amazing grace book review amw
TRANSCRIPT
Book Review: Amazing Grace, by Eric Metaxas
American Public University
Amy M. White
“Africa! Africa! Your sufferings have been the theme that has arrested and engages my heart—your sufferings no tongue can express; no language impart.” William Wilberforce
Amy M. White
WHITE 1
Book Review: Amazing Grace
The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries marks a “major watershed in British
political, economic, and intellectual history,” which allowed William Wilberforce to rise to the
ranks of greatness and profess himself as a humble servant of God and country through faith and
service.1 In this period there were actual horrors in the world and the religion that once defined
the Church of England had become antiquated, nothing more than an expression, and the values
of the nation fell to such heinous acts as to mark the century as a “vulgar” and corrupt period.
Though just then as the Church of England was faltering, other religious movements or revivals
began to reach out to ordinary people like never before in an era we know today as the Great
Awakening. Armed with the new ideas of the Great Awakening in his heart and through his
moral courage and Christian principles Wilberforce would reawaken a nation to the
responsibility of humanity and justice.2
William Wilberforce was born to an affluent merchant family in the city of Hull, a port
town on the west coast of Great Britain, known for its “worldly amusements” on August 24th,
1759. Wilberforce was one of four children and the only son born to his parents. 1768 was a
challenging year for the Wilberforce family; William was just eight years old, his oldest sister
died, and shortly thereafter his mother gave birth to his youngest sister, and then just months
later his Father passed away. These deaths must have weighed profoundly on William’s mother,
as she soon became ill with an acute fever, prompting the family to send William to live with his
Uncle William and Aunt Hannah Thornton in Wimbledon, over two hundred miles away. This
was the most critical period of Wilberforce’s childhood. His Aunt and Uncle were rich with no
1 Smith, Ralph A. Austen and Woodruff D, "Images of Africa and British Slave-Trade Abolition: The Transistion to
an Imperialist Ideology, 1787-1807," African Historical Studies, 2, no. 1(1969): 69-83.
2 Metaxas, Eric, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, New York: Harper
San Francisico, 2007, 5.
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children of their own and they quite naturally fell in love with the young William Wilberforce, a
very tender loving, but always a thoughtful boy.
Now it was here in the company of his Aunt and Uncle that Wilberforce was first
exposed to a new world apart from the worldly society he had known in Hull into “the epicenter
of a spiritual renaissance in England.”3 This was a far cry from Hull, where “spirituality” was
more of a status than actual practice, and for Wilberforce this was a dangerous time of change
and a period that would forever enlighten the young boy’s spiritual being within. The Thornton’s
were “close friends” with George Whitefield “the principal human force behind” the Great
Awakening. The Great Awakening was a movement that brought people to a more intimate
relationship with God as it was preached by the Wesley brothers, who taught the importance of a
closer relationship with God obtained through “good works” and building a personal relationship
with God, the movement of the Wesley’s called themselves Methodists.4
Throughout Britain in the eighteenth century the religion ordained through the Church of
England “was now in [a] full-scale retreat.” 5 Through the preaching of the Wesley’s, and more
notably in Wimbledon, George Whitefield, the teachings of the Methodist taught that the core of
Christian salvation (according to scripture) was not in “becoming perfect and holy,” but rather
the key was salvation.6 John Wesley’s preaching “appealed to people’s hearts and minds.” The
Methodist clergy went outside of the church to preach to all persons encouraging each other in
their faith and the task to live their life in the hope of improving the lives of others. The Wesley’s
preached that all people had the opportunity for salvation, and “no-one [was] beyond the reach of
