A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade Wilberforce Paperback 9781108024990

A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave TradeAddressed to the Freeholders and Other Inhabitants of Yorkshire\nAuthor(s): William Wilberforce\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781108024990, 978-1108024990\nSynopsis\nWilliam Wilberforce [tel] was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed: shortly beforehand, Wilberforce had published this Letter to his constituents, justifying his preoccupation with abolition against claims t.