In a reference to a New Scientist review of a new book by Desmond, A., and Moore, J. (2009), *Darwin's sacred cause: How a hatred of slavery shaped Darwin's views on human evolution*, Stephen Black wrote:
> If Desmond and Moore are right about Darwin's motivation, > it's remarkable to think that Darwin held such views at a time > when most, including many religious authorities, defended the > practice of slavery. I fear that Stephen has got his chronology wrong here. The great campaign in Britain to abolish slavery had become a mass movement by the end of the eighteenth century. (In 1787 Darwin's great-uncle Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the famous pottery company, started mass production of cameos showing a slave in chains, inscribed with the words "Am I not a man and a brother?", as part of the anti-slavery campaign.) The campaign was supported by the Whig opposition party in the Commons, and the Whig leader Charles Fox was a major force in the passage of the 1807 law to abolish the slave trade (two years before Darwin was born). In her biography of Darwin, Janet Browne writes of the campaign that followed to abolish slave-holding in British overseas territories: "Under [William Wilberforce's] aegis... the reforming zeal which began life as a minority principle among a small band of liberals and evangelicals became a national, pervasive obsession that captured the imagination and energies of millions." All this was well before Darwin embarked on the voyage of the Beagle in 1831, when he was in his early twenties. To fill in more of the history, the 1807 Law enacted by Parliament to abolish the slave trade did not free those who were already slaves (nor, of course, directly affect the slave trade policies of Spain and Portugal). It was not until 1833 that an act was passed giving freedom to all slaves in the British empire. But after 1807 the Royal Navy was active in intercepting slave trading ships in an attempt to stop the trade. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
