In his work Abolition: A History of Slavery & Antislavery, Samuel Drescher provides a solid exposition of the events leading to the ending of the slavery across much of the world from
18th to the 20st centuries. There are basic facts to the story. Slavery, in one condition or another, existed in most societies in most times (4). Then, quite anomalously, slavery ceased to exist in
Northwest Europe at the dawn of the early modern era (25). Rather than investigate the cessation of slavery among those peoples, the book chronicles the anti-slavery movement proceeding from that point. I have no objections to the work as history; I only notice that the author never examines why those abolitionists militantly pursued their beliefs. Even those …show more content…
The slave trade was not prohibited, nor was the practice of slavery prohibited in overseas colonies. What motivated people to universalize their local customs in the modern era? Why did they universalize their opposition to slavery? Why did they seek to end slavery and the slave trade across the world? Why did they turn local happenstance into universal imperative? My contention is that ideas motivate action.
And without the idea, the action will wither, fade, and cease. Drescher’s work, for my purposes, only skirts the surface of the motivation for abolition.
He notes that Puritans and Quakers were the initial opponents of slavery in Britain and the
American colonies (106). He does not investigate why it is they at the forefront. Why Thomas
Clarkson and William Wilberforce? They and their allies among the Puritans, Quakers, and
Evangelicals shared a fervent spirit of faith in their common Christian beliefs. He also notes that a popular and publically-acceptable argument against slavery centered on the principle that it is wrong to steal the labor of others, that individuals have a right to the labor of their own …show more content…
Yet, it has been and it is. If history is the chronicle of events, then political science (and especially political theory) is the explanation of the reasons why. Abolition happened for reasons. People made slavery end for those reasons. If the reasons are economic, then slavery may well return as soon as someone can make the practice economically feasible once again. If slavery was abolished for religious David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation, includes some analysis of the reasons for abolition. He recognizes the faith undergirding the abolition movement. I have not completed my research into his work yet. His three works comprise of one the more magisterial compilations regarding slavery and abolition. So far, he seems a little lost in his own ideology, confusing a formless, contemporary attitude of anti-slavery with a more spirited opposition in the past. Again, I wonder if Davis & others can accept the reasons & principles of the abolition movement today, or if they merely parrot what they’ve inherited without reason or thought as to why. purposes, if the fire of Christian fervor burning in the souls of abolitionists compelled them
18th to the 20st centuries. There are basic facts to the story. Slavery, in one condition or another, existed in most societies in most times (4). Then, quite anomalously, slavery ceased to exist in
Northwest Europe at the dawn of the early modern era (25). Rather than investigate the cessation of slavery among those peoples, the book chronicles the anti-slavery movement proceeding from that point. I have no objections to the work as history; I only notice that the author never examines why those abolitionists militantly pursued their beliefs. Even those …show more content…
The slave trade was not prohibited, nor was the practice of slavery prohibited in overseas colonies. What motivated people to universalize their local customs in the modern era? Why did they universalize their opposition to slavery? Why did they seek to end slavery and the slave trade across the world? Why did they turn local happenstance into universal imperative? My contention is that ideas motivate action.
And without the idea, the action will wither, fade, and cease. Drescher’s work, for my purposes, only skirts the surface of the motivation for abolition.
He notes that Puritans and Quakers were the initial opponents of slavery in Britain and the
American colonies (106). He does not investigate why it is they at the forefront. Why Thomas
Clarkson and William Wilberforce? They and their allies among the Puritans, Quakers, and
Evangelicals shared a fervent spirit of faith in their common Christian beliefs. He also notes that a popular and publically-acceptable argument against slavery centered on the principle that it is wrong to steal the labor of others, that individuals have a right to the labor of their own …show more content…
Yet, it has been and it is. If history is the chronicle of events, then political science (and especially political theory) is the explanation of the reasons why. Abolition happened for reasons. People made slavery end for those reasons. If the reasons are economic, then slavery may well return as soon as someone can make the practice economically feasible once again. If slavery was abolished for religious David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation, includes some analysis of the reasons for abolition. He recognizes the faith undergirding the abolition movement. I have not completed my research into his work yet. His three works comprise of one the more magisterial compilations regarding slavery and abolition. So far, he seems a little lost in his own ideology, confusing a formless, contemporary attitude of anti-slavery with a more spirited opposition in the past. Again, I wonder if Davis & others can accept the reasons & principles of the abolition movement today, or if they merely parrot what they’ve inherited without reason or thought as to why. purposes, if the fire of Christian fervor burning in the souls of abolitionists compelled them