3 Ibid, 6.
4 Halliday, F.E, England: A Concise History, London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1995. 158.
5 Metaxas, 7.
6 Ibid, 8.
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God’s love” and redemption. Methodists lived their lives with the hope of obtaining eternity
through good works, including remedying social injustices like slavery.7
The exposure of young Wilberforce to such contacts within the Methodist church inspired
and aroused this intellectual young boy’s heart as he began to embrace Methodist principles. The
Thorntons were also close friends with another key figure, the minister John Newton, a former
slave ship captain that repented and turned back to God, he would become a kind of mentor to
Wilberforce then and later in Wilberforce’s political career.8 It was of course through John
Newton that the young Wilberforce was first exposed to the “evils of the slave trade” during
those most critical years of Wilberforce’s life. While living with the Thorntons or on holiday
from school Wilberforce would often visit Newton and the pair soon “became very close” friends
and developed “a strong bond.”9
Sadly Wilberforce’s mother and grandfather discovered that they had, in fact, sent him to
live in a “glowing hot bed of Methodism,” which was quite frankly “shocking” to the quite
fashionable family of Hull. Wilberforce was thus quickly removed from the home of his Uncle
and Aunt, which caused young Wilberforce distress about which he later noted, “It almost broke
my heart, I was so much attached to them.” Upon his return to Hull, his Mother was quite
determined to squash the dreadful Methodist right out of her young son, going so far as to
prohibit William from attending any church services. Despite the ban from church Wilberforce
tried his hardest to maintain his faith through personal devotion for a time. But as William grew
up in the social atmosphere of Hull his dire attempts to maintain his faith seemed to fall from
7 The Methodist Church in Britain: History, 2011.
http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1612 (accessed Apr 11,
2011).
8 Metaxas, 6-7.
9 Ibid, 10.
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importance, and by the time he left for his studies at Cambridge in October of 1776 he was more
the boy his “mother and grandfather had always hoped” for.10
Cambridge offered the still impressionable Wilberforce a new outlet of activities and
friends. In his first year, Wilberforce met William Pitt (later known as William Pitt the Younger),
and the two began a lifelong friendship. Despite Cambridge Universities historical business of
training future clergy, for Wilberforce the school brought a secular style of life to which he
jumped into with both feet. The young Wilberforce was in these days becoming a brilliant
example of a fine British man of society, earning him a reputation for his generosity and
“supreme gift for hospitality;” even more so after his wealthy inheritance from both his
grandfather and Uncle Thornton, making Wilberforce a wealthy man by his own right on his
eighteenth birthday. For all of Wilberforce’s great qualities, the young man developed into a
socially attractive friend, and in doing so he “speedily became the center of attraction”
throughout the college.11
The most significant friend Wilberforce would ever have was William Pitt the Younger.
Pitt was the son of the prodigious Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder, known for his strong
politics and oratory presence in Parliament. In the eyes of Pitt, there was nothing more important
than the politics of England. William Pitt the Younger had grown up watching the power of his
father on the floor of the House of Commons, and indeed even then dreamed of the incredible
impact he would have upon Great Britain. Eric Metaxas describes the inspirational winter of
1779 through 1780 when Pitt and Wilberforce would often be found in the gallery of the House
10 Ibid, 11-13.
11 Metaxas, 19.
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of Commons just “watch[ing] the debates” unfold.12 Metaxas states that “Pitt was born to be
there” as he had “lived and breathed politics all his life.”13 For Wilberforce these experiences
undoubtedly inspired him and the tales of the real action of the House of Commons from his dear
friend Pitt only made serving as a Member of Parliament even more daring and exciting than the
prospect of returning to Hull and the family business.
It was now that this prospect seemed as a challenge to young Wilberforce, a man of
society and a graduate of Cambridge University. In the weeks following their observations
William Wilberforce made a decision that would define his life, he would, in fact, run for office.
