitionist Quaker William Allen were to the left, the main axis of interest.
In 1846 Clarkson received the American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a former slave who had escaped to
freedom, on his first visit to England.
[4]
Thomas Clarkson
89
Later life
The Clarkson Memorial, Wisbech
Throughout his life Clarkson was a frequent guest of Mr Joseph Hardcastle
(the first treasurer of the London Missionary Society) at Hatcham House in
Deptford. Then a rural Surrey village, it is now part of inner London. Here
Clarkson wrote much of his History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade
(1808). Here too, in the early 1790s he had met his wife, a niece of Mrs
Hardcastle.
Thomas was not the only notable member of his family. His remarkable
younger brother, John Clarkson at age 28, took a major part in organising and
coordinating the relocation of approximately 1200 United States ex-slaves
from Nova Scotia, Canada to the new colony of Sierra Leone. There he
became the first Governor and helped the settlers survive terrible conditions
in the first year. John Clarkson helped the settlers move to independence,
more than the Sierra Leone commercial company wanted, and they forced
him to resign. John Clarkson died in 1828 in Woodbridge, Suffolk and was
buried in St Mary's churchyard.
Thomas Clarkson died on 26 September 1846 in Playford, Suffolk,
[5]
and was
buried in the village on 2 October at St Mary's Church. An obelisk to his
memory was erected in the churchyard in 1857.
Legacy
Clarkson's grave
After his death, a monument to Clarkson was erected in 1879, at
Wadesmill, that reads: "On this spot where stands this monument in the
month of June 1785 Thomas Clarkson resolved to devote his life to
bringing about the abolition of the slave trade."
Another monument, the Clarkson Memorial, was erected in his
birthplace of Wisbech to commemorate his life and work. The
Clarkson School, Wisbech is named after him, as is Thomas Clarkson Academy. A pub in Wisbech is named the
Clarkson Arms and is opposite a tree lined road named Clarkson Avenue.
In 1996 a tablet was dedicated to his memory in Westminster Abbey, near the tomb of William Wilberforce.
Several other roads in the United Kingdom are named after him, for example in Hull, the home town of William
Wilberforce, Cambridge and Ipswich, Suffolk.
One of his descendants, Canon John Clarkson, continues in his footsteps as one of the leaders of the Anti-Slavery
Society.
[6]
Thomas Clarkson
90
Clarkson's Memorial in Playford
churchyard
In the 2006 film Amazing Grace, Clarkson was played by the British actor
Rufus Sewell.
After the abolition of slavery in Jamaica in 1834 and subsequent
establishment of Free Villages
[7]
for the settlement of newly freed slaves, the
town of Clarksonville
[8]
, named in his honour, established in St. Ann,
Jamaica.
In July 2010 the Church of England Synod decided to honour Clarkson and
Olaudah Equiano on the day that William Wilberforce is also remembered -
July 30. An initial celebration was held in Playford church on July 30,
2010.
[9]
Wordsworth's sonnet
The poet William Wordsworth was so impressed with Clarkson's
achievements that he wrote a sonnet to him.
Sonnet, To Thomas Clarkson, On the final passing of the Bill for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade, March, 1807.
Clarkson! it was an obstinate Hill to climb:
How toilsome, nay how dire it was, by Thee
Is known,by none, perhaps, so feelingly;
But Thou, who, starting in thy fervent prime,
Didst first lead forth this pilgrimage sublime,
Hast heard the constant Voice its charge repeat,
Which, out of thy young heart's oracular seat,
First roused thee.O true yoke-fellow of Time
With unabating effort, see, the palm
Is won, and by all Nations shall be worn!
The bloody Writing is for ever torn,
And Thou henceforth wilt have a good Man's calm,
A great Man's happiness; thy zeal shall find
Repose at length, firm Friend of human kind!
William Wordsworth
Thomas Clarkson
91
References
[1] The Papers of Thomas Clarkson (http:/ / janus.lib.cam. ac. uk/ db/ node. xsp?id=EAD/ GBR/ 0275/ Clarkson)
[2] "An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African, translated from a Latin Dissertation" (http:/ / www.
gutenberg.org/ etext/ 10611)
[3] http:/ / www. npg. org.uk/ collections/ search/ portrait.php?search=ap& npgno=599& eDate=& lDate=
[4] Simon Schama, Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution, New York: HarperCollins, 2006 Pbk, p.420
[5] Hugh Brogan's biography of Clarkson (http:/ / www.oxforddnb. com/ view/ article/ 5545). (May require log in).
[6] Abolition of slave trade (http:/ / anti-slaverysociety. addr. com/ huk-1807anniv1. htm) Anti Slavery Society.
[7] http:/ / www. jnht. com/ category. php?id=84
[8] http:/ / www. jnht. com/ heritage_site.php?id=295
[9] BBC report of the Synod decision (http:/ / news.bbc. co. uk/ local/ suffolk/ hi/ people_and_places/ religion_and_ethics/ newsid_8856000/
8856394.stm)
Further reading
Barker, G.F.R. "Thomas Clarkson", Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 1887)
Brogan, Hugh. "Thomas Clarkson", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: University Press, 2005)
Carey, Brycchan. British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility: Writing, Sentiment, and Slavery,
1760-1807 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). 131-37.
Hochschild, Adam. Bury the Chains, The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (Basingstoke: Pan Macmillan, 2005)
Meier, Helmut. Thomas Clarkson: 'Moral Steam Engine' or False Prophet? A Critical Approach to Three of his
Antislavery Essays. (Stuttgart: Ibidem, 2007).
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. (Armonk, New
York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007)
Wilson, Ellen Gibson. Thomas Clarkson: A Biography (Macmillan, 1989)
Zerbanoo GiffordThomas Clarkson and the Campaign Against the Slave trade - used in events marking the
bi-centenary in 2007 of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the British Empire
External links
Thomas Clarkson website (http:/ / www. thomasclarkson. org/ )
Brief Biography of Thomas Clarkson (http:/ / www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/ REclarkson. htm)
Biography of Thomas Clarkson (http:/ / www. ely. anglican. org/ about/ good_and_great/ tclarkson. html)
Thomas Clarkson: biography and bibliography by Brycchan Carey (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ abolition/
clarkson. htm) (Part of his British Abolitionists project)
Works by Thomas Clarkson (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ author/ Thomas_Clarkson) at Project Gutenberg
Works by Thomas Clarkson at the online library of liberty (http:/ / oll. libertyfund. org/ Home3/ Author.
php?recordID=0548)
The Louverture Project (http:/ / thelouvertureproject. org/ wiki/ index. php?title=Main_Page): Thomas Clarkson
Thoughts on The Haitian Revolution (http:/ / thelouvertureproject. org/ wiki/ index.
php?title=Thomas_Clarkson_-_Thoughts_on_The_Haitian_Revolution) Excerpt from an 1823 Clarkson book.
Parliament & The British Slave Trade 1600 - 1807 (http:/ / www. parliament. uk/ slavetrade)
Clarkson Collection from his home town (http:/ / www. wisbechmuseum. org. uk/ clarkson/ index. html). Website
of Wisbech & Fenland museum which houses amongst other artefacts the Clarkson Chest.
Thomas Clarkson Community College (http:/ / www. thomasclarkson. cambs. sch. uk)
The Thomas Clarkson section of the Abolition Project (http:/ / abolition. e2bn. org/ box. html)
An article about Thomas Clarkson's stay at The Seven Stars Pub in Bristol (http:/ / www. brh. org. uk/ articles/
seven_stars. html)
Thomas Clarkson
92
Archival material relating to Thomas Clarkson (http:/ / www. nationalarchives. gov. uk/ nra/ searches/
subjectView. asp?ID=P5768) listed at the UK National Archives
Josiah Wedgwood
This article is about the eldest Josiah Wedgwood. For his descendants with the same name, see Josiah Wedgwood
(disambiguation).
Josiah Wedgwood
Born 12 July 1730
Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, GB
Died 3 January 1795 (aged64)
Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, GB
Resting place
Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK
Occupation Potter
Etruria Hall, the family home, built 17681771
by Joseph Pickford. It was restored as part of the
1986 Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival and is now
part of a four-star hotel.
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 3 January 1795) was an English
potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the
industrialisation of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent
abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not a Man And a
Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the
DarwinWedgwood family. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin
and Emma Darwin.
Josiah Wedgwood
93
Biography
Early life
Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, England, the eleventh and last child of Thomas Wedgwood and Mary Wedgwood
(ne Stringer; d. 1766), Josiah was raised within a family of English Dissenters. By the age of nine, he was proving
himself to be a skilled potter. He survived a childhood bout of smallpox to serve as an apprentice potter under his
eldest brother Thomas Wedgwood IV. Smallpox left Josiah with a permanently weakened knee, which made him
unable to work the foot pedal of a potter's wheel. As a result, he concentrated from an early age on designing pottery
and then making it.Wikipedia:Please clarify
In his early twenties, Wedgwood began working with the most renowned English pottery-maker of his day, Thomas
Whieldon, who eventually became his business partner in 1754. He began experimenting with a wide variety of
techniques, an experimentation that coincided with the burgeoning of the nearby industrial city of Manchester.
Inspired, Wedgwood leased the Ivy Works in the town of Burslem. Over the course of the next decade, his
experimentation (and a considerable injection of capital from his marriage to a richly-endowed distant cousin)
transformed the sleepy artisan works into the first true pottery factory.
Marriage and children
Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood (17341815), his third cousin, in January 1764. They had eight children:
Susannah Wedgwood, mother of the English naturalist Charles Darwin
John Wedgwood (17661844)
Richard Wedgwood (17671768) (died as a child)
Josiah Wedgwood II (17691843) (father of Emma Darwin, cousin and wife of the English naturalist Charles
Darwin)
Thomas Wedgwood (17711805) (no children)
Catherine Wedgwood (17741823) (no children)
Sarah Wedgwood (17761856) (no children, very active in the slavery abolition movement)
Mary Anne Wedgwood (177886) (died as a child)
Work
Wedgwood was keenly interested in the scientific advances of his day and it was this interest that underpinned his
adoption of its approach and methods to revolutionize the quality of his pottery. His unique glazes began to
distinguish his wares from anything else on the market. He was perhaps the most famous potter of all time.
Horse Frightened by a Lion by Wedgwood and
Thomas Bentley, after George Stubbs, 1780.
By 1763, he was receiving orders from the highest levels of the British
nobility, including Queen Charlotte. Wedgwood convinced her to let
him name the line of pottery she had purchased "Queen's Ware", and
trumpeted the royal association in his paperwork and stationery. In
1773, Empress Catherine of Russia ordered the Green Frog Service
from Wedgwood; it can still be seen in the Hermitage Museum.
[1]
An
even earlier commission from Catherine was the Husk Service (1770),
now on exhibit in Petergof.
As a leading industrialist, Wedgwood was a major backer of the Trent
and Mersey Canal dug between the River Trent and River Mersey,
during which time he became friends with Erasmus Darwin. Later that decade, his burgeoning business caused him
to move from the smaller Ivy Works to the newly built Etruria Works, which would run for 180 years. The factory
was so-named after the Etruria district of Italy, where black porcelain dating to Etruscan times was being excavated.
Josiah Wedgwood
94
Wedgwood found this porcelain inspiring, and his first major commercial success was its duplication with what he
called "Black Basalt". He combined experiments in his art and in the technique of mass production with an interest in
improved roads, canals, schools and living conditions. At Etruria, he even built a village for his workers.
Not long after the new works opened, continuing trouble with his smallpox-afflicted knee made necessary the
amputation of his right leg. In 1780, his long-time business partner Thomas Bentley died, and Wedgwood turned to
Darwin for help in running the business. As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood
and Darwin families, Josiah's eldest daughter would later marry Erasmus' son. One of the children of that marriage,
Charles Darwin, would also marry a Wedgwood Emma, Josiah's granddaughter. This double-barreled inheritance
of Wedgwood's money gave Charles Darwin the leisure time to formulate his theory of evolution.
In the latter part of his life, Wedgwood's obsession was to duplicate the Portland Vase, a blue and white glass vase
dating to the first century BC. For three years he worked on the project, eventually producing what he considered a
satisfactory copy in 1789.
Bust of Minerva, Wedgwood and Bentley, c.
1795
After passing on his company to his sons, Wedgwood died at home,
probably of cancer of the jaw, in 1795. He was buried three days later
in the parish church of Stoke-on-Trent. Seven years later a marble
memorial tablet commissioned by his sons was installed there.
He belonged to the fourth generation of a family of potters whose
traditional occupation continued through another five generations.
Wedgwood's company is still a famous name in pottery today (as part
of Waterford Wedgwood; see Waterford Crystal), and "Wedgwood
China" is sometimes used as a term for his Jasperware, the coloured
stoneware with applied relief decoration (usually white), still common
throughout the world.
He was an active member of the Lunar Society often held at Erasmus
Darwin House and is remembered on the Moonstones in Birmingham.
He was elected to the Royal Society in 1783 for the development of a
pyrometer.
Wedgwood is credited as the inventor of modern marketing,
specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, travelling salesmen,
self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues.
[2]
Wedgwood is also noted as an early
adopter/founder of managerial accounting principals in Anthony Hopwood's "Archaeology of Accounting Systems."
Josiah Wedgwood
95
"Am I Not a Man And a Brother?"
Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Design of the
medallion created as part of anti-slavery
campaign by Wedgwood, 1787
Wedgwood was a prominent slavery abolitionist. His friendship with
Thomas Clarkson abolitionist campaigner and the first historian of
the British abolition movement aroused his interest in slavery.
Wedgwood mass-produced cameos depicting the seal for the Society
for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and had them widely distributed,
which thereby became a popular and celebrated image. The Wedgwood
medallion was the most famous image of a black person in all of
18th-century art. The actual design of the cameo was probably done by
either William Hackwood or Henry Webber who were modellers in his
Stoke-on-Trent factory.
[3]
From 1787 until his death in 1795,
Wedgwood actively participated in the abolition of slavery cause, and
his Slave Medallion, which brought public attention to abolition.
[4]
Wedgwood reproduced the design in a cameo with the black figure
against a white background and donated hundreds of these to the
society for distribution. Thomas Clarkson wrote; "ladies wore them in
bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as
pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines
itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and
freedom".
The design on the medallion became popular and was used elsewhere: large-scale copies were painted to hang on
walls
[5]
and it was used on clay tobacco pipes.
[6]
Sydney Cove medallion
Commemorating the landing of the First Fleet in Botany Bay, the Sydney Cove medallion was made by Josiah
Wedgwood after he was given a sample of clay from Sydney Cove by Sir Joseph Banks, who had received the
sample from Governor Arthur Phillip. Wedgwood made it into a commemorative medallion titled "Hope
encouraging Art and Labour, under the influence of Peace, to pursue the employments necessary to give security and
happiness to an infant settlement".
[7]
Legacy and influence
A locomotive named after Wedgwood ran on the Churnet Valley Railway.
[8]
A plaque, in Wedgwood's blue pottery style, marking the site of his London showrooms between 1774 and 1795 in
Wedgwood Mews, is located at 12, Greek Street, London, W1.
Inventions
Josiah Wedgwood also invented the pyrometer, a device to measure the extremely high temperatures that are found
in kilns during the firing of pottery. For this he was elected a member of the Royal Society.
[9]
Josiah Wedgwood
96
References and sources
References
[1] Pieces from the Green Frog Service. Josiah Wedgwood (17731774) (http:/ / www. hermitagemuseum. org/ html_En/ 03/ hm3_3_2_4b.
html), Hermitage Museum
[2] "They Broke It", New York Times, 9 January 2009 (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2009/ 01/ 10/ opinion/ 10flanders. html?_r=2)
[3] "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ aia/ part2/ 2h67. html), 1787
[4] Did you know? Josiah WEDGWOOD was a keen advocate of the slavery abolition movement (http:/ / www. thepotteries. org/ did_you/
005. htm). Thepotteries.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-02.
[5] Scotland and the Slave Trade: 2007 Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (http:/ / www. scotland. gov. uk/ Publications/ 2007/
03/ 23121622/ 3), The Scottish Government, 23 March 2007
[6] A History of the World Object : anti-slavery tobacco pipe (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ ahistoryoftheworld/ objects/
EG2XAk-3RGOXHXfU4KTW3Q). BBC. Retrieved on 2011-01-02.
[7] http:/ / www. nma. gov. au/ collections-search/ display?irn=73354
[8] A brief history of the CVR php (http:/ / www.churnet-valley-railway. co. uk/ main/ railway. php). Churnet-valley-railway.co.uk. Retrieved
on 2011-01-02.
[9] BBC - History - Historic Figures: Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795) (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ historic_figures/ wedgwood_josiah.
shtml)
Sources
Dolan, Brian (2004). Wedgwood: The First Tycoon. Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-03346-4.
McKendrick, Neil, "Wedgwood and His Friends," Horizon, May 1959, Vol. I, No. 5, pp 8897, (American
Horizon, Inc., a subsidiary of American Heritage Publishing Co. Inc.)
The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. Fourth Edition, 1986.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josiah Wedgwood.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica article Wedgwood, Josiah.
Wedgwood website (http:/ / www. wedgwood. com)
Wedgwood collection (http:/ / www. liverpoolmuseums. org. uk/ ladylever/ collections/ wedgwood. asp) at the
Lady Lever Art Gallery (http:/ / www. liverpoolmuseums. org. uk/ ladylever/ index. asp)
Wedgwood Museum (http:/ / www. wedgwoodmuseum. org. uk/ )
The Great Crash (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ artanddesign/ 2009/ feb/ 07/
josiah-wedgwood-ceramics-susan-williams) by Jenny Uglow, The Guardian, 7 February 2009
National Museum of Australia (http:/ / www. nma. gov. au/ av/ zoomify/ cac/ sydney_cove_medallion. html) The
Sydney Cove Medallion (Flash required for close-up viewing).
