James Stephen (30 June 1758 %u2013 10 October 1832) was the principal English lawyer associated with the abolitionist movement.

Early life

James Stephen began his career reporting on parliamentary proceedings. Later he held an official post in the Caribbean at St. Kitts; at that time a British colony. His first-hand experiences in the West Indies and sharp legal mind combined to turn him against the concept of slavery, and he was drawn to the abolitionist movement. He opposed the opening up of Trinidad through the use of slave labour when ceded to the British in 1797, recommending instead that Crown land should only be granted for estates that supported the immigration of free Africans. He considered that, besides the evangelical arguments in support of freedom from slavery, internal security, particularly from potential French interests, could be obtained in the British West Indian Islands by improving the conditions of slaves.

Stephen was a skilled lawyer whose specialty was the laws governing Great Britain's foreign trade. He was a defender of the mercantilist system of government-licensed controlled trade. In October, 1805 %u2013 the same month that the British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated the French fleet %u2013 his book appeared: War in Disguise; or, the Friends of the Neutral Flags. It called for the abolition of neutral nations' carrying trade, meaning America's carrying trade, between France's Caribbean islands and Europe, including Great Britain. Stephen's arguments two years later became the basis of Great Britain's Orders in Council which placed restrictions on American vessels. The enforcement of this law by British warships eventually led to the War of 1812, even though the Orders were repealed in the same month that America declared war, unbeknown to the American Congress.

Abolitionist

James Stephen married Sarah, sister of William Wilberforce in 1800, and through this connection he became more frequently acquainted with many of the figures in the anti-slavery movement. Friendships amongst the abolitionists were also made in the village of Stoke Newington, near London, where James Stephen's father leased a family home from 1774 onwards called Summerhouse. The property adjoined Fleetwood House and Abney House at Abney Park and stood where Summerhouse Road is built today. Close by were the residences of three prominent Quaker abolitionists: William Allen (1770%u20131843), Joseph Woods the elder, and Samuel Hoare the younger (1751%u20131825). The latter two were founder members of the predecessor body to the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

Anna Letitia Barbauld, author of An Epistle to William Wilberforce (1791) also came to live in Stoke Newington in 1802. Inevitably, Wilberforce also became a frequent visitor to Stoke Newington, combining meetings with William Allen and his Quaker circle with visits to his sister Sarah and brother-in-law James.

James Stephen came to be regarded as the chief architect of the 1807 Slave Trade Abolition Act, providing William Wilberforce with the legal mastermind he needed for its drafting. To close off loopholes pointed out by some critics, he became a Director of the Africa Institution for the Registration of Slaves through which he advocated a centralized registry, administered by the British government, which would furnish precise statistics on all slave births, deaths, and sale, so that "any unregistered black would be presumed free". Though he introduced many successful ideas to strengthen the legal success of the abolitionist cause, this mechanism which was, he believed, "the only effective means to prevent British colonists from illicitly importing African slaves" was never taken up.

Member of Parliament

From 1808 to 1815 James Stephen became an MP, and in 1811 Master in Chancery. In 1826 he issued An Address to the People and Electors of England, in which, echoing his speeches, he had some success in urging the election of Members of Parliament who would not be "tools of the West India interest", paving the way for the second Abolition Bill which succeeded in 1833.

James died in 1832.

Wilberforce keeps up the pressure

Despite the momentum developed between 1788 and 1791 the abolitionist cause was not yet won. Two events were responsible for this. The first was the French Revolution, which became ever more extreme. The second was the massive slave uprising in St. Domingue, a French colony in the West Indies, led by Toussaint-L'Ouverture.

A series of revolts began on the island shortly after news of the start of the revolution in France in 1789 reached it. The British attempt to seize the colony proved a disaster, with the loss of more than 40,000 British lives.

All this served to halt the drive for abolition, which was not able to pick up momentum again until after the death of William Pitt in 1806, and the emergence of a more sympathetic Ministry under Lord Grenville.

There had been a string of parliamentary regulations tightening the conduct of the slave trade, but the final abolition had to wait until 1807. Despite this, the 1790s saw repeated attempts by William Wilberforce to keep the issue in the public arena.

Slave Trade Act of 1807