This was an “ambitious idea” and the cost would be substantial, but a “small fortune” the young
Wilberforce had. Wilberforce “spent the entire summer “canvassing” for votes,” and despite all
these efforts the events of August 24, 1780, surely won Wilberforce his ticket to the House of
Commons. It was on this day (his birthday) that the young man would truly turn heads by giving
himself a “coming of age” party in the form of an “old-fashioned ox roast,” to which he invited
the entire town of Hull. The party was a success and the Election Day that followed just two
weeks later brought William Wilberforce a victory and a seat in the Commons!14
William Wilberforce was officially a Member of Parliament from the city of Hull
and his dear friend William Pitt the Younger followed a few months later. Pitt quickly gained
prestige in the House, but Wilberforce seemed to be taking his time to settle into the ranks of the
Parliament by working up the social ladder with his unique wit and charm. Wilberforce was quite
12 Ibid, 20.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid, 23-24.
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“suddenly” socializing with the “celebrities of his day,” these men were the “giants of their era,”
but of course Wilberforce would soon join those ranks.15
Life in the House of Commons for the young representative from the city Hull was dull
as Wilberforce elected to say “little” aside from the business that affect his “district.”
Nevertheless, the wit of Wilberforce came to the forefront in early 1782 as he suddenly released
his “frightening gift of sarcasm and oratory” on Lord North, from the opposition. From this
moment Wilberforce “grew into his own as a parliamentary debater.” Over the next few years,
his dear friend Pitt forced the opposition out and was officially “appointed” to the chair of Prime
Minister of Great Britain on December 18th, 1783. Wilberforce became the new Prime Minister’s
“greatest ally” and the two friends began to build their power through their unmatched power of
speech in the House.16
As Pitt triumphed in Parliament and rose up the ranks, Wilberforce to set his ambitions
on prestige and honor. Wilberforce now “entertained the outrageous idea” to run for one of two
seats of the County Yorkshire, the county to which the city of Hull belonged. This was a
shockingly unprecedented attempt by a young Member of Parliament to attempt as Yorkshire
was “the most powerful” seat in Parliament. The day to win the votes came and it was a typical
day in Yorkshire County, “bitterly cold” as torrential rain lashed at the crowd as the speeches
were made. Finally, it was Wilberforce’s turn to speak. His small, wiry frame perched himself on
top of a table and Wilberforce spoke defiantly with eloquence and “heroic dignity.” Metaxas
describes Wilberforce’s speech as a “performance for the ages.” Wilberforce resonated with the
crowd, and he was thus elected to the seat of representative for the county of Yorkshire in 1784.
15 Ibid, 27.
16 Ibid, 30-36.
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Arriving back in London as the newly elected representative of York, Wilberforce was satisfied
with all the glamor of society and pomp that came with his new position. Wilberforce’s new title
had earned Pitt power too and with that the two were set for long and fantastic careers.17
Wilberforce was at the top of his game and as a part of the elite of eighteenth-century
Britain, but the allure of prestige would soon change for the Wilberforce when he would
experience what he called his “Great Change.” That winter Wilberforce, his mother, sister, and
cousin decided to head to the French Rivera for a milder season. Wilberforce had stayed in touch
with his old tutor and friend the academically celebrated theologian Isaac Milner, and now
Wilberforce invited Milner to come along as his traveling companion. The group would take two
carriages, one for the ladies and another in front for the men.18
It was on their return trip that Milner and Wilberforce began reading and discussing
religion. At this point in Wilberforce’s life, he had lived in the world and of the world with the
ideas of the Methodist reform forgotten and buried within. Nevertheless, the theology the two
men began discussing the trip to London deeply touched Wilberforce. Wilberforce’s beliefs and
religious understandings were challenged to a point where the Member of Parliament’s own
diary began to show a “great change” quite abruptly. Wilberforce returned to London as the
Elite Member from Yorkshire, but quite “suddenly” he was “untouched by its charms.”
