Suchergebnisse

This work by the anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp (1735–1813) brings together legal and historical documents, as well as the author's own legal arguments, demonstrating that slavery was illegal and therefore could not be upheld in England. Furthering his own intellectual development while working for a linen draper, Sharp later became a government clerk and pursued a writing career. His awakening to the horrors of the slave trade resulted from a chance encounter with an injured slave seeking help from his physician brother. Carrying out the necessary legal research, Sharp published this book in 1769 to demonstrate that slavery has no basis in English law. In 1772, the landmark case of James Somerset was brought before Lord Mansfield, who upheld Sharp's contention: as a result, it was henceforth understood that any slave reaching the shores of England became free. Sharp's memoirs of his life are also reissued in this series

20 p. ; 22 cm. (8vo) ; Dedicated to Thomas Jefferson. ; The 1792 impression recorded by Evans (entry 24152) is a ghost of the present edition.

Sugar cane plantations had operated across almost every island in the West Indies since the seventeenth century. Run by British planters, they relied on slavery as their main source of labour. A surgeon and Anglican minister, James Ramsay (1733–89) witnessed at first hand the exploitation of African slaves in Britain's West Indian colonies. Working there for over twenty years, as both a Christian missionary and a practising surgeon, he became keenly involved in the campaign to improve the welfare of slaves. This extended essay, first published in 1784, was an early and highly influential contribution to the anti-slavery movement, generating both enlightened acclaim and deep opposition. Analysing the relationships between slaves and their masters, discussing the role of slaves in society, and proposing various measures to improve their lives, this work remains a relevant text in Caribbean and colonial history

Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846) was a leading campaigner against slavery and the African slave trade. After graduating from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1783, Clarkson with Granville Sharp (1735–1813) founded the Committee for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade in 1787, which increased popular support for abolition and was the main campaigner behind the abolition of the slave trade. These volumes, first published in 1808, contain a unique contemporary account of the abolition movement from one of its major leaders. Clarkson describes in great detail the Quaker background to the abolitionist movement and the parliamentary debates leading to the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The contemporary arguments both in support and in opposition to abolition and the researches and actions of the abolition movement's members are described, creating an important historical record of the movement. Volume 2 describes the campaign from June 1788 until March 1808

[4], 22, [2] p. ; By Richard Ames. ; The same sheets as "The character of a bigotted prince" with different title page. ; The "bigotted prince" is James II. ; With a half-title. ; With a final advertisement leaf. ; Reproduction of the original in the British Library.

William Wilberforce (1759–1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed: shortly beforehand, Wilberforce had published this Letter to his constituents, justifying his preoccupation with abolition against claims that he was neglecting their local interests at Westminster, and setting out all his arguments against the slave trade. It is followed by his 1814 letter to Talleyrand, calling for a Europe-wide ban of the trade