William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce, FRSA ( born August 24, 1759 in Kingston upon Hull, † July 29, 1833 in Chelsea ) was a British parliamentarian and leader in the fight against the slave trade.
Life
As a child, Wilberforce is said to have the former slave trader John Newton met and even have been friends with him. He graduated as a member of St John 's College at Cambridge University and in 1780 elected to his home town of Hull to the British House of Commons. To 1784, he converted on a trip through continental Europe to evangelical Protestantism and began in 1787 his mission to reform the morals ( " Proclamation Society " ) and specifically to end the slave trade, supported by abolitionists such as Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Quakers and Methodists. In a parliamentary session in 1789, he applied together with his college friend William Pitt, the then Prime Minister, the abolition of the British slave trade. From this point on, he repeated the introduction of the bill in the Parliament every year except between 1800 and 1803.
1807, after 18 years of campaigning and struggle against slavery, Wilberforce finally had success. After a ten -hour debate in Parliament the law against the slave trade ( "Slave Trade Act ") was adopted on February 24, 1807 in the morning at four clock with an unexpected and overwhelming majority of 283 to 16 votes. A month later, on March 25, 1807, the law was enacted. From then on, the African slave trade was banned in the British sphere of influence and slave traders were treated as pirates. The internal slave trade in the non- African colonies, however, was still permitted. The United States decided a law (Act Prohibiting Importation of slaves); occurred due to a provision in the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed the slave trade until 1808, on 1 January 1808 in force.
Wilberforce now focused his efforts on enforcing this ban in the rest of the civilized world. At his instigation brought Lord Castlereagh the matter at the Congress of Vienna to the language. After completion of contracts in which to France, Spain and Portugal committed to the abolition of the slave trade, he campaigned for the monitoring of the decision.
After the abolition of the slave trade, he campaigned for the abolition of slavery at all. Already in 1816 he introduced in Parliament a request for a reduction of the slaves in the British West Indies, and as the government prepared the complete emancipation since 1823, he displayed great zeal and led by Thomas Buxton at his side in the House of fierce debate.
Since 1825 he lived retired for health reasons. He died on 29 July 1833 in Chelsea, three days after slavery was abolished in Britain. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
William Wilberforce and India
The fight against slavery was not initially in the center of William Wilberforce's activities. How many Britons, he stood Hinduism critical of the reasons we saw in the caste system and in practices such as widow burning, or of discrimination against women and girls, through to female infanticide. Wilberforce said therefore again that the conversion of the Indian people to the Christian faith for him a higher status than did the abolition of slavery. He was thus one of the increasingly large group of Britons who fought for allowing a missionary in India.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the British East India Company had prevented any Christian missionary in India. Wilberforce sat against the influence of the East India Company on the participation of citizens in the formation of opinion. In a total of 837 petitions signed nearly half a million British, the British Parliament was proposed to make 1793 upcoming renewal of the " British East India Company 's charter" so that the East India Company would be obliged to posting of teachers and deacons. The concern failed initially to the successful lobbying by the directors of the Company. This feared that the turn to Christianity could jeopardize the existing power structures in India and thus affect their economic interests.
Quotes
" It seemed to me the corruption of the slave trade so enormous, so dreadful and irreparable that I decided fully for the abolition. May the consequences as they want, I have decided for myself that I will not rest until I have enforced the abolition of the slave trade. "
"My way is a public path. My business is in the world; and I have to mingle with the people or the post ad, which Providence has assigned me apparently. "
Aftereffect
Numerous monuments were put to him. His birthplace is now a museum. The Wilberforce College in Ohio is named after him.
In Carol Reed's film The Young Mr. Pitt (1942 ), he was portrayed by John Mills, and in 2006 his life under the title Amazing Grace movie was filmed, in which Ioan Gruffudd took over his role.
Named after him, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, the United States is to combat human trafficking and forced prostitution.