Anthony Benezet
(Anthony Benezet Teaching Former Slave Children1)
Within the Quaker community are legends of the founders who forged the path to what
Friends represent today. John Woolman, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Benjamin Lay, and George Fox
were all well-known and modern-thinkers of their time, but when digging deeper, one can find
the unsung heroes who have also helped countless lives in impossible ways. Anthony Benezet
was one of these men; a profoundly compassionate Quaker who had ideas about equality that
would eventually change the world. Benezet worked not only to incorporate Quakerism within
his everyday life, but into others’ as well. He was a scholar, a teacher, and a philanthropist. But
he was known most for his help in the Abolition movement. He disregarded the social norm with
1
The Abolition Project “Anthony Benezet (1713-1784): The Teacher” abolition.e2bn http://abolition.e2bn.org/
people_27.html; Internet; Accessed March 31, 2015
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his peace movements, and questioned the human murder and civil destruction that slavery
entailed; an idea that was unquestioned amongst the thousands of privileged Europeans and
Colonists. Anthony Benezet was not only a main founder of Quakerism, but a man whose beliefs,
even today are thought to be true representation of humanity.
Benezet’s life began out in the small town of St. Quentin, France, in 1713. After only a
few days old, he was entered into Christianity—by being plunged into water, and freed from sin.2
It was believed that his well-respected family of merchants would then continue to teach their
son about the importance of the Catholic faith, however, this was not the religious path that was
planned for him.
Benezet was raised in a family of religious refugees. His family, who were mainly French
Huguenots, (a sect of Christianity that was oppressed at the time of Benezet’s birth), were forced
to privately practice their own religion while publicly worshiping Catholicism. “Although [his
father] had young Anthony baptized, he was no Catholic.”3 His parents, Jean-Étienne Bénézet
and Judith de la Méjenelle, while being known for upstanding citizenship, were eventually
persecuted for practicing Calvinism. (“The Edict of Nantes was decreed on April 13, 1598,
granting French Protestants a good deal of rights in a primarily Catholic country. In 1685,
2
Catechism of the Catholic Church. “Article 1: the Sacrament of Baptism,” Vatican online. http://www.vatican.va/
archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm; Internet; Accessed March 29, 2015
3
Maurice Jackson, Let This Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2010), 4.
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however, Louis XIV repealed the Edict of Nantes.”4) Since Anthony Benezet’s family were
French Huguenots, they were forced to emigrate in 1715.5
Holland was the Benezet family’s next stop. Northern Europe at that time was known for
religious sanctuary. “Rotterdam had many French Protestants, and Dutch Protestants warmly
welcomed them, [however, Judith de la Méjenelle and Jean-Étienne Bénézet] only stayed six
months.”6 At this time England seemed like a viable option7 and the economic benefits were too
good to turn down. The instability of re-entering an anti-Huguenot populace was a small price to
pay for the promise of high merchant wages.
For the main part of Anthony Benezet’s childhood he lived in London with his family of
merchants, learning to trade, and expected to continue the family tradition.8 The promise of a
safe haven within the hustle of London proved convenient, until Anthony reached the age of
seventeen. Ultimately the opposition to the Huguenots flared up in Britain,which continued to
grow more hostile. The Benezets and their seven children fled to Philadelphia in 1731. From then
on Antoine Bénézet from Northern France was gone, and replaced with the americanized
Anthony Benezet.9 This may have been one of the reasons why the French-born Huguenot was
4
PA Book Libraries.“Anthony Benezet,” pabooklibraries online. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/
Benezet__Anthony.html; Internet; Accessed March 27, 2015
5
Huguenot. “History” Huguenot Society Online. Available from http://www.huguenot.netnation.com/general/
huguenot.htm; Internet; Accessed March 28, 2015
6
Maurice Jackson, Let This Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2010), 5.
7
Barbour, Hugh and Frost, J. William, authors. The Quakers. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, Inc, 1988.
8
Carey, Brycchan. “Anthony Benezet (1713-1784)” BrycchanCarey online. Available from http://
www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/benezet.htm; Internet; accessed March 24, 2013
9
Bourhis-Mariotti, Claire and Goyard Jean-Baptiste. The Atlantic World of Anthony Benezet North Carolina:
University of North Carolina Press, 2013
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so determined have everyone be treated equally—he could not quench the rage from having to
emigrate because of the unjust laws of someone else.