Wilberforce was still the intellectual giant that had brought him to his present status, but now he
began the transformation into another giant, one of the morals and honesty. Wilberforce saw
everything that he had worked so hard to become something he no longer desired; now all that
17 Ibid, 36- 41.
18 Ibid, 42.
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mattered to him was God. His mindset had changed, and his drive now came to serve not his
country but his God and to do anything, but that would be a waste of his “life and talents.”19
It was at this time that Wilberforce began to search out his life’s purpose, wherever that
might lead him he was willing to take that step of faith. At the same time, Wilberforce composed
a letter to his good friend Pitt, explaining his religious revival and of his intentions to “live now
for God.”20 Pitt cautiously encouraged his friend to remain in Parliament where “God could use
him.”21 However, Wilberforce was tormented by the “time lost” in religious devotion to a point
that he felt he must “play catch-up.” Wilberforce began doing all he could to grow closer to the
Lord, “reading everything,” becoming even more charitable and basing every aspect of his life
on his revived Christian morals.22
Wilberforce willingly turned his life upside down to be a better person and a better
Christian, often going to the extreme to learn a lesson through self-discipline and ridged self-
assessments. The real question came to Wilberforce asking if he could indeed serve to the best of
his abilities as a Member of Parliament and “live now for God” simultaneously.23 For
Wilberforce the answer came, as always, from the love and encouragement of his friends. Pitt
delicately encouraged Wilberforce to use his talents from God for “the good of the nation” and
put his faith and principles and turn these intense feelings into “action.”24
19 Ibid, 49 & 52.
20 Ibid, 59.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid, 64- 65.
23 Ibid, 54.
24 Ibid, 68.
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During this time, fervent Christians became concerned with charity, through education,
labor, and political support encouraged by the clergy, especially the Wesley brothers and the
Methodist movement. As the eighteenth century was a “vulgar” period and slavery was just
another of the various institution that’s horrors went unnoticed by the people of society and
wealth. Nonetheless, the pulpit became communities of great conscious, and the congregations
swelled with spiritual assistance in the name of good works. The issue of slavery had gone, for
the most part, unnoticed.
After all Slavery had been outlawed in England since 1772, and so it is understandable
that to the average British citizen the terrors of slavery and the slave trade went unseen. The
actual deed of slavery did exist, but it was three thousand miles away in the West Indies and off
the coast of West Africa along the Middle Passage, and perhaps this evil was seen as a necessary
act for the welfare of the nation; what we do know is at the close of the eighteenth century
evangelicals were no longer willing to ignore the issue of slavery or its injustices.25 However, as
it was in England, religion had taken a dormant attitude, turning priest and congregations into
“lukewarm” examples of the Christian faith under the leadership of the Church of England.26 To
be a religious zealot like Wilberforce after all “simply was not fashionable” and his water was
just beginning to boil. Despite the general ignorance of his fellow countrymen, young
Wilberforce was certainly aware of “the evils of the slave trade.” In his childhood Wilberforce
had been exposed to the terror by his dear friend John Newton; his young eyes had been opened
to the horrors and now as a man the question of slavery came again to the forefront.27
25 Ibid, 69- 70, & 95.
26 Ibid, 70 & 171.
27Ibid, 72.
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Even in Parliament the members were in a sort of disarray of personal wreckage, where
many arose to duty drunk; tainted with the “epidemic” that swept through the classes of the day,
alcoholism.28 It was amongst the carnage that Wilberforce hoped to awaken his fellow
countrymen to the heinous way of life they were inclined to live, and show them the way to a
truly Christian life through example. Wilberforce’s first giant to tackle was the Slave Trade, not
as a political ploy, but an act of faith and “principle.”29
Throughout the eighteenth century, slavery and the abolition had slowly become a
common topic among the British public. As early as Wilberforce’s first year in Parliament he had
developed a “strong” interest in the life of the slaves in the colonies. “In 1774 John Wesley”
became “one of the first to come out publically against the trade.” This was a part of an “acutely
Christian” movement through an entirely moral and principled drive of faith to bring about the
abolition of slavery. After all it is known that the leadership of the English Church was alone
responsible for the heinous realities of the slave trade and slavery itself that had their own
investments within the trade to think about. It was the view of the evangelicals that the Church of
England was indeed hypocritical of their principles to their actions in the permitted conduct of
the trade. The fact remains that the Church of England had indeed become a “pseudo-Christian”
church of the “government sponsored” evils of slavery.30
Economically the status of the Great Britain rested alone in the hands of their mighty
international trade. The slave trade provided Britain’s cash flow for the last two centuries and
thus it was everything to the economy of Great Britain.31 For the Methodists and other
