SLAVE TRADE ABOLITION IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE & SUFFOLK
Unit 2
UNIT 2: HOW DID THOMAS CLARKSON PROTEST?
Thomas Clarkson spent his whole life trying to end slavery. Join him on a
tour round the country and investigate the slave trade in greater detail. You
will need to collect evidence and use it cleverly to persuade parliament and the
general public to support your anti-slavery campaign?
Unit 2a: FROM ESSAY WRITER TO CAMPAIGN ORGANISER
Clarkson won first prize in the essay writing competition. However, during the
summer of 1785 he found it very difficult to get the subject of slavery out of his mind.
One day, whilst travelling to London from Cambridge, Clarkson stopped at
Wadesmill in Hertfordshire and sat down and reflected on his life. He decided it was
about time that someone should put an end to the horrors of the slave trade. Clarkson
decided to devote the rest of his life to abolishing the slave trade.
In London, Clarkson met people who were already active in their opposition to the
slave trade. A group of Quakers had already sent petitions to parliament and placed
anti-slavery articles in newspapers. However, their efforts had passed almost
unnoticed. Clarkson also met people such as the Reverend James Ramsay, Granville
Sharp and Olaudah Equiano who were already involved in campaigning for the end of
slavery. Clarkson was aware that these different groups needed to be brought together.
Together with Richard Philips he decided on the tactics for a united national
campaign to ban the slave trade. In May 1787 the Society for Effecting the Abolition
of the Slave Trade was formed. Their aim was to put pressure on parliament to
investigate the slave trade.
The society was able to persuade William Wilberforce, the MP for Hull, to be their
spokesman in parliament. Wilberforce was wealthy, influential and an excellent
public speaker. He was close friends with the Prime Minister, William Pitt.
Wilberforce was able to use his contacts to try and set up a parliamentary
investigation into the slave trade. Meanwhile Clarkson had three key roles to play …
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CLARKSON’S RESPONSIBILITIES:
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THOMAS CLARKSON
(1) RESEARCHER/INVESTIGATOR
Clarkson had to collect as much evidence as possible that would prove how badly
slaves were treated. His research could then be used by Wilberforce in parliament to
raise awareness of the horrors of the slave trade.
(2) DETECTIVE
Clarkson had to try and find witnesses that would appear before parliament. Very few
people were willing to give evidence against the slave trade as they thought it might
put their own lives in danger.
(3) PERSUASIVE WRITER & SPEAKER
Clarkson had to prepare speeches and pamphlets in order to persuade people in
different parts of the country to support the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
Firstly, Clarkson had to educate people. Remember, few people in Britain knew
about the horrors of the slave trade. Clarkson believed that human beings would
always care about the sufferings of others. Therefore the way to persuade people to
take action against slavery was to educate them, to expose the truth about the slave
trade.
Secondly, he had to encourage them to form local pressure groups that would:
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Raise money to support the cause
Send petitions to the government demanding them to take action against the
slave trade
Organise boycotts of goods such as sugar that had been produced as part of
the slave trade
PUPIL ACTIVITY 2A
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Which of these roles do you think was the most important?
Which of these roles would be the most difficult?
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Unit 2b: THE CLARKSON CHALLENGE
Clarkson and his fellow anti-slavery campaigners faced a major challenge. For people
at the time it seemed an almost impossible task. Nearly everyone in the country, from
farm workers to bishops, accepted slavery as completely normal. The profits from the
slave trade gave a massive boost to the economy of towns and cities throughout the
country and provided jobs for tens of thousands of seamen, merchants and
shipbuilders. Could a few individuals change public opinion? Could men like Thomas
Clarkson make people in Britain care about the rights of other people, of a different
skin colour, living thousands of miles away?
Clarkson’s travels would take him 35,000 miles around the country and make him one
of the best known men in the country. He spent the summer and autumn months
touring the slave ports. The rest of his time was spent in Wisbech or London writing
up his findings and keeping in touch with local anti-slavery groups.
It is time for you to follow in Clarkson’s footsteps, on his first tour around the
country. It is time to see if you can take on the Clarkson Challenge and organise your
own anti-slavery campaign.
Can you collect evidence and use it cleverly to destroy the arguments of those
people who supported the slave trade?
