Thomas Clarkson Papers

Thomas Clarkson (b. 1760 d. 1846) was a renowned English abolitionist who spent his adult life fighting to end slavery. As a leader in the British anti-slavery society, Clarkson was instrumental in getting the English Parliament to ban the slave trade in 1807 and to abolish the institution of slaver in 1833. The majority of this small collection is comprised of correspondence from Thomas Clarkson and his wife, Catherine, to her father, William Buck. Notable writings by Clarkson include the original essay An Liceat Nolentes In Servitutom Dare? [Is It Lawful to Make Slaves of Others Against Their Will?]. This essay, written in Latin, won the Chancellor's Prize at Cambridge College, England in 1785 and served as the basis for the expanded work, Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly The African published in 1786.