The Story of Wedgwood (http:/ / www. wedgwood. co. uk/ history/ )
Olaudah Equiano
97
Olaudah Equiano
This article is about Gustavus Vassa. For the Swedish king, see Gustav I of Sweden.
Olaudah Equiano
Born c. 1745
Essaka, Eboe (claimed)
Died 31 March 1797 (aged 5152)
London
Othernames Gustavus Vassa, Graves
Occupation Explorer, writer, merchant, abolitionist
Knownfor Influence over British abolitionists; his autobiography
Children Joanna Vassa and Anna Maria Vassa
Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 31 March 1797) also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African abolitionist
and freed slave; he supported the British movement to end the slave trade. As a child he was enslaved in his village
of Essaka, in what is now southern Nigeria, and shipped to the West Indies, being sold in Virginia. With his master,
an officer in the Royal Navy, he eventually moved to England, where he purchased his freedom. Throughout his life
Equiano worked as an author, a seafarer, merchant, hairdresser, and explorer in South and Central America, the
Caribbean, and the Arctic, the American colonies, and the United Kingdom, where he settled by 1792. His
autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, depicts the horrors of slavery and
influenced the enactment of the British Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the African slave trade.
In his account, Equiano gives details about his hometown Essaka and the laws and customs of the Igbo people
(written Eboe), he described some of the communities he passed through as he was forcibly taken to the coast. His
biography details his voyage on a slave ship, the brutality of slavery in the colonies of West Indies, Virginia, and
Georgia, and the disfranchisement of freed people of colour (including kidnapping and enslavement) in these same
places. Equiano was particularly attached to his Christian faith; he embraced it in 1759 at the age of 14 and its
importance is a recurring theme in his autobiography; he identified as a Protestant of the Church of England. Several
events in his life drew him to question his faith, as well as almost losing it completely after a black cook named John
Annis was kidnapped from a ship in England and tortured on the island of Saint Kitts.
As a free man, Equiano had a stressful life; he had suffered suicidal thoughts before he became a born again
Christian and found peace in his faith. Earlier in his freedom, he resolved never to visit the West Indies or the
Olaudah Equiano
98
Americas again because of their racial brutality, but was drawn back there because of his duties to various captains.
Later in his life, Equiano married an English woman named Susannah Cullen and they had two children. He died in
1797 in London; the exact location of his gravesite is unknown. Plaques commemorating his life have been placed at
buildings where he lived in London. Nigerian scholars have studied to learn more about the history of his birthplace
and home town, Essaka. Several brief death notices appeared in American papers, including this one from the
Weekly Oracle (New London, CT), 12 August 1797, p. 3: ---DEATHS--- In London, Mr. Gustavus Vassa, the
African, well known to the public for the interesting narrative of his life.
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[1]
According to his own account, Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 to the Igbo people in the region now known as
Nigeria. His name, Olaudah, means one who has a loud voice and is well spoken, and signifies good fortune. He was
the youngest son, with five older brothers and a younger sister. His father was a man of dignity, given the title
"Embrench" (modern Ibo: "mgburichi"), a man whom he remembers bearing scarifications on his forehead, which
signified his father's status. Equiano expected to receive such scarification when he came of age among the males of
his community. Equiano recollects his mother teaching him self-defence, and he witnessed her taking part in
communal wars. His mother particularly impressed on him the religious rites of his community. She often carried
him along to an ancestral shrine in the wild where his maternal grandmother was buried; she would give offerings to
the shrine and weep by its side. Equiano said his early life was filled with what his people considered good omens or
mysterious signs; for instance, he was on a path in his village when he accidentally stood on a large snake but was
left unharmed.
Equiano remembered an incident when an attempted kidnapping of children was thwarted by adults in his villages.
Around the age of eleven, he and his sister were left alone to look after their families compound living quarters as
was usually done when adults went out of the house for work. Before they could act they were both kidnapped and
taken far away from their hometown, separated, and sold to slaveholders. After changing hands several times, he met
his sister again, but they were separated for the last time and he was taken over what he described as a large river,
which he had never seen, to the coast where he was held by European slave traders. He was transported with 244
other enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados in the West Indies. He and a few other slaves were
sent on to the British colony of Virginia. Literary scholar Vincent Carretta argued in his 2005 biography of Equiano
that the activist may have been born in colonial South Carolina rather than Africa.
Olaudah Equiano
103
In Virginia Equiano was bought by Michael Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Pascal renamed the boy as
"Gustavus Vassa," after the Swedish noble who had become Gustav I of Sweden, king in the 16th century. Equiano
had already been renamed twice: he was called Michael while on the slave ship that brought him to the Americas;
and Jacob, by his first owner. This time Equiano refused and told his new owner that he would prefer to be called
Jacob. His refusal, he says, "gained me many a cuff" and eventually he submitted to the new name.
:62
Equiano wrote in his narrative that domestic slaves in Virginia were treated cruelly and suffered punishments such as
the "iron muzzle" (scold's bridle), which was used to keep house slaves quiet, leaving them unable to speak or eat.
He thought that the eyes of portraits followed him wherever he went, and that a clock could tell his master about
anything Equiano did wrong. Shocked by this culture, Equiano tried washing his face in an attempt to change its
colour.
As the slave of a naval captain, Equiano was trained in seamanship and traveled extensively with his master during
the Seven Years' War with France. Equiano was also expected to assist the ship's crew in times of battle; his duty
was to haul gunpowder to the gun decks. Pascal favoured Equiano and sent him to his sister-in-law in Great Britain,
so that the youth could attend school and learn to read.
At this time, Equiano converted to Christianity. His master allowed Equiano to be baptized in St Margaret's,
Westminster, on February 1759. Despite some special treatment, after the British won the war, Equiano did not
receive a share of the prize money, as was awarded to the regular crew. Pascal had promised his freedom, but did not
release him.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran of the Charming Sally at Gravesend, from where he was transported to
Montserrat, in the Caribbean Leeward Islands. There he was sold to Robert King, a Quaker merchant from
Philadelphia who traded in the Caribbean. Pascal had instructed Doran to ensure that he sold Equiano "to the best
master he could, as he told him Equiano was a very deserving boy, which Captain Doran said he found to be true."
Release
King set Equiano to work on his shipping routes and in his stores. In 1765, when Equiano was about 20 years old,
King promised that for his purchase price of forty pounds, the slave could buy his freedom. King taught him to read
and write more fluently, guided him along the path of religion, and allowed Equiano to engage in profitable trading
for his own account, as well as on his master's behalf. Equiano sold fruits, glass tumblers, and other items between
Georgia and the Caribbean islands. King enabled Equiano to buy his freedom, which he achieved by his early
twenties. The merchant urged Equiano to stay on as a business partner, but the African found it dangerous and
limiting to remain in the British colonies as a freedman; while loading a ship in Georgia, he was almost kidnapped
back into slavery.
Pioneer of the abolitionist cause
Equiano travelled to London, where he became involved in the abolitionist movement; it had been particularly strong
amongst Quakers, but was by 1787 non-denominational. Equiano had become a Methodist, having been influenced
by George Whitefield's evangelism in the New World.
As early as 1783, Equiano informed abolitionists such as Granville Sharp about the slave trade; that year he was the
first to tell Sharp about the Zong massacre, which was being tried in London. (It became a cause clbre for the
abolitionist movement and a stimulus to its expansion).
Equiano was befriended and supported by abolitionists, many of whom encouraged him to write and publish his life
story. Equiano was supported financially by philanthropic abolitionists and religious benefactors. His lectures and
preparation for the book were promoted by, among others, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon.
His account surprised many with the quality of its imagery, description, and literary style. Some readers felt shame at
learning of his harsh suffering. Entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Olaudah Equiano
104
Vassa, the African, the book was first published in 1789 and rapidly went through several editions. It is one of the
earliest known examples of published writing by an African writer to be widely read in England. It was the first
influential slave narrative of what became a large literary genre. Equiano's personal account of slavery and his
experiences as a black immigrant caused a sensation on publication. The book fueled a growing anti-slavery
movement in Great Britain.
He described how he finally reached London, where he married an English woman and became a leading
abolitionist, lecturing in numerous cities. His book can be seen as his most lasting contribution to the abolitionist
movement. Equiano records his and Granville Sharp's central roles in the movement.
His book vividly demonstrated the full and complex humanity of Africans as much as the inhumanity of slavery. The
book was not only an exemplary work of English literature by a new, African author, but it also increased Equiano's
personal revenue. He traveled extensively throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland promoting the book. The
returns gave him independence from benefactors and enabled him to fully chart his own purpose. He worked to
improve economic, social and educational conditions in Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone.
In the years following United States' gaining independence in 1783, Equiano had become involved with the Black
Poor of London, mostly African-American slaves freed during and after the American Revolution by the British,
who had promised them freedom. The British had transported the former slaves to England and its other colonies as
promised, but many found it difficult to make new lives there. Equiano was appointed to an expedition to resettle
London's Black Poor in Freetown, a new British colony founded on the west coast of Africa, at present-day Sierra
Leone. The blacks from London were joined by more than 1,000 Black Loyalists who had first settled in Nova
Scotia, and later by Jamaican maroons and slaves liberated from illegal ships after Britain abolished the slave trade.
Equiano was dismissed from the new settlement after protesting against financial mismanagement and returned to
London.
[1]
Because of his connections, he was a prominent figure and often served as a spokesman for his people. His reactions
and remarks were frequently published in newspapers such as the Public Advertiser and the Morning Chronicle. He
had much more of a public voice than most Africans or Black Loyalists, and he seized various opportunities to use it.
Marriage and family
A disputed portrait of Equiano in the Royal
Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
At some point, Equiano decided to settle in Britain and raise a family.
On 7 April 1792, he married Susannah Cullen, a local girl, in St
Andrew's Church in Soham, Cambridgeshire. The original marriage
register containing the entry for Equiano and Cullen is held today by
the Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record
Office in Cambridge.
He announced his wedding in every edition of his autobiography from
1792 onwards. Critics have suggested he believed that his marriage
symbolised an expected commercial union between Africa and Great
Britain. The couple settled in the area and had two daughters, Anna
Maria (17931797) and Joanna (17951857).
Susannah died in February 1796, aged 34, and Equiano died a year
after that on 31 March 1797, aged 52 (sources differ on his
age.Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Unsupported
attributions). Soon after, the elder daughter died at the age of four,
leaving the youngest child Joanna to inherit Equiano's estate. It was
Olaudah Equiano
105
valued at 950: a considerable sum, worth over 80,000 in 2008.
[2]
Joanna married the Rev. Henry Bromley, and
they ran a Congregational Chapel at Clavering near Saffron Walden in Essex, before moving to London in the
middle of the nineteenth century. They are both buried at the Congregationalists' non-denominational Abney Park
Cemetery, in Stoke Newington North London.
Last days and will
Although Equiano's death is recorded in London in 1797, the location of his burial is unsubstantiated. One of his last
addresses appears to have been Plaisterer's Hall in the City of London, where he drew up his will on 28 May 1796.
He moved to John Street, Tottenham Court Road, close to Whitefield's Methodist chapel. (It was renovated in the
1950s for use by Congregationalists. Now the site of the American Church in London, the church recently installed a
small memorial to Equiano.) Lastly, he lived in Paddington Street, Middlesex, where he died. Equiano's death was
reported in newspaper obituaries.
At this time, due to the violent excesses of the French Revolution and the lengthy warfare of the American War for
Independence, British society was tense because of fears of open revolution. Reformers were considered more
suspect than in other periods. Equiano had been an active member of the London Corresponding Society, which
campaigned to extend the vote to working men. His close friend Thomas Hardy, the Society's Secretary, was
prosecuted by the government (though without success) on the basis that such political activity amounted to treason.
In December 1797, apparently unaware that Equiano had died nine months earlier, a writer for the
government-sponsored Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner satirised Equiano as being at a fictional meeting of the
"Friends of Freedom".
Equiano's will provided for projects he considered important. If his daughter Joanna had died before reaching the age
of majority (twenty-one), half his wealth would have passed to the Sierra Leone Company for continued assistance
to West Africans, and half to the London Missionary Society, which promoted education overseas. This organization
had formed in November 1796 at the Spa Fields Chapel of the Countess of Huntingdon in north London. By the
early nineteenth century, The Missionary Society had become well known worldwide as non-denominational; many
of its members were Congregational.
Controversy of origin
Historians have disagreed about Equiano's origins. Some believe he may have fabricated his African roots and his
survival of the Middle Passage not only to sell more copies of his book but also to help advance the movement
against the slave trade. According to Vincent Carretta,
Equiano was certainly African by descent. The circumstantial evidence that Equiano was also African
American by birth and African British by choice is compelling but not absolutely conclusive. Although
the circumstantial evidence is not equivalent to proof, anyone dealing with Equiano's life and art must
consider it.
Baptismal records and a naval muster roll appear to link Equiano to South Carolina. Records of Equiano's first
voyage to the Arctic state he was from Carolina, not Africa. Equiano may have been the source for information
linking him to Carolina, but it may also have been a clerk's careless record of origin. Historians continue to search
for evidence to substantiate Equiano's claim of birth in Africa. Currently, no separate documentation supports this
story. Carretta holds that Equiano was born in South Carolina, based on the documents mentioned above.
For some historians, the fact that many parts of Equiano's account can be proven lends weight to accepting his story
of African birth. As Adam Hochschild has written: "In the long and fascinating history of autobiographies that distort
or exaggerate the truth. ...Seldom is one crucial portion of a memoir totally fabricated and the remainder
scrupulously accurate; among autobiographers... both dissemblers and truth-tellers tend to be consistent."
Olaudah Equiano
106
Nigerian writer Catherine Obianuju Acholonu argues that Equiano was born in a Nigerian town known as Isseke,
where there was local oral history that told of his upbringing. Before this work, however, no town bearing a name of
that spelling had been recorded. Other historians, including Nigerians, have pointed out grave errors in the
research.Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Unsupported attributions
Another point of contention is the detail of his account of the ocean crossing. "Historians have never discredited the
accuracy of Equiano's narrative, nor the power it had to support the abolitionist cause [...] particularly in Britain
during the 1790s. However, parts of Equiano's account of the Middle Passage may have been based on already
published accounts or the experiences of those he knew."
Commemoration
The Equiano Society was formed in London in November 1996. Its main objective is to publicise and celebrate the
life and work of Olaudah Equiano.
[3]
Equiano lived at 13 Tottenham Street, London, in 1788; in 1789 he moved to what was then 10 Union Street and is
now 73 Riding House Street, where a commemorative plaque was unveiled on 11 October 2000 in the presence of
Paul Boateng MP, Professor Carretta from the University of Maryland and Burt Caesar, as part of Black History
Month celebrations. Student musicians from Trinity College of Music played a fanfare specially composed for the
unveiling by Professor Ian Hall.
[4]
His life and achievements were made part of the National Curriculum in 2007 but it has been reported (at the end of
2012) that these will be dropped. In January 2013 Operation Black Vote launched a petition to request Education
Secretary Michael Gove not to drop both Equiano and Mary Seacole from the National Curriculum. Rev. Jesse
Jackson and others wrote a letter to The Times protesting against the mooted removal of both figures from the
National Curriculum.
In horse racing, the champion sprinter and dual winner of the King's Stand Stakes in 2008 and 2010 was named after
Equiano.
A statue of Equiano, made by pupils of Edmund Waller School, was erected in Telegraph Hill Lower Park in 2008
[5]
Representation in other media
A 28-minute documentary, Son of Africa: The Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (1996), produced by BBC and
directed by Alrick Riley, uses dramatic reconstruction, archival material and interviews to provide the social and
economic context for his life and the slave trade.
[6]
Numerous works about Equiano have been produced for and since the 2007 centenary of Britain's abolition of the
slave trade:
Equiano was portrayed by the Senegalese singer and musician Youssou N'Dour in the film Amazing Grace
(2006).
African Snow (2007), a play by Murray Watts, takes place in the mind of John Newton, a captain in the slave
trade who later became an Anglican cleric and hymnwriter. It was first produced at the York Theatre Royal as a
co-production with Riding Lights Theatre Company, transferring to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End
and a National Tour. Newton was played by Roger Alborough and Equiano by Israel Oyelumade.
Kent historian Dr. Robert Hume wrote a children's book, Equiano: The Slave with the Loud Voice (2007),
illustrated by Cheryl Ives.
[7]
David and Jessica Oyelowo appeared as Olaudah and his wife in Grace Unshackled The Olaudah Equiano
Story (2007), a BBC 7 radio adaptation of Equiano's autobiography.
The British jazz artist Soweto Kinch's first album, Conversations with the Unseen (2003), contains a track entitled
"Equiano's Tears".
Equiano is portrayed by Danny Sapani in the BBC series Garrow's Law (2010).
Olaudah Equiano
107
References
[1] David Damrosch, Susan J. Wolfson, Peter J. Manning (eds), The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2A: The Romantics and
Their Contemporaries (2003), p. 211.
[2] Based on the retail prices index, 950 in 1796 would be worth 81,000 in 2008 using the calculator at measuringworth.com (http:/ / www.
measuringworth.com/ ppoweruk/ ).
[3] Equiano Society website (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ equiano/ eqs. htm)
[4] City of Westminster green plaques (http:/ / www. westminster. gov. uk/ services/ leisureandculture/ greenplaques/ )
[5] http:/ / brockleycentral. blogspot.co.uk/ 2008/ 06/ little-treasures-1-equiano. html
[6] Son of Africa: The Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (http:/ / www. newsreel. org/ nav/ title. asp?tc=CN0086), 1996, sale at California
Newsreel
[7] Robert Hume (2007) Equiano: The Slave with the Loud Voice, Stone Publishing House, ISBN 978-0954990916
External links
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ equiano/ index. htm),
Brycchan Carey website, Carey 2003-2005 . Includes Carey's comprehensive collection of resources for the
study of Equiano. The Nativity section (http:/ / www. brycchancarey. com/ equiano/ nativity. htm)) includes a
detailed comparison of differing data related to his place of birth.
