The following is from a lecture by Preston Manning, president of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. It was presented in Ottawa last February at a seminar on ‘Navigating the Faith/Political Interface.’ Manning notes that much of his information was obtained from Adam Hochschild’s Bury the Chains (Houghton Mifflin, 2005).

MANY lessons can be learned from a notable faith-oriented campaign which achieved a great social good: the emancipation of slaves within the British Empire.

Use the law

Use the existing law, imperfect as it is, to the maximum extent possible to advance your cause.

The first round against slavery was fought in the legal arena in the late 18th century. It was spearheaded by Granville Sharp, a committed Christian (Anglican) who held a minor post in the ordinance office in the Tower of London. He arranged for the legal defence of James Somerset, an escaped slave whose former owner was trying to recapture him.

Sharp argued forcibly that the British law allowed no one to be a slave in England itself.

Lord Chief Justice Mansfield’s carefully worded ruling set Somerset at liberty without automatically freeing other slaves. But almost everyone, including many lower court judges, believed Mansfield had indeed outlawed slavery in England.

Christians should follow Sharp’s example, and use the current laws. We should also use the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, not just criticize the Charter.

Publicize suffering

Christian anti-slavery campaigner and politician William Wilberforce

The suffering of slaves in transit across the Atlantic was illustrated by the Zong case in 1783. The case concerned a slave ship whose captain threw 136 slaves into the sea, and whose owners filed an insurance claim for the value of the dead slaves.

The case came up before Lord Mansfield. Granville Sharp attempted to turn it into a homicide trial, not a civil insurance dispute. The case illustrates the point that if you’re going to crusade against an evil, make a start by identifying with the suffering that it causes –  rather than with abstract principles and points of law.

The Zong case produced no legal victory –  but as Adam Hochschild writes, it provided a “horror story” to stir public sentiment.

Immediate objectives

Distinguish between your immediate objective and your ultimate objective –  and proceed incrementally, rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach. Hochschild notes the abolitionists’ decision to make the immediate objective one of abolishing the slave ‘trade’ rather than slavery itself.

Hochschild recommends that activists “legitimate the discussion” of their issues in public and political arenas where it is still taboo. One way to do this is by proposing an innocuous rather than provocative introductory resolution.

A good example is MP William Wilberforce’s initial resolution “that the House will, early in the next session, proceed to take into consideration the circumstances of the slave trade.”

It is also helpful to be inclusive rather than accusatory in your language, in describing the evil to be remedied. In his introductory speech on his slave-trade resolution, Wilberforce declared: “I mean not to accuse anyone, but to take the shame upon myself, in common, indeed, with the whole Parliament of Great Britain, for having suffered this horrid trade to be carried on under their authority. We are all guilty – we ought all to plead guilty, and not to exculpate ourselves by throwing the blame on others.”

Improve language

Starting at Vancouver’s First United Church, the 21st annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross made stops at landmarks such as Canada Place and The Women’s Centre. These contemporary ‘stations’ were designated as “cross-sections of the struggles of justice and evil over the course of the last year.” The event ended at the 2010 Olympic Clock – which was renamed the ‘Homelessness Action Clock.’ Photo: Al McKay

He became the apostle Paul of the anti-slavery movement; without Clarkson there would have been no movement.

Quaker abolitionists undertook to publish his essay in 1786. This demonstrated the importance of finding the right language.  One of the things which hampered the Quakers’ crusade against slavery was that they spoke and wrote differently than most other Englishmen –  using “thee” and “thou” and other quaint phrases.

Clarkson and Granville Sharp (who were not Quakers) changed the language of the campaign, improving on the archaic language of the Quaker abolitionists.

Embody the cause

Find articulate spokesmen who literally ‘embody’ your cause.

A freed slave became a striking and articulate public advocate of abolition of the trade. Olaudah Equiano published his biography, and  went on a great political book tour.

Nothing is more useful to a cause than a person who seems to embody it. Ask yourself: “Out of whose mouth would our message be most credible?”

Attack myths

Identify and attack the ‘myths’ which sustain the status quo and opposition to change.

One of the myths which sustained the slave trade was the idea that it provided, as Hochschild puts it, a “useful nursery for British seamen.”

The abolitionists attacked the falsehood that the slave trade somehow was a good training ground for sailors; in actuality, 20 percent of the crews of slave ships died on their voyages.

