COURSE:

Criticism of Public Discourse 26000

INSTRUCTOR:

Professor Lisa Waite

ASSIGNMENT TITLE:

William Wilberforces Abolition Speech

ASSIGNMENT PROJECT DESCRIPTION: We were tasked to do an in-depth analysis of

any form of rhetoric that was discoursed during the American Civil War or was in reference to
American civil rights.
REFLECTIONS: This assignment required me to look beyond the basic functions of a public
speech and identify the intrinsic and extrinsic elements of a classic piece of rhetoric. I chose to
do my criticism of William Wilberforces speech about abolition because of its historical
significance.

Running head: ABOLITION

A Reflective Criticism of William Wilberforces

Abolition Speech to the British Parliament, Delivered in 1789
Justin Robert Speight
Kent State University at Stark
19 February 2013

ABOLITION

Abraham Lincoln is often given credit as being the brave and fearless leader who
abolished slavery. The average American would attest to that statement, not truly knowing where
the fight to end slavery and the slave trade began. William Wilberforce should be given credit for
being the first politician to wholeheartedly fight a ferocious battle to end the slave trade
throughout the entire British Empire, eventually making its way across the Atlantic to the
United States.
During the years that Wilberforce fought his battle, the British Empire had expanded
throughout the West Indies where plantations were active with the agricultural production of
sugar. The sugar cane crop was difficult to raise and harvest; therefore, plantation owners were
purchasing slaves from Africa in great numbers to work on the plantations. William Wilberforce
was not as concerned with the actual institution of slavery as he was with the industry of the
slave trade.
Slave trading in the 18th century was a profitable and lucrative form of commerce. The
slave traders in Africa, the ship owners in England, and the plantation owners throughout the
British Empire all profited from the practices of slave trading. The slave traders gained profit
from the large numbers of slaves that they sold; the ship owners profited from the number of
slaves that were transported like cargo; and the planation owners reaped the financial benefits
from the labor produced on the plantations. All of the predominant players in the slave trade
were vested in the financial rewards that resulted from the practice of trading slaves; therefore,
William Wilberforce had faced a difficult battle to abolish the slave trade.
The parliament in Great Britain was faced with the decision to abolish slavery in the
years surrounding 1789. William Wilberforce was a member of parliament and gave his speech
about abolition as an attempt to persuade his political counterparts to outlaw the practices

ABOLITION

involved with trading slaves. At that particular time in history, the historian, John Stoughton
(1923), best described the slave trade when he wrote of Wilberforces reasoning behind his
rhetoric in parliament.
Englishmen within the last twenty years of the seventeenth century transported 300,000
unhappy beings from their native shores to the Western plantations; and between 1700
and 1786 carried in slave-ships no less than 610,000 of the same class to the island of
Jamaica; then, towards the close of the eighteenth century other Englishmen rose up
indignant at the inhumane traffic and proceeded to take measures for putting a stop to this
flagrant iniquity. (p. 65)
A tragic amount of the members of parliament did not have the same attitude as Wilberforce,
regardless of the facts. It took a crafty form of heartfelt oratory to convert the members of
parliament to see the travesties of slavery from the perspective that William Wilberforce was
rendering.
When Wilberforce addressed parliament, he utilized several intrinsic factors that assisted
in the delivery of his message. The first notable example is the way that Wilberforce opened his
argument to his audience on that day in 1789. He began by doing the opposite of demonstrating
his creditability and he exemplified the enormity of the subject he was addressing. Wilberforce
went on to explain his apprehensions about taking on a task as noble as ending the salve trade
throughout the entire British Empire. By undermining his abilities, he created an impression that
his commission was not a choice, but a necessity.
Near the end of Wilberforces speech, he reversed his ethos and gave himself the
credibility that he deserved. He mentioned that he investigated the slave-ships and inspected the
conditions that the slaves were being transported. Through his two methods of displaying his

ABOLITION

character, William Wilberforce portrayed himself before parliament as sensible and qualified
expert of the matter.
Throughout his rhetoric, Wilberforce reached in the pathos of the parliament members by
saying, Let any one imagine to himself 6 or 700 of these wretches chained two and two,
surrounded with every object that is nauseous and disgusting, diseased, and struggling under
every kind of wretchedness (1789). This strategy provided the audience with a visual
description of the conditions on the slave-ships that Wilberforce was attempting to describe.
Another tactic that Wilberforce used to persuade his audience was the continued use of
graphic descriptive terms to portray the conditions of the slave-ships. Terms such as wretched,
misery, evil, and dreadful were used by Wilberforce (1789) to describe the conditions
aboard the slave-ships. These vivid descriptions were creatively used by Wilberforce to assist in
the paining of a mental picture for his audience in parliament. Had Wilberforce used a less
abrasive form of describing the conditions, the intended listeners may not have paid the
appropriate attention required of the subject.
The rhetorical problem that William Wilberforce faced was demonstrated by an exigence
for a campaign to end slavery and the slave trade throughout the British Empire. While society
accepted the false realities of what slavery actually was, Wilberforce was among few leaders in
power that were privy to the cruelties of the trade. He was challenged by his peers and his
constituents, yet Wilberforce was consistent in his views and managed to change the minds of his
fellow policy makers in London. Although the slavery was not completely outlawed throughout
the British Empire, William Wilberforce was successful in ending the slave trade. His rhetorical
act had influenced not just the members of parliament in 1789, but eventually the rest of the
world would see the problem as William Wilberforce once did.

ABOLITION

5
References

Stoughton, J. (1923). William Wilberforce. New York, NY: A. C. Armstrong & Son.
Wilberforce, W. (1789) Abolition Speech. Speech presented to British Parliament, London,
England.