The
Amazing Grace of James Basker: Abolitionists and Anti-Slavery Writings
AMAZING GRACE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS ABOUT SLAVERY 1660-1810
Edited by James G. Basker
Published by Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History: New York. 2007: 721
pp.
Reviewed By Merri Rosenberg
With the publication of these two extraordinary volumes of primary
documents and poetry concerning the initial anti-slavery movement in America
and Britain, social studies teachers and students of history will have a field
day.
I’ll admit that I was primed to devour these books, after a recent viewing of
the movie, “Amazing Grace”, about the efforts to abolish slavery in Britain.
Even so, I found the collection of essays and arguments in the anti-slavery writings
eye-opening (and will confess that I was chagrined at my ignorance, given that
I had taken several undergraduate history courses in the colonial era and
post-Revolutionary period).
What’s just as impressive is that this
project represents the efforts of undergraduate historians, who re-discovered
and interpreted these documents. Drawing upon, predominantly, the works of
early abolitionist Quakers, New England ministers and some women, these works,
as James G. Basker explains, “.. are not vestiges of a failed effort or a lost
cause. They show, individually and collectively, that the mindset of the
founding generation was not uniformly pro-slavery, nor even passively
acquiescent in the continuance of slavery.”
David Cooper, for example, was an activist Quaker who presented abolitionist
bills to the United States Congress. In his writings, “Cooper took the idea of
America’s ‘enslavement’ by England to a new level and used the same Revolutionary
language to speak of a racial equality under God.” Quite a radical leap for
that time period, and a significant one.
Whether imbued with fervent passion or espousing carefully constructed logical
arguments against slavery, these writings clearly convey the commitment of
these anti-abolitionists to the cause.
Reading these essays, letters and sermons in conjunction with the
anti-abolition anthology of 400 poems adds still another dimension to a more
nuanced understanding of this historical moment. This volume contains texts by
William Congreve, Alexander Pope, William Blake, Leigh Hunt, William Cowper and
Phillis Wheatley, as well as several contributions by “anonymous” from different
eras.
Consider John Newton, a former slave trader and captain of a slave ship, who
authored “Amazing Grace” in gratitude for being released from the slave trade
(and it was his preachings and teachings inspired the anti-abolitionist career
of William Wilberforce, whose life is presented so powerfully in the “Amazing
Grace” film). No matter how many times, or under what circumstances, one hears
the hymn “Amazing Grace”, its emotional resonance never falters. In the first
three stanzas, for example, the salvation that comes from revelation is
unmistakable:
“Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home...”
Ideally, these books should be read as companions. They offer an unusual, and
illuminating perspective on one of the darkest periods of our national history,
and deserve as wide an audience as possible.#
