On the 25th March it is the bicentenary of the parliamentary abolition of the slave trade in the Untied Kingdom. The Act only prohibited British ships from being involved in the slave trade. It wasn't until 1834 that slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. It was however the first step and other countries began to follow Britain's lead. In America after the civil war the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Bill of Rights was introduced in 1865 to abolition slavery.
The trade had started in Britain during the British Empire in 1562. It was the time of Elizabeth I. An English ship builder and merchant John Hawkins was the first to go on a voyage to Africa to kidnap people and then sell them as slaves. People would later begin to look upon slavery as immoral and inhuman. And they would begin to campaign against it.
It was the MP William Wilberforce that led the way in parliament. He was a deeply religious man. His faith was so strong he wanted to leave politics for the church. But he talked about it to friends who were also in politics and they encouraged him to stay. One of them was William Pitt the younger who would later become Prime Minister. It was Pitt who gave him information to read about the slave trade. His motivation had come from Thomas Clarkson who wanted to see slavery abolished.
Clarkson was not a politician. He had gone to Cambridge University and was a brilliant student. To enter a competition he had to write an essay in Latin on whether it was right to make people slaves against their will. It all sparked him into doing something. He talked to fellow students and other people who knew about the slave trade. When he later won the competition he translated it into English. So it could be read by more people. It had a huge impact on society.
Politicians then became interested and this is when William Wilberforce took up the cause. He was known as a great political speaker. His first major speech in the House of Commons was on the subject of the abolition of slavery. He gave a graphic description of what the slaves had to endure travelling from Africa.
Clarkson gathered the facts to convince everyone it should be abolished. Wilberforce then introduced the bill in Parliament. Both he and Clarkson had been campaigning for years for the abolition of slavery. It would be their determination not to give up that would one day finally bring about the act. Wilberforce received a letter in 1791 of encouragement from John Wesley. He founded the Methodist church which Wilberforce belonged to. Wesley wrote the following

Dear Sir:
Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God before you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

Wesley is saying to him that no matter how hard it is he must not give up. That you have a responsibility to help people and to stand up for what is right. You can not in the eyes of God turn away from doing the right thing just because it has become to difficult, painful or frightening. God would be there to help him and he must put his trust in him.
Wilberforce didn't give up nor did Clarkson and eventually the act became law. It slowly led to the abolition of slavery everywhere. But is this still the case anti - slavery reports say that it is still going on and therefore so does the fight to stop it.
If you want to find out more visit www.wilberforce2007.com/index.php?/abolition_of_slavery/slavery_now/

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