25th March 1807 was a truly momentous day in human history, for on it Parliament received the Royal Assent to the bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It had been a long and difficult struggle for the bill’s supporters, and it would be another 26 years before those who were already slaves would receive their freedom, but at least now the terrible trade itself was finally at an end.
What made this a particularly special day was that Parliament had finally recognised the need to listen to the demands of morality and justice, even when it meant abandoning a system that underpinned the very foundations of the British economy.
The British involvement in the Slave Trade was long established., the first recorded voyage being Sir John Hawkins’s shipment of slaves to the Spanish West Indies in 1562. It was a very profitable venture and other nations soon joined in, but none was quite so successful as Britain, and by the end of the 18th century, Britain had become the largest and most accomplished slaving nation in the world.
The ‘triangular trade’, as it was called, meant that manufactured goods were shipped to Africa where they were exchanged for slaves. These were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas to be sold in return for sugar, rum, cotton and coffee. After these had been carried back to Britain, the whole business started again. The ships were never empty, and every leg of the journey made money. There’s no doubt that the commerce in slaves was highly profitable, and it affected more than just those immediately involved in it. Banks were founded and grew rich from the profits made through the Slave Trade, and it also contributed to the development of Britain as the world’s first industrial power.
As well as needing workers for the 120 sugar refineries in England, there was a huge expansion in manufacturing. Slave labour in America fuelled the unprecedented growth of the cotton industry in Lancashire, while commodities such as beads, pots and kettles, guns and other metal goods were needed to exchange for human beings in Africa. Birmingham in particular boomed, making machinery to process sugar on the plantations, and cutlasses to cut the cane, but it also fed on the demand for trade goods, including fetters, chains, padlocks, and guns. 150,000 weapons were produced each year for trade with West African rulers, and there was actually a factory making gun barrels for the Slave Trade here in Sutton Coldfield. Altogether it was a mercenary business, and indeed Birmingham became famous for cheap, very low quality goods, known derisively as Brummagem ware, made especially for the African market.
There were cultural changes too from the economic effects of the Slave Trade. Cities such as Bristol and Liverpool expanded and grew wealthy on the profits that were amassed, and money was poured into new buildings, houses, schools, museums and art galleries, including the National Gallery in London. Another very basic change for ordinary people was that sugar itself, which had once been a rare and expensive luxury, now became and everyday part of the British diet.
We are still benefiting today from the economic and social effects of the Slave Trade, but they came at a terrible price.
Slavery was nothing new, from the earliest times we have records of men and women being kept as slaves, and there are numerous references to slavery in the Bible, but the transatlantic slave trade was something different. Never before had slavery been established on such an institutionalised basis or carried out with such a callous and almost total disregard for human dignity.
Men, women and children were captured by warlords in Africa and marched down to the coast. There they were sold to slave traders who loaded them into ships, cramming as many as possible into the dark holds, and chaining them so that movement was almost impossible. Conditions were appalling: food was meagre, water polluted and sanitary arrangements almost non-existent. Diseases like dysentery were rife and many slaves simply gave up the will to live. Women were sometimes kept separately with the children, but they were always at the mercy of sailors who could rape them with impunity.
When they arrived in America or the West Indies, the slaves were cleaned up ready for sale then taken to the slave auction. There they would be examined as if they were horses or cattle, and sold to the highest bidder. The fear and the anguish they must have felt is almost unimaginable, especially when husbands and wives were split up, and children torn from their parents’ arms.
Once on the plantation they would be allocated duties according to their age and strength, but all work was hard, much was dangerous, and discipline was rigorously enforced. For any kind of rebellion slaves could be branded, chained, or forced to wear spiked collars that prevented them lying down. They could be beaten, sometimes to death, or mutilated by having hands or feet cut off. Even killing a slave, though technically murder, would be excused, because a slave was not a person, but a piece of property.
And this is the core of the evil that lay at the heart of the Slave Trade: the idea that any human being could be regarded just as a thing, a commodity, without value, dignity or basic rights. It was part of a general feeling that the white European nations were superior to any others, and that at best Africans were backward savages, and at worst, they were less than human. It was an attitude that has left a legacy in the racism which is sadly, still to be found in parts of our society today.
