Thomas Clarkson
Contributions
- An essay on the impolicy of the African slave trade. In two parts, by the Rev. T. Clarkson has translation author
- An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African, translated from a Latin dissertation has translation author
Knows
- Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville abolitionist bookseller entrepreneur freemason pamphleteer politician publisher translator writer
- Edmund Burke freemason philosopher politician writer
- Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet abolitionist journalist philosopher politician scientist translator writer
- Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau abolitionist freemason pamphleteer politician translator writer
- Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d'Orléans freemason military politician
- James Phillips abolitionist bookseller editor entrepreneur publisher
- Richard Phillips bookseller entrepreneur publisher teacher writer
- Carl-Bernhard Wadström abolitionist traveller writer
Member of
- Société des Amis des Noirs political organisation
Notes
"Thomas Clarkson’s interests and sympathies turned eastward. Obsessive and indefatigable, Clarkson not only popularised abolition through his various books and pamphlets, but also, as the Society for the Effecting of the Abolition of the Slave Trade's (SEAST) travelling agent, provided a vital link between London and the provinces. In 1787 he visited the major slave ports. This was followed in 1788 by a tour of the south coast of England; in 1790 by a tour of Scotland and the north of England; and in 1791 by a tour of Shropshire and the north of England. Clarkson, as a result, built up a huge network of local and regional correspondents, many of whom he was in contact with on a regular basis, particularly during the petition campaigns of 1788 and 1792. He also established important links with French abolitionists. In July 1789 he visited Paris at the London Committee’s request and quickly immersed himself in the activities of the Société des Amis des Noirs. He was a regular presence at meetings (twelve in all, between 21 August 1789 and 29 January 1790) and, armed with a French translation of his 'Essay on the Impolicy of the Slave Trade', and copies of the plan and sections of the slave ship Brookes, even lobbied members of the National Constituent Assembly to take up the question of the slave trade. During this visit Clarkson also befriended figures such as Brissot and Honoré Gabriel Mirabeau, many of whom would become his lifelong friends; indeed, Clarkson’s correspondence with Mirabeau testifies to the enduring friendships that existed between British and French activists… Clarkson considered himself a ‘Democrat’, and, if anything, his visit to Paris in 1789 reinforced his identification with the French Revolution. Many of the members of the Société des Amis des Noirs, including Brissot, Mirabeau and Condorcet, were themselves deeply involved in the revolutionary movement in France, and, much to the dismay of some of his colleagues, Clarkson was quick to lend them his support. By contrast, if his surviving correspondence is anything to go by, Clarkson showed little interest in America or in the potential of American abolitionism. Put a different way, his perspective was European rather than transatlantic, and it was this outlook, as much as kinship, religion or, indeed, familiarity, that helped to shape his allegiances".
Taken from J.R. Oldfield, 'Transatlantic Abolitionism in the Age of Revolution. An International History of Anti-slavery, c.1787–1820 (2013, CUP).