28 Ibid, 73.
29 Ibid, 96.
30 Ibid, 91 & 96-7.
31 James, Lawrence, The Rise & Fall of the British Empire, London : Abacus, 2008, 151.
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evangelicals, like Wilberforce, abolition was at the forefront of evil. To be a good Christian one
must go as Paul did and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to truly be able to accept the
salvation of Jesus Christ, one must first be free to make that most critical decision. These two
acts were greatly intertwined, and it was believed that by abolishing slavery, former slaves would
then truly be able to come to know Christ on their own and obtain eternal salvation. These
feelings and beliefs marked the one true desire of the abolitionist work that spurred William
Wilberforce on in his crusade to bring down the slave trade and ultimately pave the way for its
total abolition in all of the British Empire.
The very idea of slavery became an “offensive” thought to Europe in the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries. This movement towards abolition was fought for the rights of
slaves, but the planters continued to insist that slavery was a human establishment, despite the
evidence. The slave trade’s arrangement comprised of the “triangular trade.” The first point
began in the various ports of Great Britain where the ships were filled with various goods. Then
those ships would take the goods south to the West Coast of Africa and negotiation a trade for
their goods for human cargo. Once their hulls were filled with their newly acquired human cargo,
the ships began the voyage of the Middle Passage; perhaps the most horrific “passage across the
Atlantic.”32 The next leg of the trip took the ships across the Atlantic to numerous ports in the
West Indies where their human cargo was offloaded and traded for goods from the West Indies
and New England (products made by slave labor) and returned to Great Britain.
32 Metaxas, 97.
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It is understood that the Middle Passage was the most grueling journey for these slave
ships. The Slaves were brutally torn from their homes, sold for petty goods, and thrown into the
hulls of the slave ships, which began their voyage across the Atlantic to the West Indies, if they
survived the passage, where their lives would start as property. Each slave was designated a
small space onboard the ship for their trans-Atlantic voyage, these areas consisted of a space no
bigger than one foot at the head, two feet at the ends and a typical depth of just twenty-eight
inches (See Figure 1). Many times the Africans were forced to “lie” in their human waste while the
keel of the ship swelled with vomit, human waste, and blood causing an unbearable atmosphere.
The space was not so much the issue as the quality of air and the length of the trip. The
designated air ports on the ship were often closed during bad weather, causing “excessive heat”
that ultimately “rendered the slave’s situation
intolerable.” These conditions were recorded by
a ship’s surgeon, Alexander Falconbridge, as he
declared that the conditions on board a slave ship
“resembled the conditions of “a slaughter-
house.”’ Due to the horrid conditions “nearly
one-half of [the slaves] died before the ships
arrived in the West Indies.”33
The purpose of the slave trade was, in
fact, to “sell human beings,” but for William
33 Ibid, 99.
Figure 1: Slave Confinement
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Wilberforce each life was a child of God.34 As though these conditions were not heinous enough
nothing more than the supreme abuses of power set the abolitionist on fire more than that of the
incident involving the slave ship the Zong. In 1781, the Zong was sailing west towards the West
Indies under the control of an “inexperienced captain” with a full load of “470 slaves.”35 On this
particular voyage, the captain, Luke Collingwood, made a series of miscalculation and errors in
navigation that ultimately set the typical ten-day trip into a “nightmarish” grueling four-month
journey.36 As the cargo of the Zong remained in their confinements under terrible weather
conditions, they suffered more than usual and, as a result, many became gravely ill. Collingwood
then realized an opportunity of calculation. Collingwood deduced that the monetary value of the
ship would continue to go down as his sick cargo began to die. However, the captain became
conscious of the fact that if the load were “lost at sea” then the insurance providers would cover
their expected value.37 Consequently, the captain explained this monetary crisis to his crew and
orders the men to throw the sickest slaves overboard. Some of the crew resisted, but ultimately
gave in and followed orders tossing “the sick slaves, not the expensive shackles” into the
Atlantic.38 In the end, Collingwood and his men pitched 131 of their “sickest captives into the
endless ocean” all to turn a profit.39 The incident was taken to the courts, but the “deliberate
34 Ibid, 99.
35 Ibid, 103.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid, 104.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid, 106-7.
