The Quiet Persistence of William Wilberforce

For twenty years, William Wilberforce rose in the British Parliament and introduced the same bill to abolish the slave trade. Twenty years. He was mocked, threatened, and physically attacked. His health failed repeatedly — he suffered from ulcerative colitis so severe that doctors doubted he would survive his thirties. Political allies abandoned him. Votes fell short again and again. Yet Wilberforce never resorted to violence or revolution.…