To Be Silent... Would be Criminal
eBook - ePub

To Be Silent... Would be Criminal

The Antislavery Influence and Writings of Anthony Benezet

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

To Be Silent... Would be Criminal

The Antislavery Influence and Writings of Anthony Benezet

About this book

Born in 1713 of French Huguenot stock, Philadelphia Quaker Anthony Benezet was probably the most significant force in advancing the cause against slavery and the African slave trade in the eighteenth century. However, while abolitionists like Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and John Wesley are familiar, the name "Benezet" is hardly recognized. And yet, it was his work that reinforced Sharp's legal battles, his tracts that singularly influenced both Wesley and Clarkson to join the cause, and his friendship with Benjamin Franklin that led to Franklin leading the American antislavery society after Benezet's death.

To Be Silent... Would Be Criminal introduces the development of antislavery activity in America and then traces the life of Benezet, examining both his work and influence on individuals, including Wesley, Sharp, Clarkson, and Franklin. Benezet's correspondence with these and other contemporaries is reproduced here, giving insight into his relationships and his desire to build a viable network to oppose slavery. It's from a letter Benezet wrote to Lady Huntingdon, the chief administer behind the Calvinistic wing of Methodism, that the title of this book is derived: "...where the lives & natural as well as religious welfare of so vast a number of our Fellow Creatures is concerned, to be Silent, where we apprehend it a duty to speak our sense of that which causes us to go mourning on our way, would be criminal." With one exception, all of Benezet's antislavery tracts, which are otherwise available only in special archives, are replicated in full within the book, further demonstrating Benezet's uniquely significant role in the eventual victory over slavery.

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Yes, you can access To Be Silent... Would be Criminal by Irv A. Brendlinger in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Early American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Editors’ Foreword
  8. Foreword
  9. Chronology
  10. Introduction
  11. Chapter 1—Benjamin Lay and Early Protesters
  12. Chapter 2—Benezet’s Life, An Overview
  13. Chapter 3—Benezet’s Antislavery Writing
  14. Chapter 4—Benezet’s Most Explicit Influence
  15. Chapter 5—Others Influenced by Benezet
  16. Chapter 6—In Response to the Closing of the LifeĀ .Ā .Ā .
  17. Letters
  18. Tracts
  19. Afterword
  20. Bibliography
  21. Index
  22. About the Author