But it was very wide-spread, and it affected all kinds of people. Though many of the reformers who fought for the abolition of the Slave Trade were Christians, not all shared their convictions. It has to be a source of shame to us as Anglicans, that the Church of England once owned a number of plantations which were worked by slave labour; and that in 1834 the bishops in Parliament actually voted against the abolition of slavery.
And for those who supported slavery, the Bible could be used as propaganda. A text in Genesis suggests that Noah’s son Ham was cursed for misdoing, and his children – who were the ancestors of the African races – condemned to slavery by God. Many other references, especially in the Epistles were also used to prove that slavery was compatible with Christianity.
Contradictory texts, such as the story of the Exodus, where the Children of Israel were led out of bondage in Egypt, or the limitations on slavery laid down in other parts of the Old Testament, were ignored, and it was forbidden to allow slaves access to such subversive material.
But these were the very parts of the Bible that inspired those who were against the slave trade. From very early on, the Quakers believed that slavery was sinful and they used the Bible as a weapon against the trade. They sincerely believed the teachings of Jesus, that all men and women are equal in God’s sight, and they organised their lives and work according to this belief. Two of the most famous and effective abolitionists were William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, both of whom devoted their lives to changing the attitudes of the wider population.
William Wilberforce, a committed Christian, was elected as an MP at just 21 years of age. He was a powerful speaker, and was soon persuaded to spearhead the abolitionist cause in Parliament. He was part of the group of evangelical Christians, men and women, who fought tirelessly for justice and freedom, and he gave his life to this work. Feelings ran very high, and Wilberforce endured attacks from the press, was physically assaulted and even received death threats, but nothing would stop him. Twenty times he presented his bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, before it was finally passed in 1807. Wilberforce is remembered particularly for his courage, his persistence and his passion.
Thomas Clarkson was a curate’s son from Wisbech in Cambridegeshire. While at University, he began to research into the Slave Trade and what he learnt changed his life. He met other abolitionists, including Wilberforce, and became convinced that once the British public was informed of the true horrors of the slave trade, their anger could put pressure on Parliament. To this end he collected detailed information about the actual conditions endured by slaves, and published them in books, pamphlets and on posters. One of his most famous diagrams shows the inside of a slave ship, every inch of space being filled by a human body. It’s a very shocking and powerful image. Clarkson also organized mass-meetings and petitions; helped inspire hundreds of small groups to work against the slave trade, and encouraged the boycotting of sugar and products that had been produced using slave labour. Like Wilberforce he faced great hostility, but he never faltered, and fought on until the whole system of slavery had been abolished throughout the British territories.
Wilberforce, Clarkson, and others like them were brave and dedicated pioneers in the cause of racial justice, but it would be wrong to think that they were the only ones involved in the struggle. The Africans themselves fought hard for their own emancipation, and increasing resistance on the plantations helped to make the system less easy for the owners to control. One of the most influential Africans was Olaudah Equiano, an intelligent and astute man who was enslaved as a child, but managed to acquire an education, earn enough money to buy his own freedom, and then devote himself to the abolitionist cause. Settled in England he married a white woman, and in 1789 published an auto-biography that took England by storm and sold 50,000 copies in the first two months. It’s still in print today.
The example of men like Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Equiano, along with the countless other men and women who campaigned so tirelessly and for so long, stands as an inspiration to us all, but it is also a challenge, for though today we can give our heartfelt thanks that the transatlantic slave trade no longer exists, we cannot afford to be complacent. It left behind it an ongoing legacy of racism and of mistrust between people of different colours, and that is something all men and women of good will must continue to resist. We also have to remember that slavery still exists in many parts of our troubled world, so the fight goes on. We must not ignore it.
A philosopher once said: ‘ For evil to exist it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.’ The African Slave Trade flourished for so long, not only because of the active involvement of its organisers, but also because ordinary men and women closed their eyes to what was happening. There are so many forms of slavery and oppression still existing today, and it is vitally important that we join the struggle against these evils. As Christians, we have a charge: to do justly; to love mercy; and to walk humbly for all are made in the image of God. We might have no control over what happened in the past but we can control how we respond to cruelty and injustice today.
I want to finish with some words of Thomas Clarkson. Not long before the end of his life he called for everyone to: “Take courage, be not dismayed, go on, persevere to the last, ahead lies the elimination of slavery from the whole world”. May we too heed his message and answer his call, so that Christ’s Kingdom of peace and justice may come a little nearer in this generation.
Carol Hoare