ACTIVITY 2B – THE CLARKSON CHALLENGE
As this is a major challenge your task has been broken down into 4 steps.
Good luck!
STEP 1: KNOW YOUR HISTORY
Before Clarkson started his first tour of the country he already had a good
understanding of the history of the slave trade.
Before you start your tour think about what you learnt from UNIT 1.
Make sure you can answer the following questions:
 Who was involved in the slave trade?
 Why did the slave trade grow?
 How did the slave trade operate? Can you explain the slave triangle?
 Who benefited from the slave trade?
 What motivated people to take part in the slave trade?
 Why was the slave trade so profitable?
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STEP 2: KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Clarkson faced a lot of opposition. The slave traders had friends in high places.
Members of the royal family and some bishops were against abolishing the slave
trade. Many people were making a great deal of money from the slave trade and they
did not want it to stop. This made Clarkson’s work was very dangerous. Most of his
meetings with informants had to take place secretly in darkness. Slave traders and
sailors often threatened Clarkson. On a visit to Liverpool he had a lucky escape from
a gang of sailors paid to assassinate him.
It also made Clarkson’s work very difficult. The slave traders could spend a lot of
money on their campaign to STOP the slave trade being abolished. You need to know
the arguments they put forward to defend the slave trade before you begin your tour
and try and find evidence to defeat them. Look at the information box and the sources
below. Match each Source to an argument put forward to defend the slave trade.
ARGUMENTS PUT FORWARD TO DEFEND THE SLAVE TRADE
(1) Most slaves were already prisoners of war. They would have been killed
anyway. Most slaves were already prisoners of war. They would have been
killed anyway.
(2) Slaves were not captured in a cruel way.
(3) Conditions on the slave ships were good.
(4) Slaves were well treated on the plantations.
(5) Slavery may be evil but it is a necessary evil. It produces a great deal of
wealth for our society. Africa is undeveloped – no other type of trade is
possible.
SOURCE A: Robert Norris (1788) describing conditions on the slave ships
[The slaves] had sufficient room, sufficient air, and sufficient provisions. When upon
deck, they made merry and amused themselves with dancing… In short, the voyage
from Africa to the West Indies was one of the happiest periods of a Negro’s life.
SOURCE B: James Penny (1789) – a former slave ship captain
If the weather is hot, when the slaves come upon deck, there are two men attending
with cloths to rub them perfectly dry, and another to give them a little cordial. They
are then supplied with pipes and tobacco. They are amused with instruments of music
from their own country and, when tired of music and dancing, they then go to games
of chance.
SOURCE C: The following extract is taken from a manual for plantation owners.
‘How pleasing, how gratifying it is to see a swarm of healthy, active, cheerful,
obedient boys and girls going to and returning from their puerile (childish and silly)
work in the field.’
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STEP 3: FIND EVIDENCE THAT DESTROYS THE ARGUMENTS PUT
FORWARD TO DEFEND THE SLAVE TRADE
Now you are fully prepared it is time to begin your tour of England. Remember your
task is to find evidence that will help you destroy the arguments put forward to
defend the slave trade.
You could use the evidence collection table below to help you organise your research
Slave Traders’
arguments
Your counter
argument
Supporting Evidence
Witness
Clarkson’s journey around the country has been broken down into 6 stops.
There are 3 source cards for each of these 6 stops. See file named ‘STACS
Sources for Clarkson Challenge’.
An evidence collection grid is also provided. See file named ‘Evidence Collection
Template for Clarkson Challenge’.
PowerPoint 2b can be used to set up and model this task.
STEP 4: USE EVIDENCE EFFECTIVELY
By the time Clarkson returned from Plymouth in 1788 he had collected a great deal of
evidence. However, if you want to run a successful campaign it is no use just
collecting evidence. You have to use it to win support and influence people. This is
the final part of your challenge.
You need to from a campaign team. Use your research and the 3 advice sheets
provided to produce:
 A detailed PAMPHLET or LEAFLET that will inform the general public of
the horrors of the slave trade
 A powerful IMAGE that will capture the public’s attention
 A well written and thoughtfully performed SPEECH that will persuade
members of parliament to introduce a law banning the slave trade.