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drowning of 131 human beings” went with little consequence as the court merely acted “as if
horses had been thrown overboard” and that was it.40
Wilberforce was “painfully conscious” of the years he had “wasted” doing nothing for
the Lord; but with encouragement of his friends Wilberforce was “steadily coming to the
conclusion that abolition was indeed that single cause to which God was calling him.” The day
was May 12, 1787 during a visit to Prime Minister Pitt’s estate at Holwood with another good
friend William Glenville, under an old tree that William Wilberforce truly decided to take on the
task of the abolition of the slave trade. From there Wilberforce began working with other
abolitionist societies and fellow Members of Parliament, compiling information to present to the
House of Commons calling for the abolition of the slave trade. For Wilberforce and his
colleagues tactics were everything. In order to bring about abolition it was understood that they
must first bring the concept to the Commons with information that the opposition might
genuinely care about, and they decided that they must first make an effort to educate Parliament
on the terrors of the trade. All types of media were then produced during those early years,
depicting the sorrow of the Africans and people were horror-struck, but Parliament seemed only
to care about the issues surrounding Great Britain. For that reason, they began looking into
different variables of the dreadful slave trade to discover a tool to which they could use as a
political attack on the opposition. 41
The first concept that the abolitionist presented to the Commons was the have emotional
impact of the white mariners involved in the slave trade. It was discovered that many of these
“white sailors involved were nearly always miserable” and were indeed dying “on board slave
ships” of the “same diseases that killed the slaves, and just as often.” In fact every year twenty-
40 Ibid, 106.
41 Ibid, 112-3.
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five percent of white sailors ultimately died on their voyages. Wilberforce and his colleagues
sought out more information to take the “appalling conditions” of “white Englishmen” that were
“working in the slave trade” to Parliament.42
Another concept made by Wilberforce and his colleagues was for the welfare of Africa.
They were greatly concerned with the British debt to the failing African economy, which they
believed to be directly caused by the slave trade. The abolitionists demonstrated the cause and
effect of the trade and how Britain’s economy stood to improve if assistance was given to the
continent. They proved how the trade had destroyed the African economy, and the abolitionists
believed therefore that “debt was owed to the African continent.”43 The campaigns that were
created were to educate people so that the public might begin to understand the facts and
concepts of actual slavery, and the “momentum” was gained in public favor towards abolition.44
By educating the public the abolitionist finally made abolition “fashionable,” which essentially
won half the battle in Britain for abolition.45
Wilberforce and his colleagues worked tirelessly and at the end of 1787, Wilberforce
“rose in the Commons to announce that early in the New Year he would put forward a motion for
abolition.” Then the unthinkable happened in mid-February 1788, Wilberforce’s health took a
turn for the worse, and he nearly died.” Thankfully he improved, but throughout the rest of that
winter of 1788 Wilberforce would continue to relapse into sickness to the point that several
doctors indicated that the young politician was close to death and “would die soon.” Finally,
Wilberforce was prescribed the “standard drug” of opium to combat his pain and the drug
42 Ibid, 117.
43 Ibid, 120.
44 Oldfield, J. R., "The London Committee and Mobilization of Public Opinion Against the Slave Trade," The
Historical Journal, 35, no. 2 (June 1992): 331-43.
45 Ibid, 334.
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seemed to work miraculously, and Wilberforce “would [continue] to take it for the rest of his
life.” It was determined that Wilberforce was ultimately suffering from ulcerative colitis, which
is an “inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the large intestine.”46
Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger made a resolution that May that the “House
should officially investigate the trade in the following session.”47 The announcement was taken
with rebuttal from the opposition and Pitt replied that if the trade “could not be conducted in a
manner different than” its current evils than he would vote for abolition, calling the trade
“shocking to humanity” and a disgrace to Great Britain.48 The Privy Council was then erected to
investigate the matter of abolition and the slave trade more thoroughly. April of 1789 brought the
results of the Privy Council’s investigation. The document was no less than “850 pages long”49
Over the next three weeks Wilberforce and his colleagues poured themselves over each page of
the document.
