"Amazing Grace"

On February 23, the Samuel Goldwyn Company released the film “Amazing Grace.” The day coincided with the 200th anniversary of the date when Britain’s Parliament voted to ban the slave trade.

The film offers a somewhat idealized view of the life and times of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a convert to pietistic Christianity who became the most ardent abolitionist in Parliament. One of his backers was John Newton (1725-1807), a former slave ship captain and the composer of the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

When in 1789 Wilberforce gave his first speech in support of his Abolition Bill, the slave trade across the Atlantic had reached its heyday. From 1440 to 1640, Portuguese merchants had a monopoly on the export of African slaves usually bought from African chiefs who had enslaved them.

As the British expanded their naval power in the Atlantic Ocean, they became the world’s leading slave traders. By 1700, one out of every four ships sailing from Liverpool shipped packed loads of slaves from Africa to the Americas in exchange for sugar and coffee. Guns and other manufactured British goods were bartered for slaves. A Dutch ship brought the first African slaves to Jamestown in 1619.

By the late 18th century, calls for the abolition of slavery were spreading in both the United States and Britain. The heavily profiteering slave sellers, traders, and owners, however, fought abolitionists wherever they raised their voices: in the public square, in churches, courts, and legislatures.

In 1791, the defenders of the slave trade in Parliament were still so strong that they defeated Wilberforce’s abolition bill by 75 votes. For them, losing the slave trade was not a moral but a financial problem. They insisted that they would accept an abolition bill only if it called specifically for a “gradual” end to slavery. The moral sentiment in the House of Commons, however, was slowly turning so much in the abolitionists’ favor that on February 23, 1807, Wilberforce’s bill passed--18 years after he had first introduced it. At that moment, “Members stood and cheered him tumultuously.”

The United States outlawed the importation of slaves on January 1, 1808, the earliest date permitted by the Constitution for such a ban. The Atlantic slave trade, however, continued, at least until the end of the American Civil War because slavery had become an integral part of British, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Danish exploitation of their colonies in the Americas.

Vast amounts of manpower were needed to harvest the bounty of agricultural goods. Between 1490 and 1900, Brazil absorbed 4 million slaves, the Spanish-speaking Americas 2.5 million, the British West Indies 2 million, the French West Indies 1.6 million, and the United States 500,000. The finding that by mid-19th century there were over a million fewer slaves in the British colonies than had been imported demonstrates how many of these forcibly relocated human beings perished under the inhumane conditions which many slaveholders imposed upon them. The most significant development ending slavery in the Americas was probably not so much the abolitionist agitation but the over 200 slave insurrections, large and small, most formidable among them the revolt against the French colonizers in Haiti.

Wilberforce lived long enough to learn of the final reading of Britain’s Emancipation Bill on July 23, 1833--only, however, after British slave traders and owners were given 20 million pounds in compensation. Three days after the passage of the bill Wilberforce died. To him, it was manifest evidence of God’s “Amazing Grace” that, after 50 years, he had finally succeeded in ending British participation in the shameful enslavement of several million men, women, and children.

P.S.: A portrayal of William Wilberforce’s life and faith will by presented by John McCord at the 9th Prairieland Chautauqua in Jacksonville on September 3.

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	03-11-07
"Amazing Grace"
On February 23, the Samuel Goldwyn Company released the film “Amazing Grace.” The day coincided with the 200th anniversary of the date when Britain’s Parliament voted to ban the slave trade. The film offers a somewhat idealized view of the life and times of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a convert to pietistic Christianity who became the most ardent abolitionist in Parliament. One of his backers was John Newton (1725-1807), a former slave ship captain and the composer of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” When in 1789 Wilberforce gave his first speech in support of his Abolition Bill, the slave trade across the Atlantic had reached its heyday. From 1440 to 1640, Portuguese merchants had a monopoly on the export of African slaves usually bought from African chiefs who had enslaved them. As the British expanded their naval power in the Atlantic Ocean, they became the world’s leading slave traders. By 1700, one out of every four ships sailing from Liverpool shipped packed loads of slaves from Africa to the Americas in exchange for sugar and coffee. Guns and other manufactured British goods were bartered for slaves. A Dutch ship brought the first African slaves to Jamestown in 1619. By the late 18th century, calls for the abolition of slavery were spreading in both the United States and Britain. The heavily profiteering slave sellers, traders, and owners, however, fought abolitionists wherever they raised their voices: in the public square, in churches, courts, and legislatures. In 1791, the defenders of the slave trade in Parliament were still so strong that they defeated Wilberforce’s abolition bill by 75 votes. For them, losing the slave trade was not a moral but a financial problem. They insisted that they would accept an abolition bill only if it called specifically for a “gradual” end to slavery. The moral sentiment in the House of Commons, however, was slowly turning so much in the abolitionists’ favor that on February 23, 1807, Wilberforce’s bill passed--18 years after he had first introduced it. At that moment, “Members stood and cheered him tumultuously.” The United States outlawed the importation of slaves on January 1, 1808, the earliest date permitted by the Constitution for such a ban. The Atlantic slave trade, however, continued, at least until the end of the American Civil War because slavery had become an integral part of British, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Danish exploitation of their colonies in the Americas. Vast amounts of manpower were needed to harvest the bounty of agricultural goods. Between 1490 and 1900, Brazil absorbed 4 million slaves, the Spanish-speaking Americas 2.5 million, the British West Indies 2 million, the French West Indies 1.6 million, and the United States 500,000. The finding that by mid-19th century there were over a million fewer slaves in the British colonies than had been imported demonstrates how many of these forcibly relocated human beings perished under the inhumane conditions which many slaveholders imposed upon them. The most significant development ending slavery in the Americas was probably not so much the abolitionist agitation but the over 200 slave insurrections, large and small, most formidable among them the revolt against the French colonizers in Haiti. Wilberforce lived long enough to learn of the final reading of Britain’s Emancipation Bill on July 23, 1833--only, however, after British slave traders and owners were given 20 million pounds in compensation. Three days after the passage of the bill Wilberforce died. To him, it was manifest evidence of God’s “Amazing Grace” that, after 50 years, he had finally succeeded in ending British participation in the shameful enslavement of several million men, women, and children. P.S.: A portrayal of William Wilberforce’s life and faith will by presented by John McCord at the 9th Prairieland Chautauqua in Jacksonville on September 3.

Wolf D. Fuhrig

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03-11-07

"Amazing Grace"