After Anthony Benezet emigrated to America with his family, it was decided that he
would join a Friends school, and become a member of the Friends of America.10 With the
religious change from Huguenotism to Quakerism, he had unknowingly joined a cause that
would change the world.
He married his wife in 1736; she also practiced Quakerism. In fact, Joyce Marriott had
been announced a minister of the Philadelphia Meeting only five years prior, the same year her
future in-laws emigrated to America.11 With this new link of Quaker families, Benezet decided to
become an elder as well (a minister/elder is a designated leader of Silent Meeting12), on the
sidelines of his day job.
Anthony Benezet is best known as a Quaker and Abolitionist, but much of his life was
devoted to his intense love of teaching. However, it took him over a third of a decade to realize
that educating others was his passion.
Following his own education, the young Quaker worked to continue family business of
trading, but he felt no joy in what he was doing. After a failed attempt to live up to his father’s
wishes as a merchant, he tried other forms of employment. Benezet spent three years moving
throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware, with his wife and two children, looking for job
10
Barbour, Hugh and Frost, J. William, authors. The Quakers. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, Inc, 1988.
11
Gwynedd Friends Meeting. “An Abstract of the Life of Anthony Benezet,” gwyneddfriendsmeeting online. http://
www.gwyneddmeeting.org/history/benezet.html; Internet; Accessed March 22, 2015
12
Quaker Jane. “Elder,” quakerjane online. http://www.quakerjane.com/spirit.friends/spiritualityglossary.html#minister; Internet; Accessed March 28, 2015
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opportunities. Manufacturing and selling commodities with his brothers13 were both options that
had been offered, but the young Quaker did not appreciate the greater good that these job
opportunities provided.
In late 1739 Anthony Benezet was offered a job as a school teacher, and moved his
growing family of six back to the suburbs of Philadelphia. It was then when his true calling of
bringing knowledge and truth to others broke out and shone. “Benezet was unique in his style of
education at the time. He was compassionate and understanding, rather than adhering to an
authoritarian philosophy of education.”14 Benezet’s first real move as an educator was in 1742,
when the young Quaker was offered a job as a teacher for the Philadelphia Publick School
(Modern-day Penn Charter).15 He then moved on, and founded the first public girls’ school in
America.16 “He always wanted to do the best for his students and to make the school as inclusive
as possible.”17 Anthony Benezet wanted all children to learn, and saw no difference between the
races or genders that made up America, only that one of each was treated worse. By teaching, he
did what he could to stop this partiality. In 1767 Benezet wrote that he, as a “‘teacher of a
school...for many years, had opportunity of knowing the temper and genius of the Africans,’ and
could 'with truth and sincerity declare amongst them as a great a variety of talents, equally
13
Quakers in the World. “Anthony Benezet,” quakersintheworld online. http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakersin-action/60; Internet; Accessed March 22, 2015
14
PA Book Libraries.“Anthony Benezet,” pabooklibraries online. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/
Benezet__Anthony.html; Internet; Accessed March 27, 2015
15
Gwynedd Friends Meeting. “An Abstract of the Life of Anthony Benezet,” gwyneddfriendsmeeting online. http://
www.gwyneddmeeting.org/history/benezet.html; Internet; Accessed March 23, 2015
16 16
The Abolition Project “Anthony Benezet (1713-1784): The Teacher” abolition.e2bn http://abolition.e2bn.org/
people_27.html; Internet; Accessed March 27, 2015
17
Quakers in the World. “Anthony Benezet,” quakersintheworld online. http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakersin-action/60; Internet; Accessed March 30, 2015
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capable of improvement, as amongst a like number of whites.’”18 And yet, his entire want to
change the future for these individually-minded children began with the want for a place to
belong.
There are multiple theories as to how Anthony Benezet shifted from a religious refugee to
one of the most influential Quakers of the eighteenth century. Only a few, however, remain
accurate in surmising Benezet’s ultimate goal of freedom for all, including the freedom of minds.
For this modern-minded thinker, the reality that a decent education in colonial America was hard
to come by, travelled with him his entire life, and fueled many of his decisions for equal
education no matter what race, origin, or ethnicity. Like other Quakers of the mid-1700s, Benezet
verbally opposed the racist practices of officials. In exchange, his ideas regarding civil change in
any field were met with harsh skepticism, and disputers made his simple theories of equality
seem radical and deplorable.