On May 12, 1789, the debates began, and Wilberforce in all his eloquence dissected the
report, “detailing every aspect” of the slave trade.50 In response to the replies of the oppositions
jeering, Wilberforce did so with facts and dignity to counter every faulty argument from the
“ridiculous to the serious.”51 In the end, the battle reached a stalemate. Parliament heard “fact
46 George F. Longstreth, M.D., Ulcerative Colitis, Dec 13, 2010,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001296/ (accessed Mar 31, 2011). Metaxas, 122-3.
47 Metaxas, 124.
48 Ibid, 125.
49 Ibid, 130.
50 Ibid, 132.
51 Ibid, 134-5.
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after fact” and still closed the session of Parliament with a “non-decisive” ruling to “hear more
evidence” later and recessed for the summer52
In the early years the unsuccessful attempts were met with grim defeat, but Wilberforce
did not consider giving up and so motions were entered for abolition to the House of Commons
in that first year of 1789, again in 1791, and yet again in 1792. In 1792 the House of Commons
pledged to “regulate” the Slave trade “in four years’ time but the House of Lords refused to take
action” the next year in 1793; which mostly made the steps that had been taken in the Commons
then null in void. 53 Still the abolitionist canvassed the nation sending out propaganda
everywhere as the public’s opinion “continued to swell; petitions continued to be taken from
every corner of the country.”54 “But what was happening in France, in all of its ugliness had at
the same time created a countercurrent and a backlash in the British political class” that resulted
in no action towards abolition but rather took away from the cause.55
Despite the general British public support for abolition of the trade, Parliament refused to
heed their call for two reasons. One Parliament was faced with a call for parliamentary reform;
and second, the fear that the deadly radicalism of the French was reaching Britain. During this
time Pitt and his allies offered up any action that smelled of radicalism to the chopping block,
abolition was one. The politically minded Pitt was desperate to keep his government intact and a
very “distinct distaste for reform” swept through the political body.56
52 Ibid, 136.
53 Smith, 70.
54 Metaxas, 149.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid, 150.
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The government reacted to the movement of the French Revolution that caused great
anxiety in London by defining such ideas of abolition as radical, against the state and, therefore,
a seditious.57 Britain feared the type of revolution that shed blood across the channel as this was
a war on the government and their monarch, a revolution like this would bring down the king to
whom each Member of Parliament had sworn a sacred oath to protect. The country shortly fell
into a war with the new French Republic and a dangerous stage for Pitt’s government. After a
decade of war against the French, the war began to pull in favor of the British. With the Royal
Navy in the hands of Nelson, success at sea was accomplished, and the Empire came back into
superiority taking down Napoleons forces. With Britain safe from its foreign foes, the political
waters also began to calm in London.58
Since the original call for abolition decisively failed, and with the war with France over
the fears of reform now became a distant memory and the nineteenth century seemed to be much
more promising for abolition. The post-revolutionary Europe began to settle the idea of “personal
freedoms” and the rights of man and thoughts of abolition became more acceptable talk in Great
Britain.59 The years of revolution and war had seen an incredible change in Wilberforce’s private
life too. Wilberforce had met and married Miss Barbra Ann Spooner. The courtship was short,
and they were married in 1797.60 The newlyweds then began to settle into their new life with old
and new friends of “similar interest in Clapham” (The Clapham Circle) where Wilberforce
would now begin once more drawing up new tactics for their drive towards abolition.61 The