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ADVICE SHEET 1: WRTING YOUR PAMPHLET
Why were pamphlets important at the time?
Clarkson published a number of pamphlets during the campaign to abolish the slave
trade. These were very important. Remember, many people at the time knew little
about Africa, how the slave trade operated and what conditions were like on the slave
ships and plantations. Pamphlets were designed to inform and educate people about
the true horrors of the slave trade. They would be distributed throughout the country
with the aim of encouraging as many people as possible to join the anti-slavery
campaign.
Important Tips
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Your audience is the general public. You must provide people with clear, easy
to understand information.
You need to connect with people. You need to make links between the choices
people make in Britain and what is happening in Africa and the West Indies.
You need to make British people understand what is behind the sugar they eat,
the tobacco they smoke and the coffee they drink.
You need to do more that just say what the slave trade was like. You need to
prove that the arguments put forward to defend the slave trade were wrong.
You need to convince people that slavery must be stopped.
Support your arguments with specific examples and include quotes from key
witnesses.
EXTRA CHALLENGE – Produce an abstract
Clarkson often produced an abstract of his essays and pamphlets. An abstract was a
summary of the really key points .They often produced pocket sized and sold all over
the country. Today we would call this a synopsis. Think in terms of 10 things
everyone should know about the slave trade.
Important Tips
(1) Colour code what you have included in your pamphlet. Decide what is
 Essential – This should be less than 10% of what you have written.
 Interesting and important but not essential
 Should definitely be left out
(2) Take the information that you have colour coded as essential and turn it into a list
of 10 things that everyone should know about the slave trade.
(3) Edit what you have written. Make sure that it is no more than 200 words.
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ADVICE SHEET 2: DESIGNING YOUR IMAGE
Why were images important at the time?
William Hackwood designed this famous medallion for the campaign to abolish the
slave trade. It was produced by one of Britain’s leading industrialists, Josiah
Wedgwood, who was a keen supporter of the campaign to end slavery. The medallion
portrayed a kneeling African in chains framed with the words ‘Am I not a man and a
brother? This motto became the rallying cry for the campaign. The image was
distributed in thousands. Clarkson alone gave out 500 on his travels and the medallion
became the movement’s most powerful symbol. It was probably the first widespread
use of a logo designed for a political cause.
Clarkson’s diagram of the slave ship Brookes was also very influential (see page 00).
It was one of the first widely produced political posters. 7000 copies were printed and
hung on the walls of homes and pubs throughout the country. It also appeared in
newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets.
Important Tips
 Your audience is the general public. Your image must capture peoples
attention. It must also contain a clear message. It must make people stop and
think.
 Include a motto or slogan. This needs to be short (no more than 10 words) and
memorable.
EXTRA CHALLENGE – Can fashion promote your cause?
The abolitionists also found that fashion promoted justice. Hackwood’s image was
inlaid in gold on snuff-boxes and set into cufflinks. Women wore them in bracelets
and hairpins. Think carefully about your image. Make sure your design could be used
in the same way.
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ADVICE SHEET 3: WRITING AND PERFROMING YOUR SPEECH
Why were speeches so important?
Public support for the campaign to abolish the slave trade was very important.
Speeches played an important role in persuading people to join the campaign. As part
of his 1787 tour around the country, Clarkson visited Manchester where he was
invited to speak at the Collegiate Church. Clarkson gave specific examples from his
own research into the cruel way in which slaves were treated and ended by calling on
the congregation to join the cause of abolition so that ‘the stain of the blood of Africa
is not upon us’. Clarkson’s speech had a significant impact. A few months later
Manchester sent a petition to parliament calling for them to end the slave trade. It had
been signed by more than a fifth of the town’s population.
However, if the campaign was going to be successful, members of parliament had to
be persuaded to introduce a law to ban the slave trade. William Wilberforce was
seriously ill in 1788 but still managed to persuade William Pitt, the Prime Minister, to
raise the issue of slavery in parliament. Over the next few years the speeches of both
men played an important role in persuading members of parliament to abolish the
slave trade. Their only real weapon was the power of speech.
Important Tips: Preparing your speech – learn from a master!
