Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade

Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade is a pamphlet by John Newton, Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. The advertisement says the profits, if any, arising from the sale of this pamphlet are appropriated to the use of the Society, established in London, for the support and encouragement of Sunday Schools, in the different counties of England. The writer says that among the Natives of Africa, for about the space of eighteen months, the writer was in effect, though without the name, a Captive and a Slave.

The writer says that in the year 1750 the writer was appointed commander, in which capacity the writer made three voyages to the Windward Coast, for Slaves. The writer says of the people called Savages that the writer has lived long, and conversed much, amongst these supposed Savages, and has often slept in their towns, in a house filled with goods for trade. The writer says that in Sherbro, where the writer was most acquainted, many instances of modesty, and even delicacy, were seen, which would not disgrace an English woman. The writer tells the reader that the writer writes from memory, after an interval of more than thirty years.