Opus 2014-10: Founders: The Legacy of Slavery, part 2 of 6

The battle against slavery had its early beginnings in England and was a war being waged during our Revolution.  We find that the battle in England had long coat-tails.  Notice the first part of the quote given in my last post.

“This infernal trafic [sic] originated in the avarice of British Merchants. The British Govt. constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it.

A name you may not be familiar with is William Wilberforce.  He was a member of the British Parliament and spent 30 years fighting to stamp slavery out of the British Empire.  That battle was just beginning in 1787 when Mason was writing these words.  So England had deliberately stopped Virginia, a colony that accepted slavery, from taking steps to stop the trade.  Even up to the eve of the American Civil War there were movements to do away with slavery.

Remember that at this time slavery was legal and accepted around the world.  Being against it made you the odd duck.  The United States had a lot of odd ducks.

To be continued...

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