57 Oldfield, 339-40.
58 Halliday, 163-5.
59 James, 187.
60 Metaxas, 173.
61 Ibid, 178.
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Clapham Circle was the group in which Wilberforce had been a key component of for many
years. The group consisted of people who felt the “passionate” desire to fully “serve God” in any
way they could by their Methodist beliefs.62 All the members of the group were instrumental in
various aspects of the abolition campaign and through careful encouragement and inspiration to
assist in Wilberforce’s passion to change the world.63
The change began again with Wilberforce’s greatest friend William Pitt; the pair had
throughout the years remained good friends and allies, despite the typical ups and downs of such
a long friendship. However, all good things must, of course, come to an end, and the end came to
William Pitt the Younger on January 23rd, 1806. Pitt “was forty-six” years old when he died, but
in his death Wilberforce’s ultimate goal would be fully realized.64 His death marked a significant
change in London and for the abolitionist movement. It was the end of an era and the beginning
of a new age.
Since beginning the fight towards abolition more than twenty years before Wilberforce
had come before the Commons every year to present his bill to Parliament and each year the law
was struck down by the opposition and petty defeat. William Wilberforce was after all growing
weary and old, and as each year passed more slaves died in the terror of the trade without the true
salvation of God despite his best efforts. However, each year Wilberforce continued with the
support and encouragement of his friends and mentors. With the death of Pitt, the King
consequently appointed William Grenville Prime Minister. Grenville had after all been the third
62 Ibid, 183.
63 Ibid, 186.
64 Ibid , 204.
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man with Wilberforce and Pitt under that old tree in Holwood that day the crusade began, and it
would be Grenville that would take the battle to victory.
Wilberforce was not as optimistic as Grenville, but that next year in early 1807 with the
supreme assistance of Grenville, the die was cast. Grenville sought out the House of Lords “first,
where [the bill] had always encountered its greatest difficulties.” The bill was read to the Lords
by Grenville himself. A few months later the second reading of the bill in the House of Lords
was carried out, and the debate began. Grenville chose not to “focus” on the establishment and
economy of the slave trade, “but directly” concentrated “on the moral question of the slave trade
itself.” All tactics were put aside, and the real Christian spirit of Wilberforce’s crusade was
honestly carried forward. 65
Grenville asked his fellow Lords, “Is it to be endured, that this detestable traffic is to be
continued, and such a mass of human misery produced?”66 On the third and final reading of the
Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill in the House of Lords, Wilberforce remained “cautiously
optimistic,” but for the first time in the presentation of any abolition bill victory was won.
Grenville then took the bill directly to the House of Commons for its first reading. Each time the
bill was presented Wilberforce held his breath in attention and finally bill’s final reading in the
Commons was set for February 23rd, 1807.
This was the moment for the ages, where the spiritual drive of one man for justice was
won, and Parliament passed the Abolition of the slave trade. With 283 votes for the resolution
and just 16 against, the entire Commons stood in honor as the Member of Parliament, William
Wilberforce, and his career-defining accomplishment; abolition of the slave trade was obtained.
65 Ibid, 206-7.
66 Ibid, 206-7.
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Wilberforce took the victory of his twenty-year odyssey as a sign of God’s work and fully
“expressed humble gratitude” to God for this paramount success.67
William Wilberforce would go on to serve as a Member of Parliament for close to
another two decades, taking on various causes in and out of government, and at home he would
continue to raise his six children, always surrounding himself with his ever endearing friends. On
July 26th, 1833 Wilberforce heard the news he had dreamed about his entire adult life,” slavery
was finally abolished.68 He had lived to see the final abolition of slavery in Great Britain. Three
days later, on July 29th, 1833, William Wilberforce went home to be with the Lord, a “humble
and hopeful” servant right “to the end.”69 People around the world mourned the passing of
William Wilberforce, not an old politician, but a great and ever devout Christian man.
Wilberforce will forever be renowned as a hero of Great Britain, as “more than any man, he had
founded in the conscience of the British people a tradition of humanity and of responsibility
towards the weak,” his everlasting legacy.70
67 Ibid, 213.
68 Ibid, 275.
69 Ibid, 275.
70 Ibid, 273.
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