The Equiano Project (http:/ / www. equiano. org), The Equiano Society and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Part I: "Olaudah Equiano" (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ aia/ part1/ 1p276. html), Africans in America, PBS
"Historic figures: Olaudah Equiano" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ historic_figures/ equiano_olaudah.
shtml), BBC
Works by Olaudah Equiano (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ author/ Olaudah+ Equiano) at Project Gutenberg
Clapham Sect
The Clapham Sect or Clapham Saints were a group of Christian influential like-minded Church of England social
reformers based in Clapham, London at the beginning of the 19th century (active c. 17901830). They are described
by the historian Stephen Tomkins as "a network of friends and families in England, with William Wilberforce as its
centre of gravity, who were powerfully bound together by their shared moral and spiritual values, by their religious
mission and social activism, by their love for each other, and by marriage".
[1]
Campaigns and successes
Its members were chiefly prominent and wealthy evangelical Anglicans who shared common political views
concerning the liberation of slaves, the abolition of the slave trade and the reform of the penal system.
The group's name originates from those attending Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common, an area south-west of
London then surrounded by fashionable villas. Henry Venn the founder was curate at Holy Trinity (1754) and his
son John became Rector (1792-1813). Wilberforce and Thornton, two of the sect's most influential leaders, resided
nearby and many of the group's meetings were held in their houses. They were supported by Beilby Porteus, Bishop
of London, who sympathised with many of their aims. The phrase 'Clapham Sect' was a later invention by James
Stephen in an article of 1844 which celebrated and romanticized the work of these reformers. In their own time the
group used no particular name, but they were lampooned by outsiders as "the saints".
The group published a journal, the Christian Observer, edited by Zachary Macaulay and were also credited with the
foundation of several missionary and tract societies, including the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Church
Missionary Society.
They founded Freetown in Sierra Leone, the first major British colony in Africa, whose purpose in Thomas
Clarkson's words was "the abolition of the slave trade, the civilisation of Africa, and the introduction of the gospel
Clapham Sect
108
there".
[2]
After many decades of work both in British society and in Parliament, the group saw their efforts rewarded with the
final passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, banning the trade throughout the British Empire and, after many further
years of campaigning, the total emancipation of British slaves with the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.
They also campaigned vigorously for Britain to use its influence to eradicate slavery throughout the world.
Other societies that they founded or were involved with included the Anti-Slavery Society, the Abolition Society, the
Proclamation Society, the Sunday School Society, the Bettering Society, and the Small Debt Society.
The Clapham sect have been credited with playing a significant part in the development of Victorian morality,
through their writings, their societies, their influence in Parliament, and their example in philanthropy and moral
campaigns, especially against slavery. In the words of Tomkins, "The ethos of Clapham became the spirit of the
age".
[3]
Members
Members of the Clapham Sect included:
Thomas Fowell Buxton (17861845), MP and brewer
William Dealtry (17751847), Rector of Clapham, mathematician
Edward James Eliot (175897), parliamentarian
Thomas Gisbourne (17581846), clergyman and author
Charles Grant (17461823), administrator, chairman of the directors of the British East India Company, father of
the first Lord Glenelg
Katherine Hankey (18341911), evangelist
Zachary Macaulay (17681838), estate manager, colonial governor, father of Thomas Babington Macaulay
Hannah More (17451833), writer and philanthropist
Granville Sharp (17351813), scholar and administrator
Charles Simeon (17591836), Anglican minister, promoter of missions
James Stephen (17581832), Master of Chancery, great-grandfather of Virginia Woolf.
Lord Teignmouth (17511834), Governor-General of India
Henry Thornton (17601815), economist, banker, philanthropist, MP for Southwark, great-grandfather of writer
E.M. Forster
Henry Venn (172597), founder of the group, father of John Venn and great-grandfather of John Venn (originator
of the Venn diagram)
John Venn (17591813), Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Clapham
William Wilberforce (17591833), MP successively for Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire and Bramber, leading
abolitionist
References
[1] Tomkins, Stephen The Clapham Sect: How Wilberforces circle changed Britain (Oxford: Lion, 2010), p1
[2] Tomkins, The Clapham Sect, 11
[3] Tomkins The Clapham Sect, p248
Quakers
109
Quakers
"Quaker" redirects here. For other uses, see Quaker (disambiguation).
"Society of Friends" redirects here. For the Greek movement for independence, see Filiki Eteria.
Religious Society of Friends
Symbol used by Friends' service organizations since the late 19th century
Classification Protestant
Theology Variable; depends on meeting
Polity Congregational
Distinct
fellowships
Friends World Committee for Consultation
Associations Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends International, Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, Conservative
Friends, Friends General Conference, Beanite Quakerism
Founder George Fox
Origin Mid-17th century
England
Separated from Church of England
Separations
Shakers
[1]
Heritage-listed Quaker meeting house, Sydney, Australia
Quakers (or Friends, as they refer to themselves) are
members of a family of religious movements
collectively known as the Religious Society of
Friends. The central unifying doctrine of these
movements is the priesthood of all believers, a
doctrine derived from a verse in the New Testament, 1
Peter 2:9
[2]
. Most Friends view themselves as
members of a Christian denomination. They include
those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and
traditional conservative Quaker understandings of
Christianity. Unlike many other groups that emerged
within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends
has actively tried to avoid creeds and hierarchical
structures.
[3]
In 2007 there were approximately
359,000 adult members of Quaker meetings in the
world.
Quakers
110
Today, around 49% of Friends worldwide practice programmed worshipthat is, worship with singing and a
prepared message from the Bible, often coordinated by a pastor. Around 11% of Friends practice waiting worship
(also known as unprogrammed worship)that is worship where the order of service is not planned in advance,
which is predominantly silent, and which may include unprepared vocal ministry from anyone present, so long as it
is credible to those assembled that the speaker is moved to speak by God. Some meetings of both styles have
Recorded Ministers in their meetings these are Friends who have been recognised for their gift of vocal
ministry.
[4]
The first Quakers, known as the Valiant Sixty, lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the
Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, breaking away from the established Church of England.
These Quakers attempted to convert others to their understanding of Christianity, traveling both throughout Great
Britain and overseas, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the early Quaker ministers were women. They
based their message on the religious belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself," stressing the
importance of a direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and a direct religious belief in the universal
priesthood of all believers. They emphasized a personal and direct religious experience of Christ, acquired through
both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on
developing behavior and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God.
In the past, Quakers were known for their use of thou as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain
dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism the opposition to alcohol. Some Quakers have
founded banks and financial institutions including Barclays, Lloyds, and Friends Provident; manufacturing
companies including Clarks, Cadbury, Rowntree, and Fry's; and philanthropic efforts, including abolition, prison
reform, and social justice projects.
History
Main article: History of the Religious Society of Friends
Beginnings in England
James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader, being
pilloried and whipped
During and after the English Civil War (16421651) many dissenting
Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young
man named George Fox was dissatisfied by the teachings of the
Church of England and non-conformists. He had a revelation that there
is one, even, Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition, and became
convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ
without the aid of an ordained clergy. He had a vision on Pendle Hill in
Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in
what places he had a great people to be gathered". Following this he
travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching
and teaching them with the aim of converting them to his faith. The
central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered
themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, after centuries of apostasy in the churches in England.
In 1650, George Fox was brought before magistrates, Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious
blasphemy. According to George Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first person that called us Quakers, because I
bade them tremble at the word of the Lord". It is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66:2
[5]
or Ezra
9:4
[6]
. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Fox's admonition, but became widely accepted
and is used by some Quakers.
[7]
Quakers also described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints,
Children of the Light, and Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early
Quakers
111
Christian church.
Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in
England and Wales by 1680 (1.15% of the population of England and Wales). However the dominant discourse of
Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order, leading to official
persecution in England and Wales under the Quaker Act 1662 and the Conventicle Act 1664. This was relaxed after
the Declaration of Indulgence (16871688) and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689.
One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the relationship with Christ was encouraged through
spiritualization of human relations, and the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe, the family and household of
God . Together with Margaret Fell, the wife of Thomas Fell, who was the vice-chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster and a pre-eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasized holy
conversation: speech and behavior that reflected piety, faith, and love. With the restructuring of the family and
household came new roles for women; Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy
conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger
community, coming together in meetings which regulated marriage and domestic behavior.
Immigration to North America
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, as a
young man
In search of economic opportunities and a more tolerant environment
in which to build communities of "holy conversation," some Friends
emigrated to what is now the Northeastern region of the United States
in the early 1680s.
While in some areas like New England they continued to experience
persecution, they were able to establish thriving communities in the
Delaware Valley. The only two colonies that tolerated Quakers in this
time period were Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, where Quakers
established themselves politically. In Rhode Island, 36 governors in the
first 100 years were Quakers. Pennsylvania was established by affluent
Quaker William Penn in 1682, and as an American state run under
Quaker principles. William Penn signed a peace treaty with Tammany,
leader of the Delaware tribe, and other treaties between Quakers and
native Americans followed.
Quietism
Early Quakerism tolerated boisterous behavior that challenged conventional etiquette, but by 1700, while they
continued to encourage spontaneity of expression, they no longer supported disruptive and unruly behavior. During
the 18th century, Quakers entered the Quietist period in the history of their church, and they became more inward
looking spiritually and less active in converting others. Marrying outside the Society was outlawed. Numbers
dwindled, dropping to 19,800 in England and Wales by 1800 (0.21% of population), and 13,859 by 1860 (0.07% of
population). The formal name "Religious Society of Friends", dates from this period, and was probably derived from
the appellations "Friends of the Light" and "Friends of the Truth".
Quakers
112
Divisions of the Religious Society of Friends
Orthodox
Wilburite Conservative
Conservative Friends
Gurneyite
Gurneyite
Friends United Meeting
Evangelical
Evangelical Friends International
Beaconite
Hicksite Friends General Conference
Friends General Conference
Showing the divisions of Quakers occurring in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Splits
In the 19th century, there was a diversification of theological beliefs in the Religious Society of Friends, and this led
to several large splits within the Quaker movement.
HicksiteOrthodox split
The Hicksite-Orthodox split arose out of both ideologic and socio-economic tension. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Hicksites tended to be agrarian and poorer than the more urban, wealthier, Orthodox Quakers. With increasing
financial success, Orthodox Quakers wanted to make the Society a more respectable bodyto transform their sect
into a churchby adopting mainstream Protestant orthodoxy. Hicksites, though they held a variety of views,
generally saw the market economy as corrupting, and believed Orthodox Quakers had sacrificed their orthodox
Christian spirituality for material success. Hicksites viewed the Bible as secondary to the individual cultivation of
Gods light within.
With Gurneyite Quakers shift towards Protestant principles and away from the spiritualization of human relations,
womens role as promoters of holy conversation decreased. Conversely, within the Hicksite movement the rejection
of the market economy and the continuing focus on community and family bonds tended to encourage women to
retain their role as powerful arbiters.
Elias Hicks' religious views were claimed to be universalist and to contradict Quakers' historical orthodox Christian
beliefs and practices. Elias Hicks' Gospel preaching and teaching precipitated the Great Separation of 1827 which
resulted in a parallel system of Yearly Meetings in America, joined by Friends from Philadelphia, New York, Ohio,
Indiana, and Baltimore. They were referred to by their opponents as Hicksites and by others, and sometimes
themselves, as orthodox. Quakers in Great Britain only recognized the Orthodox Quakers and refused to correspond
with the Hicksites.
Quakers
113
Beaconite Controversy
Isaac Crewdson was a Recorded Minister in Manchester, UK. He published a book called A Beacon to the Society of
Friends in 1835 which strongly argued that the inward light could not exist alongside a religious belief in salvation
by the atonement of Christ.
(p155)
This Christian controversy led to Isaac Crewdson's resignation from the Religious
Society of Friends, along with 48 fellow members of Manchester Meeting and about 250 other British Quakers in
18361837. Some of these Quakers joined the Plymouth Brethren Church.
Rise of Gurneyite Quakerism, and the Gurneyite-Conservative split
Joseph John Gurney was a prominent
19th century British Friend and a
strong proponent of evangelical
views
Orthodox Friends became more evangelical during the 19th century and were
influenced by the Second Great Awakening. This movement was led by British
Quaker Joseph John Gurney. Christian Friends held Revival meetings in America
and became involved in the Holiness movement of churches. Quakers such as
Hannah Whitall Smith and Robert Pearsall Smith became speakers in the
religious movement and introduced Quaker phrases and practices to it.
(p157)
British Friends became involved with the Higher Life movement, with Robert
Wilson from Cockermouth meeting founding the Keswick Convention.
(p157)
.
From the 1870s it became commonplace in Great Britain to have home mission
meetings on a Sunday evening with Christian hymns and a Bible-based sermon
alongside the silent meetings for worship on Sunday morning.
(p155)
The Quaker Yearly Meetings which supported the religious beliefs of Joseph
John Gurney were known as Gurneyite yearly meetings after Joseph John
Gurney. Many eventually collectively became the Five Years Meeting and then
Friends United Meeting, although London Yearly Meeting which had been strongly Gurneyite in the nineteenth
century did not join either of these groups. These Quaker yearly meetings make up the largest proportion of Quakers
in the world today.
Some orthodox Quakers in America disliked the move towards evangelical Christianity and saw it as a dilution of
Friends' traditional orthodox Christian belief in being inwardly led by the Holy Spirit. These Friends were led by
John Wilbur who was expelled from his yearly meeting in 1842. He and his supporters formed their own
Conservative Friends Yearly Meeting. In the UK in 1868 some Friends broke away from London Yearly Meeting for
the same reason. They formed a separate body of Friends called Fritchley General Meeting which remained distinct
and separate from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar Christian splits took place in Canada. The Yearly
Meetings which supported John Wilbur's religious beliefs were known as Conservative Friends.
Quakers
114
Richmond Declaration
In 1887, a Gurneyite Quaker of British descent, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, proposed to Friends a statement of faith
known as the Richmond Declaration. This statement of faith was agreed to by 95 of the representatives at a meeting
of Five Years Meeting Friends; but unexpectedly the Richmond Declaration was not adopted by London Yearly
Meeting because a vocal minority, including Edward Grubb, opposed it.
Missions to Asia and Africa
Friends' Syrian Mission, 1874, built this mission
house in Ramallah
Following the Christian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in
Great Britain wanted to start missionary activity overseas. The first
missionaries were sent to Benares (Varanasi), in India in 1866. The
Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868, and sent
missionaries to Madhya Pradesh, India, forming what is now Mid-India
Yearly Meeting; and later to Madagascar from 1867, China from 1896,
Sri Lanka from 1896, and Pemba Island from 1897. The Friends
Syrian Mission was established in 1874, which among other
institutions ran the Ramallah Friends Schools which still exist today.
Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier founded Brummana High
School in Lebanon in 1873. Evangelical Friends Churches from Ohio
Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to India in 1896, forming what is
now Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting. Cleveland Friends went to Mombasa, Kenya, and started what was the most
successful Friends' mission. Christian Quakerism spread within Kenya and to Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and
Rwanda.
Theory of evolution
The theory of evolution described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species (1859) was opposed by many
Quakers in the nineteenth century, particularly by older evangelical Quakers who dominated the Religious Society of
Friends in Great Britain. These religious leaders were suspicious of Darwin's theory, and believed that natural
selection needed to be supplemented by another process. For example, influential British Quaker scientist Edward
Newman stated that this theory was "not compatible with our notions of creation as delivered from the hands of a
Creator."
However, some young Friends such as John Wilhelm Rowntree and Edward Grubb supported Darwin's theories
adopting a doctrine of progressive revelation with evolutionary ideas. In the USA, Joseph Moore taught the theory of
evolution at the Quaker Earlham College as early as 1861 and was probably one of the first teachers in the Midwest
to do so. Acceptance of the theory of evolution became more widespread in those Yearly Meetings which moved
towards liberal Christianity in the twentieth century, whilst a belief in creationism exists within evangelical Friends
Churches, particularly in East Africa and parts of the USA.
Quaker Renaissance: Move towards liberalism in Great Britain
In the late 19th century and early 20th century a religious movement known as the Quaker Renaissance movement
began within London Yearly Meeting. Young Friends in London Yearly Meeting at this time moved away from
evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity. This Quaker Renaissance movement was particularly influenced by
John Wilhelm Rowntree, Edward Grubb, and Rufus Jones. These Liberal Friends promoted the theory of evolution,
modern biblical criticism, and the social meaning of Jesus Christ's teaching encouraging Friends to follow the
New Testament example of Christ by performing good works. These Quaker men downplayed the evangelical
Quaker belief in the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary. After the Manchester Conference in England in
Quakers
115
1895, one thousand British Friends met to consider the future of British Quakerism and, as a result, liberal Quaker
thought gradually increased within London Yearly Meeting.
Conscientious objection
FAU ambulance and driver, Germany, 1945
In the First World War and in the Second World War, Friends'
opposition to war was put to the test. Many Friends became
conscientious objectors and some formed the Friends Ambulance Unit
with the aim of co-operating with others to build up a new world
rather than fighting to destroy the old, and the American Friends
Service Committee.
Formation of Friends World Committee for
Consultation
After the two great wars had brought closer together the different kinds
of Quakers; Friends from different yearly meetings many of whom had served together in the Friends Ambulance
Unit, and on the American Friends Service Committee, and in other relief work later held several Quaker World
Conferences; and this subsequently resulted in the creation of a standing body of Friends named Friends World
Committee for Consultation
Evangelical Friends
After World War I, a growing desire for a more fundamentalist approach among some Friends began a split amongst
Five Years Meetings. In 1926, Oregon Yearly Meeting seceded from Five Years Meeting, bringing together several
other yearly meetings and scattered monthly meetings. In 1947, the Association of Evangelical Friends was formed,
with triennial meetings which lasted until 1970. In 1965, this was replaced by the Evangelical Friends Alliance
which, in 1989, became Evangelical Friends Church International.
