Thomas Clarkson letter

Thomas Clarkson was an English abolitionist and one of the founders of The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known as The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade). His campaigning efforts against the slave trade within the British Empire led to the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

Thomas Clarkson was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on 28 March 1760. He was the eldest of three children born to Rev. John Clarkson, who was headmaster at Wisbech Grammar School, where Thomas attended school. He attended St. Paul's School in London before entering St. John's College, Cambridge University, in 1779. He received his B.A. in 1783, but remained at Cambridge to prepare himself to be a clergyman.

In 1785, Cambridge University held a Latin essay competition on the topic: Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting? The question and competition led Clarkson to consider the question of slavery for the first time. He undertook considerable research on the topic, which introduced Clarkson to the work of Anthony Benezet, a Quaker abolitionist. Clarkson won the competition, but his research had a much more profound effect on him as he dedicated his life to abolishing the slave trade.

Clarkson translated his essay into English and published it as An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African in June 1786. The essay/book traced the history of slavery throughout history up through the arrival of the international slave trade into Africa. The impact of Clarkson's work led to his introduction to many of the leading abolitionists of the day.

The following year, Clarkson, Granville Sharp, William Dillwyn, and others formed The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Josiah Wedgwood joined the committee and was instrumental in the fashioning of the seal illustrating a kneeling African in chains and the words "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" that became an iconic symbol of the abolitionist movement in England and the United States. Clarkson was tasked with the responsibility of collecting information to support the abolition of the slave trade; a task he undertook with courage and zeal. His research described not only the horrors of slavery but the danger it posed to British seamen in an effort to contradict notions of the profitability of the slave trade. Much of his research included interviewing sailors in various British port cities who had firsthand knowledge of the slave trade. In 1788, Clarkson published his Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade.

Ultimatley, Clarkson's diligence and hard work led to health problems and he retired from the abolitionist campaign. He married Catherine Buck of Suffolk and had one son, Thomas, born in 1796. However, in 1804, Clarkson and others revived the abolitionist movement and in 1807 the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed. During that same year, Clarkson published his book, The History of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade.

Members of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade established the African Institution, which was organized to monitor the execution of the Slave Trade Act. Displeased with the English government's lack of effort to abolish slavery itself, Clarkson joined others to found the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1823. Between the founding of this society and the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which outlawed slavery in the British Empire, Clarkson continued his vigorous campaign against slavery.

From 1833 until his death, Clarkson then focused his attention on the abolition of slavery in the United States. The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery eventually became the Anti-Slavery Society, which was succeeded by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1839. This latter society sponsored the first World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in June 1840, at which Thomas Clarkson served as the key speaker. His opening address was commemorated in a painting now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Thomas Clarkson died in September 1846 and is buried in Playford, Suffolk.