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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