[8]
Role of women
From its inception, the Quaker emphasis on family and community relations gave women spiritual power. Through
the womens meeting, women oversaw domestic and community life, including marriage. From the beginning,
Quaker women, most notably Margaret Fell, played an important role in defining Quakerism. However, within the
Quaker movement, some resented the power of women within the community. In the early years of Quakerism,
George Fox faced resistance in developing and establishing womens meetings. This resistance culminated in the
Wilkinson-Story split, in which a portion of the Quaker community left to worship independently in protest of
womens meetings. After several years, the schism became largely resolved, testifying to the resistance of some
within the Quaker community, and to the radical spiritual role of women that George Fox and Margaret Fell had
encouraged. Also particularly within the relatively prosperous Quaker communities of the eastern United States, the
focus on the child and holy conversation gave women unusual community power, although they were largely
excluded from the market economy. With the Hicksite-Orthodox split of 18271828, Orthodox women found their
spiritual role decreased, while Hicksite women retained greater influence.
Quakers
116
Friends in business
Dynasties of Quakers were successful in business matters. This included ironmaking by Abraham Darby I
[9]
and his
family; banking, including Lloyds Banking Group (founded by Sampson Lloyd), Barclays PLC, Backhouse's Bank
and Gurney's Bank; life assurance (Friends Provident); pharmaceuticals (Allen & Hanburys); chocolate (Cadbury,
Terry's, Fry's); confectionery (Rowntree); biscuit manufacturing (Huntley & Palmers); match manufacture (Bryant &
May, Francis May and William Bryant) and shoe manufacturing (Clarks).
Friends in education
Initially, Quakers had no ordained clergy, and thus needed no seminaries for theological training. In England,
Quaker schools sprang up, with Friends School Saffron Walden being the most prominent.
[10]
Later in America they
founded Haverford College (1833),
[11]
Guilford College (1837), Pickering College (1842), Earlham College (1847),
Swarthmore College (1864), Wilmington College (Ohio) (1870), Bryn Mawr College (1885), Friends Pacific
Academy (now George Fox University) (1885), Cleveland Bible College (now Malone University) (1892), Friends
University (1898), Training School for Christian Workers (now Azusa Pacific University) (1899) Whittier College
(1901), and Friends Bible College (now Barclay College) (1917). In Great Britain, they organized Woodbrooke
College in 1903. In Kenya, Quakers founded Friends Bible Institute (now Friends Theological College) in Kaimosi,
Kenya, in 1942.
Friends and slavery
Some Quakers in North America and Great Britain became well known for their involvement in the abolition of
slavery. However, prior to the American Revolution, it was fairly common for Friends in British America to own
slaves. During the early to mid-1700s a disquiet about this practice arose among Friends which was best exemplified
by the testimonies of Anthony Benezet and John Woolman; and this resulted in an abolition movement among
Friends so powerful that by the time of the American Revolution few Friends owned slaves any longer. Another
dramatic reversal of such policies and sentiments took place in the life of Moses Brown, one of four Rhode Island
brothers who, in 1764, organized and funded the tragic and fateful voyage of the slave ship named Sally
[12]
. Moses
Brown broke away from his three brothers, became an abolitionist, and converted to Christian Quakerism. William
Wilberforce and William Pitt helped the Quakers in parliament, both becoming Historic Heroes.
Theology
The theological beliefs of Quaker yearly meetings vary considerably. Tolerance of dissent widely varies among
yearly meetings.
Most Friends believe in continuing revelation, which is the religious belief that truth is continuously revealed
directly to individuals from God. George Fox, an "early Friend", described it as "Christ has come to teach His people
Himself." Friends often focus on trying to hear God. As Isaac Penington, wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of
Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thingto feel him to be my root, my life, and my foundation..." Quakers
reject the idea of priests, believing in the priesthood of all believers. Some Friends express their concept of God
using various phrases which include the inner light, or inward light of Christ, the Holy Spirit or other phrases.
Diverse theological beliefs, understandings of the "leading of the Holy Spirit", and statements of "faith and practice"
have always existed among Friends. Due in part to the emphasis on the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit,
Quaker doctrines have only sometimes been codified as statements of faith, confessions or theological texts; those
that do exist include the Letter to the Governor of Barbados (Fox, 1671), An Apology for the True Christian Divinity
(Barclay, 1678), A Catechism and Confession of Faith (Barclay, 1690), The Testimony of the Society of Friends on
the Continent of America (adopted jointly by all orthodox yearly meetings in USA, 1830), the Richmond Declaration
of Faith (adopted by Five Years Meeting, 1887), and Essential Truths (Jones and Wood, adopted by Five Years
Quakers
117
Meeting, 1922). As a public statement of faith, most yearly meetings publish their own Book of Discipline, that
expresses Christian discipleship within the experience of Friends in that yearly meeting.
Conservative
Conservative Friends worshipping in London in
1809. Friends are in traditional plain dress. At the
front of the meeting house, the recorded
ministers sit on a raised ministers' gallery facing
the rest of the meeting, with the elders sitting on
the bench in front of them, also facing the
meeting. Men and women are segregated, but
both are able to minister.
Main article: Conservative Friends
Conservative Friends (also known as "Wilburites" after their founder,
John Wilbur), share some of the beliefs of George Fox and the Early
Friends. Many Wilburites see themselves as the Quakers whose beliefs
are most true to original Quaker doctrine, arguing that the majority of
Friends "broke away" from the Wilburite Quakers in the 19th and 20th
centuries (rather than the Wilburites being the "breakaway" sect).
Conservative Friends place their trust in the immediate guidance of
God. Conservative Friends completely reject all forms of religious
symbolism and outward sacraments, such as the Eucharist and water
baptism. Conservative Friends do not believe in relying upon the
practice of outward rites and sacraments, to have a living relationship
with God through Christ; believing that holiness can exist in all of the
activities of one's daily life and that all of life is sacred in God.
Many Conservative Friends believe that a meal which is held with
others can become a form of communion with God, and with one
another.
In the USA, Conservative Friends are part of three small Quaker Yearly Meetings in Ohio, North Carolina and Iowa;
Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) is generally considered to be the most Bible-centred of the three Conservative
Friends Yearly Meetings, retaining Christian Quakers who use the plain language, who continue to wear plain dress,
and who live in small villages or rural areas; more than the Conservative Friends from the other two Conservative
Friends Yearly Meetings.
In 2007, total membership of these Yearly Meetings was around 1642,
[13]
making them around 0.4% of the world
family of Quakers.
Evangelical
See also: Evangelical Friends Church International
Sign at entrance of Phoenix Friends Church
Evangelical Friends regard Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and
Saviour, and have similar religious beliefs to other evangelical
Christians. They believe in, and hold a high regard for, the penal
substitution of the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary, biblical
infallibility, and the need for every person to personally experience a
relationship with God. They believe that the purpose of the Evangelical
Friends Church is to evangelise the unsaved people of the world, to
spiritually transform them through God's love, and through social
service to others. Evangelical Friends regard the Bible as the infallible
and self-authenticating Word of God. The statement of faith of
Evangelical Friends International, is comparable to the statement of faith of other Evangelical churches. Evangelical
Friends who are members of Evangelical Friends International, are mainly located in the USA, Central America, and
Asia. Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments in their Sunday services, first in
Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). Friends
Quakers
118
Church-Southwest Region, has also approved the practice of using the outward sacraments in their Sunday services.
In places where Evangelical Friends are engaged in missionary work, such as in Africa, Latin America, and Asia,
adult baptism by immersion in water, is carried out. This practice differs from most other Quaker branches of the
Religious Society of Friends. Template:As of 2014, EFCI claims to represent more than 140.000 Friends, equalling
roughly 39% of the total number of Friends worldwide.
Gurneyite
See also: Friends United Meeting
Gurneyite Friends (aka Friends United Meeting Friends), are the modern-day followers of the Evangelical Quaker
theology which was first proclaimed by Joseph John Gurney, a 19th-century British Friend. They make up 49% of
the total number of Quakers worldwide. They regard Jesus Christ as their Teacher and Lord, and favour working
closely with other Protestant Christian churches. Gurneyite Friends place more emphasis on the authority of the
Bible as the direct Word of God than on personal and direct experience of God in their lives. Both children and
adults participate in ongoing religious education which emphasises orthodox Christian teaching from the Bible, and
in relationship to both orthodox Christian Quaker history and Quaker testimonies. Gurneyite Friends subscribe to a
set of orthodox Christian doctrines, such as those found in the Richmond Declaration of faith. In subsequent years,
conflict arose amongst Gurneyite Friends in relation to the Richmond Declaration of faith. Thus, after a while, the
Richmond Declaration of faith was adopted by nearly all of the Gurneyite yearly meetings. The Five Years Meeting
of Friends reaffirmed their loyalty to the Richmond Declaration of faith in 1912, but specifically stated that it was
not to constitute a Christian creed. Although Gurneyism was the main form of Quakerism in Great Britain in the 19th
century, Gurneyite Friends are today located in America, Ireland, Africa and India. Many Gurneyite Friends combine
"waiting worship" (unprogrammed worship), with religious practices commonly found in other Protestant Christian
churches, such as the reading of the Bible and the singing of Hymns. A small minority of Gurneyite Friends practice
entirely unprogrammed worship.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Holiness
See also: Central Yearly Meeting of Friends
Holiness Friends are heavily influenced by the Holiness movement, in particular John Wesley's doctrine of Christian
perfection, also called "entire sanctification." This doctrine states that loving God and humanity totally, as
exemplified by Christ, enables believers to rid themselves of voluntary sin. This was a predominant view within
Quakerism in the United Kingdom, and in the United States, in the 19th century, and it influenced other branches of
Quakerism. Holiness Friends argue that early Friends, including George Fox's message of perfection, is the same as
holiness.
Today, whilst there are some Friends who hold holiness beliefs within most yearly meetings, it is the predominant
theological view of Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, (founded in 1926 specifically to promote holiness theology),
and the Holiness Mission of the Bolivian Evangelical Friends Church (founded by missionaries from that meeting in
1919, the largest group of Friends in Bolivia).
Liberal
See also: Friends General Conference, Britain Yearly Meeting and Beanite Quakerism
Liberal Quakerism generally refers to Friends who have taken ideas from liberal Christianity, often sharing a similar
mix of ideas, such as more critical Biblical hermeneutics, often with a focus on the social gospel. The ideas of That
of God in everyone and the inner light were popularised by American Friend Rufus Jones, in the early 20th century.
He and John Wilhelm Rowntree originated the movement. Liberal Friends were predominant in Great Britain in the
20th century, and amongst US meetings affiliated to Friends General Conference; and some meetings in Canada,
Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.
Quakers
119
These ideas remain an important part of liberal Friends' understanding of God. Liberal Friends highlight the
importance of good works, particularly living a life that upholds the virtues preached by Jesus. They often emphasize
pacifism, treating others equally, living simply and telling the truth.
Like Conservatives Friends, Liberal Friends reject religious symbolism and sacraments, such as water baptism and
the Eucharist. While Liberal Friends recognize the potential of these outward forms for awakening experiences of the
Inward Light of Christ, they are not part of their worship, and are unnecessary to authentic Christian spirituality.
The Bible remains central to most Liberal Friends' worship, and almost all meetings make the Holy Bible available
in the meeting house, (often on a table in the centre of the room), which attendees may read privately or publicly
during worship. However, Liberal Friends, decided that the Scriptures should give way to God's leading, if God leads
them in a way that is contrary to the Holy Bible. Many Friends are also influenced by liberal Christian theologians,
and modern Biblical criticism. They often adopt non-propositional Biblical hermeneutics, such as believing that the
Holy Bible is an anthology of human authors' beliefs and feelings about God, rather than Holy Writ, and that
multiple interpretations of the Scriptures are acceptable.
Liberal Friends believe that a corporate confession of faith would be an obstacleboth to authentic listening and to
new insight. As a non-creedal form of Christianity, Liberal Quakerism is receptive to a wide range of religious faith
understandings. Most Liberal Quaker Yearly Meetings publish a Faith and Practice, a book with a range of religious
experiences of what it means to be a Friend in that Yearly Meeting.
Universalist
Main article: Quaker Universalist Fellowship
Universalist Friends affirm religious pluralism, that there are many different paths to God and that understandings of
the divine reached through non-Christian religious experiences are as valid as Christian understandings. This group
was founded in the late 1970s by John Linton. Linton had worshipped God with the Delhi Worship Group in India
(an independent meeting not affiliated to any yearly meeting or wider Quaker group) with Christians, Muslims and
Hindus worshipping together. Following a move to Great Britain, he founded the Quaker Universalist Fellowship in
1978. Later his views spread to the US where the Quaker Universalist Fellowship was founded in 1983. Most of the
Friends who joined these two fellowships were Liberal Friends from Britain Yearly Meeting in the United Kingdom,
and Liberal Friends from Friends General Conference in the United States. Interest in Quaker Universalism is low
among Friends from other Yearly meetings. The views of the Universalists provoked controversy between
themselves and Christian Quakers within Britain Yearly Meeting, and within Friends General Conference, during the
1980s. Despite the label, Quaker "Universalists" are not necessarily Christian Universalists, embracing the doctrine
of universal reconciliation.
Non-theist
Main article: Nontheist Friend
These Friends have views similar to other post-Christian non-theists in other churches such as the Sea of Faith within
the Anglican church. They are predominantly atheists, agnostics, and humanists who nevertheless value membership
in a religious organization. The first organization for non-theist Friends was the Humanistic Society of Friends,
founded in Los Angeles in 1939. This organization remained small and was absorbed into the American Humanist
Association. More recently, interest in non-theism resurfaced, particularly led by British Friend David Boulton, who
founded the 40 member Nontheist Friends Network in 2011. Non-theism is controversial, leading some Christian
Quakers from within Britain Yearly Meeting to call for non-theists to be refused membership. In one study of
Friends in Britain Yearly Meeting, around 30% of Quakers had views that were described as non-theistic, agnostic,
or atheist.
[14][15]
Another study put the number of believing Friends as high as 92%.It claimed that 70%+ of Quakers
in Great Britain, regard Christ as their supreme religious guide, while a further 20%+ believed in Christ's importance
and hold a syncreticist view of religious life (Quaker Universalists).Wikipedia:Citation needed Another study of
Quakers
120
British Quakers, found that of the 727 members of the Religious Society of Friends who completed the survey,
75.1% said that they consider themselves to be Christian; 17.6% did not consider themselves Christian; and 7.3% of
the members either did not answer or circled both answers.
:p.41
A further 22% of Quakers did not consider
themselves to be a Christian, but fulfilled a definition of being a Christian in that they said that they devoutly
followed the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.
:p.52
In the same survey 86.9% said that they believed in God.
[]
Practical theology
In 1688, at this table in Germantown,
Philadelphia, Quakers and Mennonites signed a
common declaration denouncing slavery
Quakers bear witness or testify to their religious beliefs in their
spiritual lives, drawing on the James advice that faith by itself, if it is
not accompanied by action, is dead. This religious witness is rooted in
their immediate experience of God and verified by the Bible, especially
in Jesus Christ's life and teachings. They may bear witness in many
ways, according to how they believe God is leading them. Although
Quakers share how they relate to God and the world, mirroring
Christian ethical codes, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon
on the Plain, Friends argue that they feel personally moved by God
rather than following an ethical code.
Some theologians classify Friends' religious witness into
categoriesknown by some Friends as testimonies. These Friends
believe these principles and practices testify to, witness to, or provide
evidence for God's truth. No categorization is universally accepted.
In East Africa, Friends teach peace and non-violence, simplicity, honesty, equality, humility, marriage and sexual
ethics (defining marriage as lifelong between one man and one woman), sanctity of life (opposition to abortion),
cultural conflicts and Christian life.
[16]
In the USA, the acronym SPICES is often used (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and
Stewardship). Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting Friends put their faith in action through living their lives by the
following principles: prayer, personal integrity, stewardship (which includes giving away minimum of 10% income
and refraining from lotteries), marriage and family (lifelong commitment), regard for mind and body (refraining
from certain amusements, propriety and modesty of dress, abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and drugs), peace and
non-violence (including refusing to participate in war), abortion (opposition to abortion, practical ministry to women
with unwanted pregnancy and promotion of adoption), human sexuality, the Christian and state (look to God for
authority, not the government), capital punishment (find alternatives), human equality, women in ministry
(recognising women and men have an equal part to play in ministry).
[17]
In the UK, the acronym STEP or PEST is used (peace, equality, simplicity and truth). In his book Quaker Speak,
British Friend Alastair Heron, lists the following ways in which British Friends testify to God: Opposition to betting
and gambling, capital punishment, conscription, hat honor (the largely historical practice of dipping one's hat toward
social superiors), oaths, slavery, times and seasons, tithing and promotion of integrity (or truth), peace, penal reform,
plain language, relief of suffering, simplicity, social order, Sunday observance, sustainability, temperance and
moderation.
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Calendar and church holidays
Quakers traditionally use numbers to denominate the names of the months and days of the week, something they call
the plain calendar. This does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. The days
begin with First Day (Sunday) and ends on Seventh Day (Saturday), and months run from First Month (January) to
Twelfth Month (December). This is based on the terms used in the Bible: e.g., Jesus Christ's followers went to the
tomb early on the First Day of the week. The plain calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in the Puritan
movement, but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s, and was commonly employed into
the 20th century. It is less commonly encountered today. The term First Day School is commonly used, for what is
called by most churches Sunday School.
