Thomas Clarkson believed that Africans were being forced into slavery in the West Indies, but could he prove it to the British public?
In 1790, many people still sincerely believed that African slaves in the West Indies went there voluntarily. Thomas Clarkson did not; and when a friend told him of a sailor who had seen the kidnappings with his own eyes, he set out to get his testimony. Unfortunately, Clarkson did not know this man’s name, his ship, or even his home port.
Josiah Wedgwood’s promotional gift made Abolitionism fashionable.
The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, founded in 1787 by Thomas Clarkson, distributed a tasteful cameo of its emblem done in jasperware by Josiah Wedgwood. Clarkson (who sent some to Benjamin Franklin, President of Pennsylvania) later expressed his warm appreciation.