John Newton was an evangelical clergyman who was one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement.
Today he is best known as a hymn writer, and the author of Amazing Grace but he was also a notable preacher who drew huge crowds.
Part of his attraction was his down to earth, direct style, and his willingness to own his mistakes.
In his youth and early adulthood he had worked as a slaver. At one time he had also even been enslaved to an African princess.
Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade was a best seller in its time. It is a pamphlet against the trade, and also a personal confession. It exemplifies the human capacity to rise above the circumstances in which we find ourselves, while owning the traits that led those circumstances to exist in the first place.
We’ve republished it for Emancipation Day as a work which worthily reflects the complexity of this issue, and the ultimate triumph of our better natures which ushered in the modern world where it is universally acknowledged that everyone has basic human rights.