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Quaker Elizabeth Fry spearheaded the movement for prison reform in Britain.

The anti-slave-trade committee pioneered several tools used by civic organizations today:

• Direct-mail fundraising and pamphleteering.

• Striking symbolism, utilizing Wedgewood’s special line of china showing a kneeling African with chains uplifted and beseechingly asking, ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’

• Petitioning of Parliament. By 1788, petitions for abolition or reform of the slave trade had been signed by between 60,000 and 100,000 people.

• Impressive spokespersons, such as ‘Amazing Grace’ writer John Newton, a reformed slave ship captain.

• Giving voice to the victims: such as Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, another freed slave who published a book.

Invent tools

This display was the centrepiece of a vigil conducted by Streams of Justice at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Good Friday.  The following day, participants returned to make a more positive statement, according to organizer Dave Diewert. “We used the gallows, without the rope or hanging man, as a space for kids to draw pictures of a new reality. It was an enactment of turning swords into ploughshares.” Photo: Al McKay

The British public started to boycott sugar from the slave-oriented West Indies, in favour of sugar from India. The boycott was such a novel idea that the very word would not come into the language for nearly another century.

At a time when only a small fraction of the population could vote, citizens took upon themselves the power to act when Parliament would not. The boycott was essentially the work of women.

Endure setbacks

Be prepared to suffer, and endure major and discouraging setbacks. In the case of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, these included:

• The insanity of the King, which brought parliament to a standstill.

• Slave revolts in the Caribbean, which produced fear and a counter-reaction.

• The French Revolution, which originally raised hopes –  and then dashed them.

• The insidious influences of the ‘gradualists’ in Parliament –  who did not oppose the abolition of the slave trade, but only advocated that it be done ‘gradually.’ As a result, the public wearied of the debate.

• The dominance of the House of Lords, which was generally hostile to abolition.

• The war with France, which brought all democratic and social reform in Britain to a grinding halt.

• The lack of a good strategist in Parliament –  which led to Wilberforce’s bills being defeated time and time again.

Divide opposition

Find a strategy that divides the opposition to your reform.

The anti-slavery campaign found its much-needed strategist in James Stephen. One of the Empire’s leading maritime lawyers, and a prominent authority on international law, he had a visceral hatred of slavery –  born of living in the West Indies.

He devised the strategy of calling for the abolition of the slave trade with the French at a time when England was at war with France.

He decided to appeal not to the conscience of the British parliamentarians but to their prudence – arguing that abolition was a wise and expedient thing to do.

Stephen called on Wilberforce to draft a bill which banned British subjects, shipyards, outfitters and insurers from participating in the slave trade to the colonies of France and its allies. This linked slavery to the war effort, and split the pro-slavery lobby. The foreign slave trade act sailed through the House of Commons with surprising ease – and the bill passed in the House of Lords.

Shift arenas

If you can’t get a favourable decision for your cause in one arena (e.g. the House of Lords), shift the decision to another arena (e.g. the House of Commons) where you can get a favourable decision –  and do everything to support reforms which strengthen that decision-making arena.

The moral/social reformers who opposed slavery made common cause with the parliamentary reform movement in Britain. The fate of slavery ultimately depended on whether Parliament would pass the great Reform Bill in 1831. Thus, moving the decision-making to a chamber more susceptible to public opinion was a key factor in the anti-slavery campaign.

The Reform Bill passed Parliament in 1832 –  greatly strengthening the House of Commons vis-à-vis the House of Lords, and making it more susceptible to public pressure.

Final victory

The Emancipation Bill, completely abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire, passed both houses of Parliament in the summer of 1833.

The real victory came August 1, 1838, when nearly 800,000 black men, women and children throughout the British Empire became officially free. By then, of the 12 men who had been part of the original committee, only Thomas Clarkson was still alive.

A faith-oriented campaign to eradicate a great social evil and achieve a great social good –  freedom for hundreds of thousands of blacks –  was successful. This was largely because it was conducted by people operating with the wisdom of serpents and the graciousness of doves, at the interface of faith and politics. Canadians who want to conduct such campaigns –  to eradicate the social evils of our time and advance social goods –  should study this campaign backward and forward, until they are able to learn and practice its lessons.

May 2007