Remember your key task is to persuade members of parliament to abolish the slave
trade. You need the MPs to do more than simply listen and agree with what you are
saying. You need to persuade them to take action! Before you start planning your
speech, look at the techniques used by William Pitt in 1792. Read all the extracts from
his speech then work your way through the tasks below.
(1) Think carefully about how you structure your speech.
(a) Study Extract 1. How does Pitt provide a powerful opening to his speech?
(b) Study Extract 4. What does Pitt say is the main argument people in Britain have
for keeping the slave trade? How does Pitt destroy his opponent’s arguments?
(c) Study Extract 5. What is the main reason Pitt gives for ending the slave trade in
his last paragraph?
(2) Include emotive words and phrases to make your speech more powerful.
(a) What impact does the word ‘tearing’ have on the last sentence of Extract 1.
Imagine that Pitt had used the word ‘moving’ instead. Why would this be less
powerful?
(b) Can you find three other examples of emotive words of phrases in Pitt’s speech?
Explain the impact they would have on a person listening to the speech.
(3) Use clever techniques to persuade your audience.
Pitt uses all the techniques listed below. Can you spot them?
 Playing on the audience’s guilt – making them feel bad about something.
 Making key points easy to follow by using short, sharp sentences.
 Creating thought provoking images or pictures in the audience’s mind.
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Clusters of three – three phrases or describing words are used to emphasise a
point.
Raising rhetorical questions – questions that don’t require an answer but make
the audience think about a key issue.
Using words like ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘you’ to make the audience feel involved or
responsible.
Using repetition - saying the same word or phrase more than once for
emphasis.
(4) Think carefully about how to perform your speech.
Think carefully about how you would perform this speech.
(a) Where would you add emphasis or change your tone?
(b) Where would you pause so that that a key point really sinks in?
SOURCE: William Pitt’s speech to the House of Commons, 1792
On April 2nd, Pitt stood up in the House of Commons ready to keep his promise to his
close friend William Wilberforce that he would do everything in his power to abolish
the slave trade. Pitt was ill and exhausted and had to take medicine before he could
continue. Somehow he managed to find enough strength to deliver one of the most
powerful speeches ever delivered by a Prime Minister.
Extract 1
Now, sir, I come to Africa. Why ought the slave trade to be abolished? I know of no
evil that ever existed, nor can imagine any evil to exist, worse than the tearing of
seventy or eighty thousand persons every year from their own land.
Extract2
We ourselves tempt them to sell their fellow creatures to us. It was our arms in the
river Cameroon, put into the hands of the slave trader that gave him the means to push
his trade. Can we pretend that we have a right to carry away to distant regions men of
whom we know nothing? Those that sell slaves to us have no right to do so.
Extract 3
But the evil does not stop here. Do you think nothing of the ruin and the miseries in
which so many individuals, still remaining in Africa, are involved as a consequence of
carrying off so many people? Do you think nothing of their families left behind? Of
the connections broken? Of the friendships, attachments, and relationships that are
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burst asunder? Do you think nothing of the miseries in consequence that are felt from
generation to generation?
Extract 4
I am sure the immediate abolition of the slave trade is the first, the principal, the most
indispensable act of policy, of duty, and of justice that this country has to take. There
are, however, arguments set up to [defend the slave trade]. The slave trade system, it
is supposed, has taken such deep root in Africa that it is absurd to think of it being
eradicated and the abolition of that share of trade carried on by Great Britain is likely
to be of very little service. ‘We are friends,’ say they, ‘to humanity. We are second to
none of you in our zeal for the good of Africa – but the French will not abolish – the
Dutch will not abolish. We wait, therefore, till they join us or set us an example.’
How, sir, is this enormous evil ever to be eradicated, if every nation waits? Let me
remark, too, that there is no nation in Europe that has, on the one hand, plunged so
deeply into this guilt as Great Britain; or that is so likely, on the other, to be looked up
to as an example.
Extract 5
The great and happy change to be expected in the state of her [Africa’s] inhabitants is,
of all the various and important benefits of the abolition the most extensive and
important. I shall oppose to the utmost any attempt to postpone, even for an hour, the
total abolition of the slave trade; a measure which, on all the various grounds which I
have stated, we are bound, by the most pressing and indispensable duty, to adopt.
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