We’ve been talking about how just one person can make a difference. If we are able to find even one other person to work together with, we can make even greater differences.
Not only does having someone to join forces with give us companionship, but it also augments the positive effects we can have.
An example of a powerful partnership is the one between John Newton and William Wilberforce.
John Newton was born in 1725. Before he turned seven years old, his mother died. When he was only 11 years old, he went to sea with his father. At 18 years old, he was forced to serve as a sailor in Britain’s Royal Navy. He was assigned to a slave ship.
At 20 years old, Newton was abandoned in West Africa to a slave dealer who gave Newton to his wife, who abused and mistreated all her slaves. In 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had been asked by his father to search for his young son.
On his return voyage home, Newton began to change his life but, ironically, he remained blind to the extreme injustices of the slave trade. He served as a captain of slave ships and also invested in the trade of capturing and selling innocent human beings.
Gradually, Newton’s eyes were opened to how evil all slavery is. He eventually became an Anglican priest in 1764. In 1772, he wrote the words that became the well-known song Amazing Grace, which Newton said: “saved a wretch like me.”
In 1788 Newton published an influential pamphlet titled Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade. He described the appalling conditions of the slave ships he used to be the captain of. He both confessed and apologized for his role in the horrendous slave trade, saying, “It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.”
William Wilberforce was born in 1759 to a wealthy merchant family. He lived a lifestyle of gambling, partying and social climbing. In 1780 he was elected to the British Parliament at just 21 years old. Five years later, he radically changed his lifestyle and beliefs and wondered if he should step out of politics.
In 1785, William Wilberforce went to an Anglican priest, who just happened to be Newton, and asked for advice regarding what to do about his political career. Newton encouraged Wilberforce to remain in politics and to use his position to fight the slave trade, which he did, with much support from Newton.
Wilberforce introduced his first bill in 1789 and faced extreme opposition from wealthy plantation owners. He faced death threats, political defeats, and health issues.
It took until 1807 to pass the first Slave Trade Act. Newton just barely lived long enough to see this abolition of the African slave trade, only a few months before his death.
Wilberforce continued to fight for freedom for remaining slaves. On his deathbed in 1833, he was informed of the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act.
“From this spot I shall not fly… I will die here.”
Alexander the Great