In common with other Christian denominations derived from the 16th century Puritanism, many Friends do not
observe religious festivals (e.g. Christmas, Lent, or Easter), but instead believe that Christ's birth, crucifixion, and
resurrection, should be commemorated every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel that fasting at Lent,
but then eating in excess at other times of the year is hypocrisy and therefore many Quakers, rather than observing
Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (see Testimony of Simplicity). These practices are often referred to as
the testimony against times and seasons.
Some Friends are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day," and that what should be done on a
First Day should be done every day of the week, although Meeting for Worship is usually held on a First Day,
something which has been advised since the first advice issued by elders in 1656.
Worship
See also: Meeting for worship
Most groups of Quakers meet for regular worship. There are two main types of worship worldwide: programmed
worship and waiting worship.
Programmed worship
See also: Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Church International and Central Yearly Meeting of Friends
West Mansfield Friends Church, Ohio, affiliated
with the Evangelical Friends Church International
In programmed worship there is often a prepared Biblical message,
which may be delivered by an individual with theological training from
a Bible College. There may be hymns, a sermon, Bible readings, joint
prayers and a period of silent worship. The worship resembles the
church services of other protestant denominations, although in most
cases does not include any Eucharist service. A paid pastor may be
responsible for pastoral care. Worship of this kind is celebrated by
about 89% of Friends worldwide.
(p56)
It is found in many Yearly
Meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US (central and southern),
and is common in programmed meetings affiliated to Friends United
Meeting, (who make up around 49% of worldwide membership
(p5)
),
and evangelical meetings, including those affiliated to Evangelical
Friends International, (who make up at least 40% of Friends worldwide
(p56)
). The religious event is sometimes
called a Quaker meeting for worship or sometimes called a Friends church service. This religious tradition arose
among Friends in the United States, in the 19th century, and in response to the many converts to Christian
Quakerism during the national spiritual revival of the time. Friends meetings in Africa and Latin America were
generally started by Orthodox Friends from programmed elements of the Society, therefore most African and Latin
American Friends worship in a programmed style.
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Some Friends also hold "Semi-Programmed" Worship, which brings programmed elements such as hymns and
readings into an otherwise unprogrammed worship service.
Waiting worship
See also: Conservative Friends, Friends General Conference, Britain Yearly Meeting and Beanite Quakerism
The interior of an old meeting house in the
United States
Waiting worship (also known as unprogrammed worship, "silent
worship", or holy communion in the manner of Friends) is based on the
practices of George Fox and the Early Friends, who based their
religious beliefs and practices on their interpretation of how the early
Christians worshipped God their Heavenly Father. Friends gather
together in "expectant waiting upon God" to experience his still small
voice leading them from within. There is no plan on how the meeting
will proceed, and actual practice varies widely between Meetings and
individual worship services. Friends believe that God plans what will
happen, with his spirit leading people to speak. When an individual
Quaker feels led to speak, he or she will rise to their feet and share a
spoken message ("vocal ministry") in front of others. When this happens, Quakers believe that the spirit of God is
speaking through the speaker. After someone has spoken, it is generally considered good etiquette to allow a few
minutes pass in silence before further vocal ministry is given. Sometimes a meeting is entirely silent, sometimes
many speak. These meetings lasted for several hours in George Fox's day. Modern meetings are often limited to an
hour, ending when two people (usually the elders) exchange the sign of peace by handshake. This handshake is often
shared by the others. This style of worship is the norm in Great Britain, Ireland, the continent of Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, Southern Africa, Canada, and parts of the United States (particularly yearly meetings associated with
Friends General Conference and Beanite Quakerism)constituting about 11%
:page 5
of Quakers. Those who worship
in this style hold each person to be equal before God and capable of knowing the light of God directly. Anyone
present may speak if they feel led to do so. Traditionally, Recorded Ministers were recognised for their particular gift
in vocal ministry. This religious practice continues amongst Conservative Friends and Liberal Friends (e.g. New
York Yearly Meeting). Many meetings where Liberal Friends predominate abolished this religious practice. London
Yearly Meeting of Friends, abolished the acknowledging and recording of Recorded Ministers in 1928.
Governance and organization
Church government and polity
Quaker Business Meeting in York
Governance and decision making is conducted at a special meeting for
worshipoften called a meeting for worship with a concern for
business or meeting for worship for church affairs at which all
members can attend, as in a Congregational church. Quakers consider
this to be a form of worship, conducted in the manner of meeting for
worship. They believe this is the gathering of believers who wait upon
the Lord to discover God's will, believing that they are not making
their own decisions. They seek to understand God's will for the
religious community, via the actions of the Holy Spirit within the
meeting.
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As in a meeting for worship, each member is expected to listen to God, and, if led by Him, stand up and contribute.
In some business meetings, Friends wait for the clerk to acknowledge them before speaking. Direct replies to
someone's contribution are not permitted, with an aim of seeking truth rather than of debating. A decision is reached
when the meeting, as a whole, feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity"). There
is no voting. On some occasions a single Friend delays a decision, because they feel the meeting is not following
God's will. Because of this, many non-Friends, describe this as consensus decision-making; however Friends are
instead determined to continue seeking God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is listening to God's spirit, the way
forward will become clear.
International organization
Main article: Friends World Committee for Consultation
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization which loosely unifies
the different religious traditions of Quakers; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world.
Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four sections to represent different regions of the world:
Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and the Americas.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Various organizations associated with Friends include a U.S. lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C.
called the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); service organizations such as the American Friends
Service Committee (AFSC), the Quaker United Nations Offices, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Friends
Committee on Scouting, the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and the Alternatives to Violence
Project.
Yearly meetings
Main article: Yearly Meeting
Quakers today are organized into independent and regional, national bodies called Yearly Meetings, which have
often split from one another because of Christian doctrinal differences. Several associations unite Quakers who share
similar religious beliefs for example Evangelical Friends Church International unites evangelical Christian
Friends; Friends United Meeting unites Friends into "fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as
Teacher and Lord;" and Friends General Conference links together Quakers that have non-creedal, liberal religious
beliefs. Many Quaker Yearly Meetings, are also members of Friends World Committee for Consultation, an
international fellowship of Yearly Meetings from different Quaker religious traditions.
Membership
A Friend is a member of a Yearly Meeting, usually beginning with membership in a local monthly meeting. Methods
for acquiring membership vary; for example, in most Kenyan yearly meetings, attenders who wish to become
members are required to take part in around two years of adult education, memorising key Bible passages, and
learning about the history of orthodox Christianity, and of Christian Quakerism. Within Britain Yearly Meeting,
membership is acquired through a process of peer review, where a potential member is visited by several members
who present a report to the other members of the monthly meeting before a decision is reached.
Within some Friends Churches in the Evangelical Friends Church, in particular in Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of the
USA, an adult believer's baptism by immersion in water, is optional. Within Liberal Friends, Conservative Friends,
and Pastoral Friends Churches, Friends do not practice water baptism, Christening, or other initiation ceremonies to
admit a new member or a newborn baby. Children are often welcomed into the meeting at their first attendance.
Formerly, children born to Quaker parents automatically became members (sometimes called Birthright
membership), but this is no longer the case in many areas. Some parents apply for membership on behalf of their
children, while others allow the child to decide whether to become a member when they are ready, and older in age.
Some meetings adopt a policy that children, some time after becoming young adults, must apply independently for
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membership.
Meetings for worship for specific tasks
Memorial services
The Quaker testimony of simplicity extends to
memorialisation as well. Founder George Fox is
remembered with a simple grave marker.
Traditional Quaker memorial services are held as a form of worship
and are known as memorial meetings. Friends gather for worship and
offer remembrances about the deceased. In some Quaker religious
traditions, the coffin or ashes are not present. Memorial meetings may
be held many weeks after the death, which can enable wider
attendance, and can also replace grief with spiritual reflection, and
celebration of life to dominate. Memorial meetings can last over an
hour, particularly if many people attend. Memorial services give
everyone a chance to remember the lost individual in their own way,
comforting those present, and re-affirming the love of the people in the
wider community.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Marriage
Main article: Quaker wedding
A meeting for worship for the solemnisation of marriage in an
unprogrammed Friends meeting is similar to any other unprogrammed
Meeting for Worship. The pair exchange vows before God and
gathered witnesses, and the meeting returns to open worship. At the
rise of meeting, the witnesses, including the youngest children, are asked to sign the wedding certificate as a record.
In Great Britain, Quakers keep a separate record of the union and notify the General Register Office.
In the early days of the United States, there was doubt whether a marriage solemnized in that manner was entitled to
legal recognition. Over the years, each state has set rules for the procedure. Most US states, (except Pennsylvania),
expect the marriage document to be signed by a single officiant (a priest, rabbi, minister, Justice of the Peace, etc.).
Quakers routinely modify the document to allow three or four Friends to sign as the officiant. Often, these are the
members of a committee of ministry and oversight, who have helped the couple plan their marriage. Usually, a
separate document containing their vows and the signatures of all present is kept by the couple, and often displayed
prominently in their home.
In many Friends meetings, the couple meet with a clearness committee prior to the wedding. This committee's
purpose is to discuss with the couple the many aspects of marriage and life as a couple. If the couple seems ready,
the marriage is recommended to the meeting.
Same-sex marriage
As in the wider society, there is a wide diversity of views on this issue, and Friends have varying views on the topic.
Various Friends meetings around the world have voiced support for, and have recognised, same-sex marriages. In
1986, Hartford Friends Meeting in Connecticut, USA, reached the decision that "the Meeting recognizes a
committed union in a celebration of marriage, under the care of the Meeting. The same loving care and consideration
should be given to both homosexual and heterosexual applicants as outlined in Faith and Practice."
[18]
Since then,
some other meetings of liberal and progressive Friends from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, parts of North
America, and other countries have recognised marriage between partners of the same sex. In jurisdictions, where
same-sex marriage is not recognised by the civil authorities, some meetings follow the practice of early Quakers in
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overseeing the union without reference to the state. There are also Friends who do not support same-sex marriage,
and some Evangelical and Pastoral yearly meetings in the United States have issued public statements stating that
homosexuality is a sin.
National and international divisions and organization
Like many religious movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into subgroups.
Quakerism started in England and Wales, and quickly spread to Ireland, the Netherlands, Barbados and North
America. Today Kenya is, by far, the country with the most Quakers. Other countries with over 1,000 Quakers are
Burundi, Bolivia, Cambodia, Canada, Guatemala, Ireland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Rwanda, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda,
United Kingdom, and the United States.
[19]
Although the total number of Quakers is around 360,000 worldwide,
Quaker influence is concentrated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kaimosi, Kenya; Newberg, Oregon; Greenleaf,
Idaho; Whittier, California; Richmond, Indiana; Friendswood, Texas; Birmingham, England; Ramallah, Palestine,
and Greensboro, North Carolina.
Africa
Quakers in Africa (2007)
Country Number of Quakers
Burundi
12,000
South Africa
144
Congo (Republic of)
10
Kenya
133,825
Madagascar
16
Nigeria
16
Rwanda
3,234
Tanzania
3,100
Uganda
5,000
Main article: Religious Society of Friends in Africa
The highest concentration of Quakers is in Africa.
[20]
The Friends of East Africa, were at one time part of a single
East Africa Yearly Meeting, then the world's largest yearly meeting. Today, this region is served by several distinct
yearly meetings. Most of these are affiliated with the Friends United Meeting, practice programmed worship and
employ pastors. Friends meet in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as new work beginning in North Africa. Small
unprogrammed meetings exist also in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
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Australia and New Zealand
Quakers in Australia and New Zealand (2007)
Australia
1,984
New Zealand
656
Friends in Australia and New Zealand follow the unprogrammed tradition, similar to Britain Yearly Meeting.
Considerable distances between the colonies and small numbers of Quakers meant that Australia Friends were
dependent on London until the 20th century. The Society remained unprogrammed and is named Australia Yearly
Meeting, with local organizations around seven Regional Meetings: Canberra (which extends into southern New
South Wales), New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia (which extends into Northern Territory), Tasmania,
Victoria, and Western Australia.
[21]
An annual meeting each January, is hosted by a different Regional Meeting over
a seven-year cycle, with a Standing Committee each July or August. The Australia Yearly Meeting published This
We Can Say: Australian Quaker Life, Faith and Thought, in 2003.
Meetings for worship in New Zealand started in Nelson in 1842, and in Auckland in 1885. The New Zealand Yearly
Meeting, today consists of nine monthly meetings. The Yearly Meeting published Quaker Faith and Practice in
Aotearoa New Zealand, in 2003.
Asia
Quakers in Asia (2007)
Cambodia
2,500
China
95
India
712
Indonesia
3,000
Japan
135
Korea
12
Nepal
500
Philippines
850
Taiwan
3,200
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Quaker meetings occur in India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Japan and Nepal.
India has four yearly meetings the unprogrammed Mid-India Yearly Meeting, programmed Bhopal Yearly
Meeting, and the Mahoba Yearly Meeting. Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting is an evangelical Friends Church affiliated
to Evangelical Friends International. Other programmed and unprogrammed worship groups are not affiliated with
any yearly meeting.
Evangelical Friends Churches exist in the Philippines and Nepal, and are affiliated with Evangelical Friends
International.
Europe
Quakers in Europe (2007)
Belgium / Luxembourg
42
Britain
15,775
Croatia
2
Czech Republic
12
Denmark
29
Estonia
4
Finland
20
France
71
Georgia
13
Germany
338
Greece
3
Hungary / Romania / Albania
4,306
Ireland
1,591
Latvia
6
Lithuania
2
Quakers
128
Netherlands
115
Norway
151
Russia
13
Spain
8
Sweden
100
Switzerland
104
In the United Kingdom, the predominantly liberal and unprogrammed Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers) in Britain, has 478 local meetings, and a total of 14,260 adult members, and an additional 8,560
non-member adults who attend worship and 2,251 children. The number has declined steadily since the mid-20th
century. Programmed meetings occur, including in Wem and London. Small groups of Conservative Friends meet in
Ripley and Greenwich in England, and Arbroath in Scotland, who follow Ohio Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline.
Evangelical Friends Central Europe Yearly Meeting has 4,306 members across six nations, including Albania,
Hungary and Romania.
Ireland Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and is more conservative than Britain Yearly Meeting. They have 1,591
members in 28 meetings across the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland.
German Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and liberal, and has 338 members, worshipping in 31 meetings, in
Germany and in Austria.
Small groups of Friends in Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Georgia, Greece, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Palestine, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia,
Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, attend meetings for worship there.
Middle East
Quakers in the Middle East(2007)
Lebanon / Israel
60
Middle East Yearly Meeting has meetings in Lebanon and Israel/Palestine.
North and South America
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Quakers in the Americas (2007)
Bolivia
33,000
Canada
1,216
Chile
15
Colombia
8
Costa Rica
72
Cuba
535
El Salvador
472
Guatemala
20,730
Honduras
2,000
Jamaica
330
Mexico
861
Peru
1,700
United States
86,837
Quakers can be found throughout Canada. Some of the largest concentrations are in Southern
Ontario.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Friends in the United States have diverse worship styles and differences of theology, vocabulary, and practice.
A local congregation in the unprogrammed tradition is called a meeting, or a monthly meeting (e.g., Smalltown
Meeting or Smalltown Monthly Meeting). The reference to "monthly" is because the meeting meets monthly to
conduct the group's business. Most "monthly meetings" meet for worship at least once a week; some meetings have
several worship meetings during the week. In programmed traditions, local congregations are often referred to as
"Friends Churches."
Monthly meetings are often part of a regional group called a quarterly meeting, which is usually part of an even
larger group called a yearly meeting; with the adjectives "quarterly" and "yearly" referring specifically to the
frequency of meetings for worship with a concern for business.
Some yearly meetings belong to larger organizations to help maintain order and communication within the Society.
The three chief ones are Friends General Conference (FGC), Friends United Meeting (FUM), and Evangelical
Friends Church International (EFCI). In all three groups, most member organizations, though not necessarily
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members are from the United States. FGC is theologically the most liberal of the three groups, while EFCI is the
most evangelical. FUM is the largest. Friends United Meeting was originally known as "Five Years Meeting." Some
monthly meetings belong to more than one larger organization, while others are fully independent.
Relations with other churches and faiths
Ecumenical relations
Many Quakers prior to the 20th century, considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but
did not feel that their religious faith fitted within categories of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. Many Conservative
Friends, whilst fully seeing themselves as orthodox Christians, choose to remain separate from other Christian
groups.
Many Friends in Liberal Friends' meetings are actively involved in the ecumenical movement, often working closely
with other Mainline Protestant and liberal Christian churches, with whom they share common religious ground. A
concern for peace and social justice often brings Friends together with other Christian churches and other Christian
groups. Some Liberal Quaker yearly meetings are members of ecumenical pan-Christian organizations, which
include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches for example Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a member of
the National Council of Churches. Britain Yearly Meeting is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland,
and Friends General Conference is a member of the World Council of Churches.
Guerneyite Friends would typically see themselves as part of an orthodox Christian movement and work closely with
other Christian groups. Friends United Meeting (the international organization of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a
member of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, which are pan-Christian
organizations, which include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches.
Evangelical Friends work closely with other evangelical churches from other Christian traditions. The North
American branch of Evangelical Friends Church International is a member church of the National Association of
Evangelicals. Evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with non-evangelical churches and are not members of the
World Council of Churches or National Council of Churches.
The majority of other Christian groups recognize Friends amongst their fellow-Christians. Some people who attend
Quaker Meetings assume that Quakers are not Christians, when they do not hear overtly Christian language during
the meeting for worship.
Relations with other faiths
Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, according to sect, geography, and history.
Early Quakers distanced themselves from practices that they saw as pagan, such as by refusing to use the usual
names of days of the week, since they derive from names of pagan deities. They refused to celebrate Christmas
because it is based on pagan festivities.
