Destroying the Upas tree: the role of Scottish churches and people in the abolition of Black slavery 1756-1838

Abstract

The thesis explores the contribution of Scotland to the abolition of the slave trade and Caribbean slavery during the long eighteenth century. The starting date marks the first case before the Court of Session of a black slave in Scotland seeking freedom; that of Jamie Montgomery, who ran away from his master in Beith in 1756. The period concludes with the abolition in 1838 of the apprenticeship scheme that replaced slavery in the West Indies in 1834.The first chapter is a survey of historians' assessment of the factors which contributed to the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. The thesis moves to an analysis of Scottish involvement in the slave trade and slavery in contrast to the ideas of the Scottish enlightenment. It then considers the presence of black slaves in Scotland, their treatment, and the court cases surrounding three of them. The issue of baptism and its influence on the ideas of freedom is central to this chapter. Two chapters, four and six, deal with the Scottish petitions to Parliament against the slave trade in 1788 and 1792 and against slavery itself from 1823 to 1831. The contribution of the Churches, of theological ideas, and of churchmen active in anti-slavery campaigns and committees are particularly discussed, as is the theological controversy over the ethics of slavery and opposition to abolition from some churchmen, from merchants and from the West Indian interests in Scotland. The controversy between calls for gradual and immediate abolition forms a substantial part of chapter six. The poisonous Upas tree was compared to slavery in 1830 by the leading evangelical churchman and proponent for immediatism, the Edinburgh minister Andrew Thomson.Chapter five considers the central contribution of five Scots to the abolition cause - James Ramsay, William Dickson, James Stephen, Zachary Macaulay, and Henry Brougham, and assesses the influence of background and education on their anti-slavery activity. In chapter seven the position of the Scottish missionaries in Jamaica is analysed along with the final stages of the campaign in 1833 and the resurgence of campaigning activity against the apprenticeship scheme.The conclusion of the thesis argues that the contribution of Scotland to the anti-slavery movement was much stronger than has often been recognised, despite many factors militating against it and other issues which might have eclipsed it. Secondly the thesis takes issue with the contention that antislavery in the churches originated with the evangelical revival, and that the issue of slavery became a convenient tool for the working out of other theological and philosophical concerns. It argues that the reverse was true, that a combination of Moderate theology, influenced by the ideals of the Scottish enlightenment and the impetus of evangelical theology, combined in the service of human rights and made a unique contribution to the wider movement to abolish slavery.