Early Friends attempted to convert adherents of other World faiths to orthodox Christianity. For example, George
Fox wrote a number of open letters to Jews and Muslims, in which he encouraged them to turn to Jesus Christ as the
only path to salvation (e.g. A Visitation to the Jews, To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that
are under his authority, to read this over, which concerns their salvation and To the Great Turk and King of Algiers
in Algeria. Mary Fisher attempted to convert the Muslim Mehmed IV (the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) in 1658.
In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Christian Quakerism is a universal Church,
which demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of
one or the other.
Since the late 20th century, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with World faiths
other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Paganism.
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References
[1] Michael Bjerknes Aune; Valerie M. DeMarinis. Religious and Social Ritual: Interdisciplinary Explorations (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=bxn6Thqm9KsC& pg=PA105). SUNY Press; 1996. ISBN 978-0-7914-2825-2. p. 105.
[2] http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=1+ Peter+ 2%3A9& version=ESV
[3] The Trouble With "Ministers" (http:/ / www. quaker. org/ quest/ ministers-1. htm) by Chuck Fager gives an overview of the hierarchy Friends
had until it began to be abolished in the mid-eighteenth century. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
[4] Drayton, Brian (1994) Recorded Ministers in the Society of Friends: Then and Now. Friends General Conference. http:/ / www. fgcquaker.
org/ library/ ministry/ recordedministers-drayton.html
[5] Isaiah 66:2, King James Version (Authorized, 1611)
[6] Ezra 9:4, King James Version (Authorized, 1611)
[7] Margery Post Abbott et al., Historical dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) (2003) p. xxxi
[8] Northwest Yearly Meeting Historical Statement (http:/ / www. nwfriends. org/ what-friends-believe/ historical-statement/ )
[9] [9] Burns Windsor, D (1980) The Quaker Enterprise: Friends in Business, Frederick Muller Ltd, London ISBN 0-584-10257-7
[10] For information about Quaker schools in Great Britain and Ireland see Quaker Schools in Great Britain and Ireland: A selective bibliography
of histories and guide to records (http:/ / www.quaker.org. uk/ subject-guides).
[11] David Yount How the Quakers invented America (2007) pp. 8384
[12] http:/ / www.stg. brown. edu/ projects/ sally/
[13] http:/ / fwccamericas. org/ find_friends/ stats_by_country. shtml
[14] [14] Dandelion, Pink. A Sociological Analysis of the Theology of Quakers: The Silent Revolution, Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston NY,1996.
[15] [15] Heron, Alistair Caring Conviction Commitment: Dilemmas of Quaker membership today, Quaker Home Service, London 1992
[16] Friends United Meeting in East Africa (2002) CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRACTICE IN THE FRIENDS CHURCH (http:/ / www.
quakerinfo. com/ eastafricafandp. pdf).
[17] Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting of the Friends Church (1997) The Faith and Practice http:/ / www. rmym. org/ Faith_And_Practice_Print.
php
[18] The Society Of Friends (Quakers) And Homosexuality (http:/ / www. religioustolerance. org/ hom_quak. htm)
[19] Friends World Committee for Consultation (2007) 'Finding Quakers around the World http:/ / www. fwccamericas. org/ publications/
images/ fwcc_map_2007_sm. gif
[20] 43 percent of Quakers worldwide are found in Africa, versus 30 percent in North America, 17 percent in Latin America, and the Caribbean,
6 percent in Europe, and 4 percent in Asia/West Pacific. See Quaker Information Center (http:/ / www. quakerinfo. org/ resources/ worldstats.
html).
[21] list of Australian Quaker Regional Meetings (http:/ / www. quakers. org. au/ )
Further reading
Vogel, Karen Anna. "Christmas Union: Quaker Abolitionists of Chester County, PA," Murray Pura's Cry of Freedom
Series, Volume 5.
Abbott, Margery; Chijioke, Mary Ellen; Dandelion, Pink; Oliver, John William, ed. (June 2003). Historical
Dictionary of The Friends (Quakers). Scarecrow Press. ISBN978-0-8108-4483-4.
Bacon, Margaret Hope (April 2000). The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. Pendle Hill
Publications. p.249. ISBN978-0-87574-935-8.
Bacon, Margaret Hope. "Quakers and Colonization," Quaker History, 95 (Spring 2006), 2643.
Barbour, Hugh; Frost, J. William. The Quakers. (1988), 412pp; historical survey, including many capsule
biographies online edition (http:/ / www. questia. com/ PM. qst?a=o& d=98470032)
Barbour, Hugh (October 1985). The Quakers in Puritan England. Friends United Press. p.272.
ISBN978-0-913408-87-2.
Benjamin, Philip. Philadelphia Quakers in an Age of Industrialism, 18701920 (1976),
Bill, J. Brent, Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality ISBN 1-55725-420-6
Boulton, David (ed.) 2006. Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism. Dales Historical
Monographs. ISBN 0-9511578-6-8
Birkel, Michael L., Silence and Witness: The Quaker Tradition ISBN 1-57075-518-3 (in the UK, ISBN
0-232-52448-3)
Braithwaite, William C. The Beginnings of Quakerism (1912); revised by Henry J. Cadbury (1955) online edition
(http:/ / www. questia. com/ PM. qst?a=o& d=62095557)
Quakers
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Primary sources
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sig=m21bEQwieqpFmcq8F2Xyv1AcLk4)
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other notable Quakers
Children's books
De Angeli, Marguerite. Thee, Hannah! ISBN 0-8361-9106-4.
Milhous, Katherine
The Egg Tree. ISBN 978-0-689-71568-6.
Appolonia's Valentine. ISBN 978-0-684-92306-2.
Turkle, Brinton
The Adventures of Obadiah. ISBN 0-670-10614-3.
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External links
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Religious_Society_of_Friends/ ) at DMOZ
Digital Quaker Collection: a list of Christian Quaker literature (http:/ / dqc. esr. earlham. edu:8080/ xmlmm/
login. html)
Post Reformation Digital Library: a library of early modern quaker texts (http:/ / www. prdl. org/ authors.
php?a_in=ALL& era=Early Modern& tradition=Quaker)
William Wilberforce
135
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
by Karl Anton Hickel, c. 1794
Member of Parliament
for Kingston upon Hull
In office
31 October 1780 25 March 1784
for Yorkshire
In office
29 November 1784 29 September 1812
for Bramber
In office
24 November 1812 February 1825
Personal details
Born 24 August 1759
Kingston upon Hull, Great Britain
Died 29 July 1833 (aged 73)
London, United Kingdom
Political party Independent
Spouse(s) Barbara Spooner
Children William, Barbara, Elizabeth, Robert, Samuel and Henry
Religion Evangelical Anglican
William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 29 July 1833) was an English politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the
movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in
1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (17841812). In 1785, he
underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his
William Wilberforce
136
lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. In 1787, he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of
anti-slave-trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Charles Middleton. They persuaded
Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition, and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. He
headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for twenty-six years until the passage of the Slave
Trade Act of 1807.
Wilberforce was convinced of the importance of religion, morality and education. He championed causes and
campaigns such as the Society for the Suppression of Vice, British missionary work in India, the creation of a free
colony in Sierra Leone, the foundation of the Church Mission Society, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals. His underlying conservatism led him to support politically and socially repressive legislation, and
resulted in criticism that he was ignoring injustices at home while campaigning for the enslaved abroad.
In later years, Wilberforce supported the campaign for the complete abolition of slavery, and continued his
involvement after 1826, when he resigned from Parliament because of his failing health. That campaign led to the
Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire; Wilberforce died just three days
after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was assured. He was buried in Westminster Abbey,
close to his friend William Pitt.
Early life and education
Wilberforce was born in a house on the High Street of Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire: England, on 24 August
1759, the only son of Robert Wilberforce (172868), a wealthy merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Bird (173098).
His grandfather William (16901776) had made the family fortune in the maritime trade with Baltic countries,
[1]
and
had twice been elected mayor of Hull.
A statue of William Wilberforce outside Wilberforce House,
his birthplace in Hull.
Wilberforce was a small, sickly and delicate child, with poor
eyesight. In 1767 he began attending Hull Grammar School, at
the time headed by a young, dynamic headmaster, Joseph
Milner, who was to become a lifelong friend. Wilberforce
profited from the supportive atmosphere at the school until the
death of his father in 1768. With his mother struggling to
cope, the nine-year-old Wilberforce was sent to a prosperous
uncle and aunt with houses in both St James' Place, London,
and Wimbledon, at that time a village 7 miles (11km)
south-west of London. He attended an "indifferent" boarding
school in Putney for two years, spending his holidays in
Wimbledon, where he grew extremely fond of his relatives.
He became interested in evangelical Christianity because of
their influence, especially that of his Aunt Hannah, sister of
the wealthy Christian merchant John Thornton, a
philanthropist and a supporter of the leading Methodist
preacher George Whitefield.
Wilberforce's staunchly Church of England mother and
grandfather, alarmed at these nonconformist influences and at
his leanings towards evangelicalism, brought the 12-year-old
boy back to Hull in 1771. Wilberforce was heartbroken to be separated from his aunt and uncle. His family opposed
a return to Hull Grammar School because the headmaster had become a Methodist; Wilberforce therefore continued
his education at nearby Pocklington School from 1771 to 1776. Influenced by Methodist scruples, he initially
William Wilberforce
137
resisted Hull's lively social life, but as his religious fervour diminished, he embraced theatre-going, attended balls
and played cards.
In October 1776, at the age of 17, Wilberforce went up to St John's College, Cambridge. The deaths of his
grandfather and uncle in 1776 and 1777 respectively had left him independently wealthy, and as a result he had little
inclination or need to apply himself to serious study. Instead, he immersed himself in the social round of student life,
and pursued a hedonistic lifestyle enjoying cards, gambling and late-night drinking sessionsalthough he found the
excesses of some of his fellow students distasteful. Witty, generous, and an excellent conversationalist, Wilberforce
was a popular figure. He made many friends, including the more studious future Prime Minister, William Pitt.
Despite his lifestyle and lack of interest in studying, he managed to pass his examinations, and was awarded a B.A.
in 1781 and an M.A. in 1788.
Early parliamentary career
Wilberforce began to consider a political career while still at university, and during the winter of 177980 he and
Pitt frequently watched House of Commons debates from the gallery. Pitt, already set on a political career,
encouraged Wilberforce to join him in obtaining a parliamentary seat. In September 1780, at the age of twenty-one
and while still a student, Wilberforce was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull, spending
over 8,000 to ensure he received the necessary votes, as was the custom of the time. Free from financial pressures,
Wilberforce sat as an independent, resolving to be "no party man". Criticised at times for inconsistency, he supported
both Tory and Whig governments according to his conscience, working closely with the party in power, and voting
on specific measures according to their merits. Wilberforce attended Parliament regularly, but he also maintained a
lively social life, becoming an habitu of gentlemen's gambling clubs such as Goostree's and Boodle's in Pall Mall,
London. The writer and socialite Madame de Stal described him as the "wittiest man in England" and, according to
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the Prince of Wales said that he would go anywhere to hear Wilberforce sing.
Wilberforce used his speaking voice to great effect in political speeches; the diarist and author James Boswell
witnessed Wilberforce's eloquence in the House of Commons and noted: "I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount
upon the table; but as I listened, he grew, and grew, until the shrimp became a whale." During the frequent
government changes of 178184 Wilberforce supported his friend Pitt in parliamentary debates, and in autumn 1783
Pitt, Wilberforce and Edward Eliot (later to become Pitt's brother-in-law), travelled to France for a six-week holiday
together. After a difficult start in Rheims, where their presence aroused police suspicion that they were English spies,
they visited Paris, meeting Benjamin Franklin, General Lafayette, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, and joined the
French court at Fontainebleau.
Pitt became Prime Minister in December 1783, with Wilberforce a key supporter of his minority government.
Despite their close friendship, there is no record that Pitt offered Wilberforce a ministerial position in this or future
governments. This may have been due to Wilberforce's wish to remain an independent MP. Alternatively,
Wilberforce's frequent tardiness and disorganisation, as well as the chronic eye problems that at times made reading
impossible, may have convinced Pitt that his trusted friend was not ministerial material. When Parliament was
dissolved in the spring of 1784, Wilberforce decided to stand as a candidate for the county of Yorkshire in the 1784
general election. On 6 April, he was returned as MP for Yorkshire at the age of twenty-four.
Conversion
In October 1784, Wilberforce embarked upon a tour of Europe which would ultimately change his life and determine
his future career. He travelled with his mother and sister in the company of Isaac Milner, the brilliant younger
brother of his former headmaster, who had been Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, in the year when
Wilberforce first went up. They visited the French Riviera and enjoyed the usual pastimes of dinners, cards, and
gambling. In February 1785, Wilberforce returned to the United Kingdom temporarily, to support Pitt's proposals for
parliamentary reforms. He rejoined the party in Genoa, Italy, from where they continued their tour to Switzerland.
William Wilberforce
138
Milner accompanied Wilberforce to England, and on the journey they read The Rise and Progress of Religion in the
Soul by Philip Doddridge, a leading early 18th-century English nonconformist.
William Wilberforce by John Rising, 1790, pictured at the age of
29
Wilberforce's spiritual journey is thought to have begun at
this time. He started to rise early to read the Bible and
pray and kept a private journal. He underwent an
evangelical conversion, regretting his past life and
resolving to commit his future life and work to the service
of God. His conversion changed some of his habits but
not his nature: he remained outwardly cheerful,
interested, and respectful, tactfully urging others towards
his new faith. Inwardly, he underwent an agonising
struggle and became relentlessly self-critical, harshly
judging his spirituality, use of time, vanity, self-control,
and relationships with others.
At the time religious enthusiasm was generally regarded
as a social transgression and was stigmatised in polite
society. Evangelicals in the upper classes, such as Sir
Richard Hill, the Methodist MP for Shropshire, and
Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, were exposed
to contempt and ridicule, and Wilberforce's conversion
led him to question whether he should remain in public
life. Wilberforce sought guidance from John Newton, a
leading Evangelical Anglican clergyman of the day and
Rector of St Mary Woolnoth in the City of London. Both Newton and Pitt counselled Wilberforce to remain in
politics, and he resolved to do so "with increased diligence and conscientiousness". Thereafter, his political views
were informed by his faith and by his desire to promote Christianity and Christian ethics in private and public life.
His views were often deeply conservative, opposed to radical changes in a God-given political and social order, and
focused on issues such as the observance of the Sabbath and the eradication of immorality through education and
reform. As a result, he was often distrusted by progressive voices because of his conservatism, and regarded with
suspicion by many Tories who saw Evangelicals as radicals, bent on the overthrow of church and state.
In 1786 Wilberforce leased a house in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, in order to be near Parliament. He began using
his parliamentary position to advocate reform by introducing a Registration Bill, proposing limited changes to
parliamentary election procedures. He brought forward a bill to extend the measure permitting the dissection after
execution of criminals such as rapists, arsonists and thieves. The bill also advocated the reduction of sentences for
women convicted of treason, a crime that at the time included a husband's murder. The House of Commons passed
both bills, but they were defeated in the House of Lords.
Abolition of the slave trade
Initial decision
The British initially became involved in the slave trade during the 16th century. By 1783, the triangular route that
took British-made goods to Africa to buy slaves, transported the enslaved to the West Indies, and then brought
slave-grown products such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton to Britain, represented about 80percent of Great Britain's
foreign income. British ships dominated the trade, supplying French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and British
colonies, and in peak years carried forty thousand enslaved men, women and children across the Atlantic in the
horrific conditions of the middle passage. Of the estimated 11million Africans transported into slavery, about
William Wilberforce
139
1.4million died during the voyage.
The British campaign to abolish the slave trade is generally considered to have begun in the 1780s with the
establishment of the Quakers' antislavery committees, and their presentation to Parliament of the first slave trade
petition in 1783. The same year, Wilberforce, while dining with his old Cambridge friend Gerard Edwards, met Rev.
James Ramsay, a ship's surgeon who had become a clergyman on the island of St Christopher (later St Kitts) in the
Leeward Islands, and a medical supervisor of the plantations there. What Ramsay had witnessed of the conditions
endured by the slaves, both at sea and on the plantations, horrified him. Returning to England after fifteen years, he
accepted the living of Teston, Kent in 1781, and there met Sir Charles Middleton, Lady Middleton, Thomas
Clarkson, Hannah More and others, a group that later became known as the Testonites. Interested in promoting
Christianity and moral improvement in Britain and overseas, they were appalled by Ramsay's reports of the depraved
lifestyles of slave owners, the cruel treatment meted out to the enslaved, and the lack of Christian instruction
provided to the slaves. With their encouragement and help, Ramsay spent three years writing An essay on the
treatment and conversion of African slaves in the British sugar colonies, which was highly critical of slavery in the
West Indies. The book, published in 1784, was to have an important impact in raising public awareness and interest,
and it excited the ire of West Indian planters who in the coming years attacked both Ramsay and his ideas in a series
of pro-slavery tracts.
Diagram of a slave ship, the Brookes, illustrating the inhumane conditions aboard
such vessels
Wilberforce apparently did not follow up on
his meeting with Ramsay. However, three
years later, and inspired by his new faith,
Wilberforce was growing interested in
humanitarian reform. In November 1786 he
received a letter from Sir Charles Middleton
that re-opened his interest in the slave trade.
At the urging of Lady Middleton, Sir
Charles suggested that Wilberforce bring
forward the abolition of the slave trade in
Parliament. Wilberforce responded that "he
felt the great importance of the subject, and
thought himself unequal to the task allotted
to him, but yet would not positively decline
it". He began to read widely on the subject,
and met with the Testonites at Middleton's
home at Barham Court in Teston in the early
winter of 178687.
In early 1787, Thomas Clarkson, a fellow
graduate of St John's, Cambridge, who had
become convinced of the need to end the
slave trade after writing a prize-winning
essay on the subject while at Cambridge,
called upon Wilberforce at Old Palace Yard
with a published copy of the work. This was the first time the two men had met; their collaboration would last nearly
fifty years. Clarkson began to visit Wilberforce on a weekly basis, bringing first-hand evidence he had obtained
about the slave trade. The Quakers, already working for abolition, also recognised the need for influence within
Parliament, and urged Clarkson to secure a commitment from Wilberforce to bring forward the case for abolition in
the House of Commons.
William Wilberforce
140
It was arranged that Bennet Langton, a Lincolnshire landowner and mutual acquaintance of Wilberforce and
Clarkson, would organize a dinner party in order to ask Wilberforce formally to lead the parliamentary campaign.
The dinner took place on 13March 1787; other guests included Charles Middleton, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William
Windham, MP, James Boswell and Isaac Hawkins Browne, MP. By the end of the evening, Wilberforce had agreed
in general terms that he would bring forward the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament, "provided that no person
more proper could be found".
The same spring, on 12May 1787, the still hesitant Wilberforce held a conversation with William Pitt and the future
Prime Minister William Grenville as they sat under a large oak tree on Pitt's estate in Kent. Under what came to be
known as the "Wilberforce Oak" at Holwood, Pitt challenged his friend: "Wilberforce, why don't you give notice of a
motion on the subject of the Slave Trade? You have already taken great pains to collect evidence, and are therefore
fully entitled to the credit which doing so will ensure you. Do not lose time, or the ground will be occupied by
another." Wilberforce's response is not recorded, but he later declared in old age that he could "distinctly remember
the very knoll on which I was sitting near Pitt and Grenville" where he made his decision.
Wilberforce's involvement in the abolition movement was motivated by a desire to put his Christian principles into
action and to serve God in public life. He and other Evangelicals were horrified by what they perceived was a
depraved and unchristian trade, and the greed and avarice of the owners and traders. Wilberforce sensed a call from
God, writing in a journal entry in 1787 that "God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of
the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners [moral values]". The conspicuous involvement of Evangelicals in
the highly popular anti-slavery movement served to improve the status of a group otherwise associated with the less
popular campaigns against vice and immorality.
Early parliamentary action
On 22May 1787, the first meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade took place, bringing
like-minded British Quakers and Anglicans together in the same organisation for the first time. The committee chose
to campaign against the slave trade rather than slavery itself, with many members believing that slavery would
eventually disappear as a natural consequence of the abolition of the trade. Wilberforce, though involved informally,
did not join the committee officially until 1791.
"Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" Medallion created
as part of anti-slavery campaign by Josiah Wedgwood,
1787
The society was highly successful in raising public awareness and
support, and local chapters sprang up throughout Great Britain.
Clarkson travelled the country researching and collecting
first-hand testimony and statistics, while the committee promoted
the campaign, pioneering techniques such as lobbying, writing
pamphlets, holding public meetings, gaining press attention,
organising boycotts and even using a campaign logo: an image of
a kneeling slave above the motto "Am I not a Man and a Brother?"
designed by the renowned pottery-maker Josiah Wedgwood. The
committee also sought to influence slave-trading nations such as
France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Holland and the United States,
corresponding with anti-slavery activists in other countries and
organising the translation of English-language books and
pamphlets. These included books by former slaves Ottobah
Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano, who had published influential
works on slavery and the slave trade in 1787 and 1789
respectively. They and other free blacks, collectively known as
William Wilberforce
141
"Sons of Africa", spoke at debating societies and wrote spirited letters to newspapers, periodicals and prominent
figures, as well as public letters of support to campaign allies. Hundreds of parliamentary petitions opposing the
slave trade were received in 1788 and following years, with hundreds of thousands of signatories in total. The
campaign proved to be the world's first grassroots human rights campaign, in which men and women from different
social classes and backgrounds volunteered to end the injustices suffered by others.
Wilberforce had planned to introduce a motion giving notice that he would bring forward a bill for the Abolition of
the Slave Trade during the 1789 parliamentary session. However, in January 1788 he was taken ill with a probable
stress-related condition, now thought to be ulcerative colitis. It was several months before he was able to resume
work, and he spent time convalescing at Bath and Cambridge. His regular bouts of gastrointestinal illnesses
precipitated the use of moderate quantities of opium, which proved effective in alleviating his condition, and which
he continued to use for the rest of his life.
During Wilberforce's absence, Pitt, who had long been supportive of abolition, introduced the preparatory motion
himself, and ordered a Privy Council investigation into the slave trade, followed by a House of Commons review.
With the publication of the Privy Council report in April 1789 and following months of planning, Wilberforce
commenced his parliamentary campaign. On 12May 1789, he made his first major speech on the subject of abolition
in the House of Commons, in which he reasoned that the trade was morally reprehensible and an issue of natural
justice. Drawing on Thomas Clarkson's mass of evidence, he described in detail the appalling conditions in which
slaves travelled from Africa in the middle passage, and argued that abolishing the trade would also bring an
improvement to the conditions of existing slaves in the West Indies. He moved 12 resolutions condemning the slave
trade, but made no reference to the abolition of slavery itself, instead dwelling on the potential for reproduction in
the existing slave population should the trade be abolished. With the tide running against them, the opponents of
abolition delayed the vote by proposing that the House of Commons hear its own evidence, and Wilberforce, in a
move that has subsequently been criticised for prolonging the slave trade, reluctantly agreed. The hearings were not
completed by the end of the parliamentary session, and were deferred until the following year. In the meantime,
Wilberforce and Clarkson tried unsuccessfully to take advantage of the egalitarian atmosphere of the French
Revolution to press for France's abolition of the trade, which was, in any event, to be abolished in 1794 as a result of
the bloody slave revolt in St Domingue (later to be known as Haiti), although later briefly restored by Napoleon in
1802.
In January 1790 Wilberforce succeeded in speeding up the hearings by gaining approval for a smaller parliamentary
select committee to consider the vast quantity of evidence which had been accumulated. Wilberforce's house in Old
Palace Yard became a centre for the abolitionists' campaign, and a focus for many strategy meetings. Petitioners for
other causes also besieged him there, and his ante-room thronged from an early hour, like "Noah's Ark, full of beasts
clean and unclean", according to Hannah More.
Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory; we
have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which, for a while was most shamefully denied. This
is the first fruits of our efforts; let us persevere and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we desist till we have wiped
away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt, under which we at present labour, and
extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will
scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country.
William Wilberforce,
speech before the House of Commons, 18 April 1791
Interrupted by a general election in June 1790, the committee finally finished hearing witnesses, and in April 1791
with a closely reasoned four-hour speech, Wilberforce introduced the first parliamentary bill to abolish the slave
trade. However, after two evenings of debate, the bill was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88, the political climate
having swung in a conservative direction in the wake of the French Revolution, and in reaction to an increase in
radicalism and to slave revolts in the French West Indies. Such was the public hysteria of the time that even
William Wilberforce
142
Wilberforce himself was suspected by some of being a Jacobin agitator.
This was the beginning of a protracted parliamentary campaign, during which Wilberforce's commitment never
wavered, despite frustration and hostility. He was supported in his work by fellow members of the so-called
Clapham Sect, among whom was his best friend and cousin Henry Thornton. Holding evangelical Christian
convictions, and consequently dubbed "the Saints", the group mainly lived in large houses surrounding the common
in Clapham, then a village to the south-west of London. Wilberforce accepted an invitation to share a house with
Henry Thornton in 1792, moving into his own home after Thornton's marriage in 1796. The "Saints" were an
informal community, characterised by considerable intimacy as well as a commitment to practical Christianity and
an opposition to slavery. They developed a relaxed family atmosphere, wandering freely in and out of each other's
homes and gardens, and discussing the many religious, social and political topics that engaged them.
Pro-slavery advocates claimed that enslaved Africans were lesser human beings who benefited from their bondage.
Wilberforce, the Clapham Sect and others were anxious to demonstrate that Africans, and particularly freed slaves,
had human and economic abilities beyond the slave trade; that they were capable of sustaining a well-ordered
society, trade and cultivation. Inspired in part by the utopian vision of Granville Sharp, they became involved in the
establishment in 1792 of a free colony in Sierra Leone with black settlers from the United Kingdom, Nova Scotia
and Jamaica, as well as native Africans and some whites. They formed the Sierra Leone Company, with Wilberforce
subscribing liberally to the project in money and time. The dream was of an ideal society in which races would mix
on equal terms; the reality was fraught with tension, crop failures, disease, death, war and defections to the slave
trade. Initially a commercial venture, the British government assumed responsibility for the colony in 1808. The
colony, although troubled at times, was to become a symbol of anti-slavery in which residents, communities and
African tribal chiefs, worked together to prevent enslavement at the source, supported by a British naval blockade to
stem the region's slave trade.
On 2April 1792, Wilberforce again brought a bill calling for abolition. The memorable debate that followed drew
contributions from the greatest orators in the house, William Pitt and Charles James Fox, as well as from
Wilberforce himself. Henry Dundas, as home secretary, proposed a compromise solution of so-called "gradual
abolition" over a number of years. This was passed by 230 to 85 votes, but the compromise was little more than a
clever ploy, with the intention of ensuring that total abolition would be delayed indefinitely.
War with France
On 26February 1793, another vote to abolish the slave trade was narrowly defeated by eight votes. The outbreak of
war with France the same month effectively prevented any further serious consideration of the issue, as politicians
concentrated on the national crisis and the threat of invasion. The same year, and again in 1794, Wilberforce
unsuccessfully brought before Parliament a bill to outlaw British ships from supplying slaves to foreign colonies. He
voiced his concern about the war and urged Pitt and his government to make greater efforts to end hostilities.
Growing more alarmed, on 31December 1794, Wilberforce moved that the government seek a peaceful resolution
with France, a stance that created a temporary breach in his long friendship with Pitt.
Abolition continued to be associated in the public consciousness with the French Revolution and with British radical
groups, resulting in a decline in public support. In 1795, the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
ceased to meet, and Clarkson retired in ill-health to the Lake District. However, despite the decreased interest in
abolition, Wilberforce continued to introduce abolition bills throughout the 1790s.
Wilberforce had shown little interest in women, but in his late thirties twenty-year-old Barbara Ann Spooner
(17771847) was recommended by his friend Thomas Babington as a potential bride. Wilberforce met her two days
later on 15April 1797, and was immediately smitten; following an eight-day whirlwind romance, he proposed.
Despite the urgings of friends to slow down, the couple married in Bath, Somerset, on 30May 1797. They were
devoted to each other and Barbara was very attentive and supportive to Wilberforce in his increasing ill health,
though she showed little interest in his political activities. They had six children in fewer than ten years: William (b.
William Wilberforce
143
1798), Barbara (b. 1799), Elizabeth (b. 1801), Robert Isaac Wilberforce (b. 1802), Samuel Wilberforce (b. 1805) and
Henry William Wilberforce (b. 1807). Wilberforce was an indulgent and adoring father who revelled in his time at
home and at play with his children.
The early years of the 19th century once again saw an increased public interest in abolition. Since Napoleon had
reintroduced slavery in the French colonies, support of Abolition was no longer perceived as being pro-French.
In 1804, Clarkson resumed his work and the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade began meeting
again, strengthened with prominent new members such as Zachary Macaulay, Henry Brougham and James Stephen.
In June 1804, Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade successfully passed all its stages through the House of
Commons. However, it was too late in the parliamentary session for it to complete its passage through the House of
Lords. On its reintroduction during the 1805 session it was defeated, with even the usually sympathetic Pitt failing to
support it. On this occasion and throughout the campaign, abolition was held back by Wilberforce's trusting, even
credulous nature, and his deferential attitude towards those in power. He found it difficult to believe that men of rank
would not do what he perceived to be the right thing, and was reluctant to confront them when they did not.
Final phase of the campaign
Following Pitt's death in January 1806 Wilberforce began to collaborate more with the Whigs, especially the
abolitionists. He gave general support to the Grenville-Fox administration, which brought more abolitionists into the
cabinet; Wilberforce and Charles Fox led the campaign in the House of Commons, while Lord Grenville advocated
the cause in the House of Lords.
The House of Commons in Wilberforce's day by Augustus Pugin and Thomas
Rowlandson (180811)
A radical change of tactics, which involved
the introduction of a bill to ban British
subjects from aiding or participating in the
slave trade to the French colonies, was
suggested by maritime lawyer James
Stephen. It was a shrewd move since the
majority of British ships were now flying
American flags and supplying slaves to
foreign colonies with whom Britain was at
war. A bill was introduced and approved by
the cabinet, and Wilberforce and other
abolitionists maintained a self-imposed
silence, so as not to draw any attention to
the effect of the bill. The approach proved
successful, and the new Foreign Slave Trade
Bill was quickly passed, and received the
Royal Assent on 23May 1806. Wilberforce
and Clarkson had collected a large volume of evidence against the slave trade over the previous two decades, and
Wilberforce spent the latter part of 1806 writing A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which was a
comprehensive restatement of the abolitionists' case. The death of Fox in September 1806 was a blow, and was
followed quickly by a general election in the autumn of 1806. Slavery became an election issue, bringing more
abolitionist MPs into the House of Commons, including former military men who had personally experienced the
horrors of slavery and slave revolts. Wilberforce was re-elected as an MP for Yorkshire, after which he returned to
finishing and publishing his Letter, in reality a 400-page book which formed the basis for the final phase of the
campaign.
Lord Grenville, the Prime Minister, was determined to introduce an Abolition Bill in the House of Lords rather than
in the House of Commons, taking it through its greatest challenge first. When a final vote was taken, the bill was
William Wilberforce
144
passed in the House of Lords by a large margin. Sensing a breakthrough that had been long anticipated, Charles Grey
moved for a second reading in the Commons on 23February 1807. As tributes were made to Wilberforce, whose
face streamed with tears, the bill was carried by 283 votes to 16. Excited supporters suggested taking advantage of
the large majority to seek the abolition of slavery itself but Wilberforce made it clear that total emancipation was not
the immediate goal: "They had for the present no object immediately before them, but that of putting stop directly to
the carrying of men in British ships to be sold as slaves." The Slave Trade Act received the Royal Assent on
25March 1807.
Other concerns
Political and social reform
Wilberforce was deeply conservative when it came to challenges to the existing political and social order. He
advocated change in society through Christianity and improvement in morals, education and religion, fearing and
opposing radical causes and revolution. The radical writer William Cobbett was among those who attacked what
they saw as Wilberforce's hypocrisy in campaigning for better working conditions for slaves while British workers
lived in terrible conditions at home. "Never have you done one single act, in favour of the labourers of this country",
he wrote. Critics noted Wilberforce's support of the suspension of habeas corpus in 1795 and his votes for Pitt's
"Gagging Bills", which banned meetings of more than 50people, allowing speakers to be arrested and imposing
harsh penalties on those who attacked the constitution. Wilberforce was opposed to giving workers' rights to organise
into unions, in 1799 speaking in favour of the Combination Act, which suppressed trade union activity throughout
the United Kingdom, and calling unions "a general disease in our society". He also opposed an enquiry into the 1819
Peterloo Massacre in which eleven protesters were killed at a political rally demanding reform. Concerned about
"bad men who wished to produce anarchy and confusion", he approved of the government's Six Acts which further
limited public meetings and seditious writings. Wilberforce's actions led the essayist William Hazlitt to condemn
him as one "who preaches vital Christianity to untutored savages, and tolerates its worst abuses in civilised states."
Unfinished portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1828
Wilberforce's views of women and religion were also
conservative: he disapproved of women anti-slavery activists
such as Elizabeth Heyrick, who organised women's
abolitionist groups in the 1820s, protesting: "[F]or ladies to
meet, to publish, to go from house to house stirring up
petitions these appear to me proceedings unsuited to the
female character as delineated in Scripture." Wilberforce
initially strongly opposed bills for Catholic emancipation
which would have allowed Catholics to become MPs, hold
public office and serve in the army, although by 1813 he had
changed his views, and spoke in favour of a similar bill.
More progressively, Wilberforce advocated legislation to
improve the working conditions for chimney-sweeps and
textile workers, engaged in prison reform, and supported
campaigns to restrict capital punishment and the severe
punishments meted out under the Game Laws. He recognised
the importance of education in alleviating poverty, and when
Hannah More and her sister established Sunday schools for
the poor in Somerset and the Mendips, he provided financial
William Wilberforce
145
and moral support as they faced opposition from landowners and Anglican clergy. From the late 1780s onward
Wilberforce campaigned for limited parliamentary reform, such as the abolition of rotten boroughs and the
redistribution of Commons seats to growing towns and cities, though by 1832, he feared that such measures went too
far. With others, Wilberforce founded the world's first animal welfare organisation, the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (later the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). He was also opposed to
duelling, which he described as the "disgrace of a Christian society" and was appalled when his friend Pitt engaged
in a duel in 1798, particularly as it occurred on a Sunday, the Christian day of rest.
Wilberforce was generous with his time and money, believing that those with wealth had a duty to give a significant
portion of their income to the needy. Yearly, he gave away thousands of pounds, much of it to clergymen to
distribute in their parishes. He paid off the debts of others, supported education and missions, and in a year of food
shortages gave to charity more than his own yearly income. He was exceptionally hospitable, and could not bear to
sack any of his servants. As a result, his home was full of old and incompetent servants kept on in charity. Although
he was often months behind in his correspondence, Wilberforce responded to numerous requests for advice or for
help in obtaining professorships, military promotions, and livings for clergymen, or for the reprieve of death
sentences.
Evangelical Christianity
A supporter of the evangelical wing of the Church of England, Wilberforce believed that the revitalisation of the
Church and individual Christian observance would lead to a harmonious, moral society. He sought to elevate the
status of religion in public and private life, making piety fashionable in both the upper- and middle-classes of
society. To this end, in April 1797 Wilberforce published A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of
Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity, on which
he had been working since 1793. This was an exposition of New Testament doctrine and teachings and a call for a
revival of Christianity, as a response to the moral decline of the nation, illustrating his own personal testimony and
the views which inspired him. The book proved to be influential and a best-seller by the standards of the day;
7,500copies were sold within six months, and it was translated into several languages.
Wilberforce fostered and supported missionary activity in Britain and abroad. He was a founding member of the
Church Missionary Society (since renamed the Church Mission Society), and was involved, with other members of
the Clapham Sect, in numerous other evangelical and charitable organisations. Horrified by the lack of Christian
evangelism in India, Wilberforce used the 1793 renewal of the British East India Company's charter to propose the
addition of clauses requiring the company to provide teachers and chaplains and to commit to the "religious
improvement" of Indians. The plan was unsuccessful due to lobbying by the directors of the company, who feared
that their commercial interests would be damaged. Wilberforce tried again in 1813 when the charter next came up for
renewal. Using petitions, meetings, lobbying, and letter writing, he successfully campaigned for changes to the
charter. Speaking in favour of the Charter Act 1813, he criticised the British in India for their hypocrisy and racial
prejudice, while also condemning aspects of Hinduism including the caste system, infanticide, polygamy and suttee.
"Our religion is sublime, pure beneficent", he said, "theirs is mean, licentious and cruel".
Moral reform
Greatly concerned by what he perceived to be the degeneracy of British society, Wilberforce was also active in
matters of moral reform, lobbying against "the torrent of profaneness that every day makes more rapid advances",
and considered this issue and the abolition of the slave trade as equally important goals. At the suggestion of
Wilberforce and Bishop Porteus, King George III was requested by the Archbishop of Canterbury to issue in 1787
the Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice, as a remedy for the rising tide of immorality. The proclamation
commanded the prosecution of those guilty of "excessive drinking, blasphemy, profane swearing and cursing,
lewdness, profanation of the Lord's Day, and other dissolute, immoral, or disorderly practices". Greeted largely with
William Wilberforce
146
public indifference, Wilberforce sought to increase its impact by mobilising public figures to the cause, and by
founding the Society for the Suppression of Vice. This and other societies in which Wilberforce was a prime mover,
such as the Proclamation Society, mustered support for the prosecution of those who had been charged with violating
relevant laws, including brothel keepers, distributors of pornographic material, and those who did not respect the
Sabbath. Years later, the writer and clergyman Sydney Smith criticised Wilberforce for being more interested in the
sins of the poor than those of the rich, and suggested that a better name would have been the Society for "suppressing
the vices of persons whose income does not exceed 500 per annum". The societies were not highly successful in
terms of membership and support, although their activities did lead to the imprisonment of Thomas Williams, the
London printer of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. Wilberforce's attempts to legislate against adultery and
Sunday newspapers were also in vain; his involvement and leadership in other, less punitive, approaches were more
successful in the long-term, however. By the end of his life, British morals, manners, and sense of social
responsibility had increased, paving the way for future changes in societal conventions and attitudes during the
Victorian era.
Emancipation of enslaved Africans
The hopes of the abolitionists notwithstanding, slavery did not wither with the end of the slave trade in the British
Empire, nor did the living conditions of the enslaved improve. The trade continued, with few countries following suit
by abolishing the trade, and with some British ships disregarding the legislation. Wilberforce worked with the
members of the African Institution to ensure the enforcement of abolition and to promote abolitionist negotiations
with other countries. In particular, the US had abolished the slave trade in 1808, and Wilberforce lobbied the
American government to enforce its own prohibition more strongly.
The same year, Wilberforce moved his family from Clapham to a sizeable mansion with a large garden in
Kensington Gore, closer to the Houses of Parliament. Never strong, and by 1812 in worsening health, Wilberforce
resigned his Yorkshire seat, and became MP for the rotten borough of Bramber in Sussex, a seat with little or no
constituency obligations, thus allowing him more time for his family and the causes that interested him. From 1816
Wilberforce introduced a series of bills which would require the compulsory registration of slaves, together with
details of their country of origin, permitting the illegal importation of foreign slaves to be detected. Later in the same
year he began publicly to denounce slavery itself, though he did not demand immediate emancipation, as "They had
always thought the slaves incapable of liberty at present, but hoped that by degrees a change might take place as the
natural result of the abolition."
In 1820, after a period of poor health, and with his eyesight failing, Wilberforce took the decision to further limit his
public activities, although he became embroiled in unsuccessful mediation attempts between King George IV, and
his estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick, who had sought her rights as queen. Nevertheless, Wilberforce still hoped
"to lay a foundation for some future measures for the emancipation of the poor slaves", which he believed should
come about gradually in stages. Aware that the cause would need younger men to continue the work, in 1821 he
asked fellow MP Thomas Fowell Buxton to take over leadership of the campaign in the Commons. As the 1820s
wore on, Wilberforce increasingly became a figurehead for the abolitionist movement, although he continued to
appear at anti-slavery meetings, welcoming visitors, and maintaining a busy correspondence on the subject.
The year 1823 saw the founding of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later the
Anti-Slavery Society), and the publication of Wilberforce's 56-page Appeal to the Religion, Justice and Humanity of
the Inhabitants of the British Empire in Behalf of the Negro Slaves in the West Indies. In his treatise, Wilberforce
urged that total emancipation was morally and ethically required, and that slavery was a national crime that must be
ended by parliamentary legislation to gradually abolish slavery. Members of Parliament did not quickly agree, and
government opposition in March 1823 stymied Wilberforce's call for abolition. On 15 May 1823, Buxton moved
another resolution in Parliament for gradual emancipation. Subsequent debates followed on 16 March and 11 June
1824 in which Wilberforce made his last speeches in the Commons, and which again saw the emancipationists
William Wilberforce
147
outmanoeuvred by the government.
Last years
Wilberforce's health was continuing to fail, and he suffered further illnesses in 1824 and 1825. With his family
concerned that his life was endangered, he declined a peerage
[2]
and resigned his seat in Parliament, leaving the
campaign in the hands of others. Thomas Clarkson continued to travel, visiting anti-slavery groups throughout
Britain, motivating activists and acting as an ambassador for the anti-slavery cause to other countries, while Buxton
pursued the cause of reform in Parliament. Public meetings and petitions demanding emancipation continued, with
an increasing number supporting immediate abolition rather than the gradual approach favoured by Wilberforce,
Clarkson and their colleagues.
Wilberforce was buried in Westminster Abbey
next to Pitt. This memorial statue, by Samuel
Joseph (1791-1850), was erected in 1840 in the
north choir aisle.
In 1826, Wilberforce moved from his large house in Kensington Gore
to Highwood Hill, a more modest property in the countryside of Mill
Hill, north of London, where he was soon joined by his son William
and family. William had attempted a series of educational and career
paths, and a venture into farming in 1830 led to huge losses, which his
father repaid in full, despite offers from others to assist. This left
Wilberforce with little income, and he was obliged to let his home and
spend the rest of his life visiting family members and friends. He
continued his support for the anti-slavery cause, including attending
and chairing meetings of the Anti-Slavery Society.
Wilberforce approved of the 1830 election victory of the more
progressive Whigs, though he was concerned about the implications of
their Reform Bill which proposed the redistribution of parliamentary
seats towards newer towns and cities and an extension of the
franchise. In the event, the Reform Act 1832 was to bring more
abolitionist MPs into Parliament as a result of intense and increasing
public agitation against slavery. In addition, the 1832 slave revolt in
Jamaica convinced government ministers that abolition was essential
to avoid further rebellion. In 1833, Wilberforce's health declined
further and he suffered a severe attack of influenza from which he
never fully recovered. He made a final anti-slavery speech in April
1833 at a public meeting in Maidstone, Kent. The following month,
the Whig government introduced the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery,
formally saluting Wilberforce in the process. On 26 July 1833,
Wilberforce heard of government concessions that guaranteed the
passing of the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery. The following day he
grew much weaker, and he died early on the morning of 29 July at his
cousin's house in Cadogan Place, London.
One month later, the House of Lords passed the Slavery Abolition Act, which abolished slavery in most of the
British Empire from August 1834.
[3]
They voted plantation owners 20million in compensation, giving full
emancipation to children younger than six, and instituting a system of apprenticeship requiring other enslaved
peoples to work for their former masters for four to six years in the British West Indies, South Africa, Mauritius,
British Honduras and Canada. Nearly 800,000 African slaves were freed, the vast majority in the Caribbean.
William Wilberforce
148
Funeral
Wilberforce had requested that he was to be buried with his sister and daughter at Stoke Newington, just north of
London. However, the leading members of both Houses of Parliament urged that he be honoured with a burial in
Westminster Abbey. The family agreed and, on 3August 1833, Wilberforce was buried in the north transept, close to
his friend William Pitt. The funeral was attended by many Members of Parliament, as well as by members of the
public. The pallbearers included the Duke of Gloucester, the Lord Chancellor Henry Brougham and the Speaker of
the House of Commons Charles Manners-Sutton. While tributes were paid and Wilberforce was laid to rest, both
Houses of Parliament suspended their business as a mark of respect.
[4]
Legacy
The Wilberforce Monument in the
grounds of Hull College, Hull, erected in
1834.
Five years after his death, sons Robert and Samuel Wilberforce published a
five-volume biography about their father, and subsequently a collection of his
letters in 1840. The biography was controversial in that the authors
emphasised Wilberforce's role in the abolition movement and played down the
important work of Thomas Clarkson. Incensed, Clarkson came out of
retirement to write a book refuting their version of events, and the sons
eventually made a half-hearted private apology to him and removed the
offending passages in a revision of their biography. However, for more than a
century, Wilberforce's role in the campaign dominated the history books.
Later historians have noted the warm and highly productive relationship
between Clarkson and Wilberforce, and have termed it one of history's great
partnerships: without both the parliamentary leadership supplied by
Wilberforce and the research and public mobilisation organised by Clarkson,
abolition could not have been achieved.
As his sons had desired and planned, Wilberforce has long been viewed as a
Christian hero, a statesman-saint held up as a role model for putting his faith
into action. More broadly, he has also been described as a humanitarian
reformer who contributed significantly to reshaping the political and social
attitudes of the time by promoting concepts of social responsibility and action.
In the 1940s, the role of Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect in abolition was
downplayed by historian Eric Williams, who argued that abolition was
motivated not by humanitarianism but by economics, as the West Indian sugar
industry was in decline. Williams' approach strongly influenced historians for
much of the latter part of the 20th century. However, more recent historians
have noted that the sugar industry was still making large profits at the time of
abolition, and this has led to a renewed interest in Wilberforce and the
Evangelicals, as well as a recognition of the anti-slavery movement as a prototype for subsequent humanitarian
campaigns.
William Wilberforce
149
Memorials
Wilberforce's life and work have been commemorated in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In Westminster Abbey,
a seated statue of Wilberforce by Samuel Joseph was erected in 1840, bearing an epitaph praising his Christian
character and his long labour to abolish the slave trade and slavery itself.
In Wilberforce's home town of Hull, a public subscription in 1834 funded the Wilberforce Monument, a 31-metre
(102ft) Greek Doric column topped by a statue of Wilberforce, which now stands in the grounds of Hull College
near Queen's Gardens. Wilberforce's birthplace was acquired by the city corporation in 1903 and, following
renovation, Wilberforce House in Hull was opened as Britain's first slavery museum. Wilberforce Memorial School
for the Blind in York was established in 1833 in his honour, and in 2006 the University of Hull established the
Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation in a building adjoining Wilberforce's birthplace.
Since September 2007 an annual arts and music festival known as Freedom Festival has been held in Hull city centre
in honour of Wilberforce and the city's link to the abolition of the slave trade.
[5]
Various churches within the Anglican Communion commemorate Wilberforce in their liturgical calendars, and
Wilberforce University in Ohio, United States, founded in 1856, is named after him. The university was the first
owned by African-American people, and is a historically black college. In Ontario, Canada, Wilberforce Colony was
founded by black reformers, and inhabited by free slaves from the United States.
Amazing Grace, a film about Wilberforce and the struggle against the slave trade, directed by Michael Apted and
starring Ioan Gruffudd was released in 2007 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Parliament's anti-slave trade
legislation.
Notes
[1] [1] Lead, cotton, tools and cutlery were among the more frequent exports from Hull to the Baltic countries; with timber, iron ore, yarns, hemp,
wine and manufactured goods being imported to Britain on the return journey.
[2] According to George W. E. Russell, on the grounds that it would exclude his sons from intimacy with private gentlemen, clergymen and
mercantile families, (1899), Collections & Recollections, revised edition, Elder Smith & Co, London, p. 77.
[3] The legislation specifically excluded the territories of the Honourable East India Company which were not then under direct Crown control.
[4] Hague, William. Wilberforce Address, Conservative Christian Fellowship (November 1998)
[5] http:/ / www. freedomfestival. co. uk/ history-of-freedom/
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William Wilberforce
151
External links
William Wilberforce The Great Debate (https:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=YbPyKgC5WnE) on YouTube
200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the British and U.S. Slave Trade (http:/ / www. wilberforcecentral. org/
wfc/ index. htm)
BBC historic figures: William Wilberforce (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ historic_figures/
wilberforce_william. shtml)
BBC Humber articles on Wilberforce and abolition (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ humber/ abolition/ index. shtml)
Works by William Wilberforce (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ author/ William+ Wilberforce) at Project
Gutenberg
Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (http:/ / www. hull. ac. uk/ wise)
Parliament of Great Britain
Precededby
David Hartley
Member of Parliament for Kingston upon
Hull
17801784
Succeededby
Walter Spencer Stanhope
Precededby
Francis Ferrand Foljambe
Member of Parliament for Yorkshire
17841801
(Parliament abolished)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Precededby
(Parliament created)
Member of Parliament for Yorkshire
18011812
Succeededby
The Hon. Henry Lascelles
Precededby
Henry Jodrell
Member of Parliament for Bramber
18121825
Succeededby
Arthur Gough-Calthorpe
Article Sources and Contributors
152
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
156
File:Slave Auction Ad.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Slave_Auction_Ad.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Magog the Ogre, 3 anonymous edits
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM IJzeren voetring voor gevangenen TMnr 3912-475.jpg Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_IJzeren_voetring_voor_gevangenen_TMnr_3912-475.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Ji-Elle,
M.casanova
File:Kongo audience.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kongo_audience.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: 4shizzal, Magog the Ogre
File:Annibale Carracci, attrib., Portrait of an African Slave Woman, ca. 1580s. Oil on canvas, 60 x 39 x 2 cm (fragment of a larger painting.jpg Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Annibale_Carracci,_attrib.,_Portrait_of_an_African_Slave_Woman,_ca._1580s._Oil_on_canvas,_60_x_39_x_2_cm_(fragment_of_a_larger_painting.jpg
License: Public Domain Contributors: attributrd to Annibale Carracci
File:The Slave Trade by Auguste Francois Biard.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_Slave_Trade_by_Auguste_Francois_Biard.jpg License: Public Domain
Contributors: Bapti, Infrogmation, 1 anonymous edits
File:BLAKE10.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:BLAKE10.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) and either William
Hackwood or Henry Webber; "Josiah Wedgewood...produced the emblem as a jasper-ware cameo at his pottery factory. Although the artist who designed and engraved the seal is unknown, the
design for the cameo is attributed to William Hackwood or to Henry Webber, who were both modelers at the Wedgewood factory." (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h67.html PBS])
File:Marchands d'esclaves de Gore-Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur mg 8526.jpg Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Marchands_d'esclaves_de_Gore-Jacques_Grasset_de_Saint-Sauveur_mg_8526.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Rama
File:The inspection and sale of a slave.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_inspection_and_sale_of_a_slave.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Brantz
Mayer
File:Africa slave Regions.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Africa_slave_Regions.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors:
Africa_map_no_countries.svg: *Africa_map_blank.svg: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) derivative work: User:Zscout370 (Return fire) derivative work: Grin20 (talk)
File:Gezo (2).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gezo_(2).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Forbes, Frederick E.
File:Slave ship diagram.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Slave_ship_diagram.png License: unknown Contributors: Bongoman, BoringHistoryGuy, Dittaeva,
G.dallorto, Ibn Battuta, JMCC1, Korrigan, Mdd, Paroxysm, Quibik, Rd232, Stunteltje, Trelio, 3 anonymous edits
File:Thomas-Clarkson-De-kreet-der-Afrikanen MG 1315.tif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thomas-Clarkson-De-kreet-der-Afrikanen_MG_1315.tif License: Public
Domain Contributors: Finavon, Hansmuller
File:A Liverpool Slave Ship by William Jackson.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:A_Liverpool_Slave_Ship_by_William_Jackson.jpg License: Public Domain
Contributors: MarmadukePercy, Tangopaso
File:Punishing negroes at Calabouco.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Punishing_negroes_at_Calabouco.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: FastilyClone,
Jahoe, Peripitus, Quissam, Wmpearl, 1 anonymous edits
File:Slaves resting by Rugendas 01.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Slaves_resting_by_Rugendas_01.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Lecen
File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 3581-33h Ingekleurde litho voorstellende de oo.jpg Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tropenmuseum_Royal_Tropical_Institute_Objectnumber_3581-33h_Ingekleurde_litho_voorstellende_de_oo.jpg License: unknown Contributors:
-
File:1670 virginia tobacco slaves.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1670_virginia_tobacco_slaves.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: MarmadukePercy,
Morgan Riley, Tangopaso, 1 anonymous edits
File:Different cowries.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Different_cowries.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors:
Bricktop
File:Agostino Brunias - A Linen Market with a Linen-stall and Vegetable Seller in the West Indies - Google Art Project.jpg Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Agostino_Brunias_-_A_Linen_Market_with_a_Linen-stall_and_Vegetable_Seller_in_the_West_Indies_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg License:
unknown Contributors: Ixtzib, Laura1822, Michael Barera
File:Agostino Brunias - West Indian Creole woman, with her Black Servant - Google Art Project.jpg Source:
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