Benezet had been treated horrifically throughout the majority of the first two decades of
his life, just for a religion that he was born into. Through this discrimination, Benezet started to
fathom the torment that slaves faced in everyday life. So, he became one of the first members of
the peaceful crusade to change the status quo in regards to the acceptance of slavery. “His
campaign, very much a solitary one at first, took two forms. Firstly, he worked to convince his
Quaker brethren in Philadelphia that slave-owning was not consistent with Christian doctrine.
Secondly, he wrote and published at his own expense a number of anti-slavery tracts.”19
18
PBS “Brotherly Love: Anthony Benezet” PBS Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p248.html; Internet;
Accessed March 28, 2015
19
Brycchan Carey. “Anthony Benezet (1713-1784)” BrycchanCarey online. Available from http://
www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/benezet.htm; Internet; accessed March 28, 2013
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Obviously challenging the traditional patterns of society was ill-received, and spreading
Quaker beliefs in the midst of the pre-industrial revolution was nettlesome if not vexatious for
the solidified minds of eighteenth century laborers and businessmen. However, Anthony Benezet
was not perturbed by the undertaking that it took to have his audiences, neighbors, and even
fellow Quakers think faultily of slavery, let alone banish the concept entirely. “It was around the
year 1750 that his strong feelings against slavery are generally noted.”20 Benezet had never been
covert in expressing his abhorrence of slavery, but family and friends started to take notice of
Anthony’s ambition for racial equality when he began teaching the ex-slave children of the
community. During his time teaching the girls’ school that he started, he begun spending his
evenings teaching the same courses to African-American children whenever he could find the
time and space. Many of these lessons were taught from his own house, and all classes were free
to those who wanted to learn.21 The French-born Quaker relished the idea using education to
change a damaged society.
But soon Benezet’s hunger for civil equality needed more. He wanted to make the public
comprehend the pain that was produced when an individual has nowhere to belong. “Benezet did
some of his most important work at the Library Company of Philadelphia, where he pulled
expensive volumes of travel narratives off the shelves, and carefully copied out excerpts
describing the activities of slave traders along the coasts of Africa.”22 In 1758, Benezet starting
20
PA Book Libraries.“Anthony Benezet,” pabooklibraries online. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/
Benezet__Anthony.html; Internet; Accessed March 29, 2015
21
Quakers in the World. “Anthony Benezet,” quakersintheworld online. http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakersin-action/60; Internet; Accessed March 24, 2015
22
Book Reviews, “Slavery and Abolition,” Ebsco Host, http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=4ba57f00-3072-489b-9807-f38e8b3d6231%40sessionmgr114&vid=7&hid=116; Internet; Accessed March 26,
2015), 156
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printing short essays on cheap paper, vividly describing the cruel conditions in which fellow men
were being treated. His ambition grew as he learned more and more about the hostile ways that
slave owners treated their “property.” Within a decade, Benezet’s findings were published across
the Atlantic, and thousands of his pamphlets were distributed throughout the slave trade route.23
The pure success regarding the pamphlets was vast, and through this, Anthony Benezet decided
that his declarations antagonizing slave-trade ought to be published.
Benezet published seven books representing his philosophies, stories, and opinions on
slavery. One of his most important pieces of writing, Some Historical Account of Guinea, was
based on Captain William Snelgrave’s novel, A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea and the
Slave-Trade. The novel was a parody of the sea captain’s book, and successfully showed that
slavery was simply senseless inhumanity. “The years immediately following publication of Some
Historical Account of Guinea were filled with activity for Benezet as antislavery campaigning
picked up on both sides of the Atlantic.”24
While Benezet’s knowledge of the African Slave Trade Route was vast, he understood
that it was limited compared to those who experienced the brutality firsthand. It was around this
time when the French-born Abolitionist started using African informants to report the hardship.25
In Benezet’s book, Short Observations on Slavery, he uses an informant to help him understand
the true terror of slavery.
23
Book Reviews, “Slavery and Abolition,” Ebsco Host, http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=4ba57f00-3072-489b-9807-f38e8b3d6231%40sessionmgr114&vid=7&hid=116; Internet; Accessed March 28,
2015
24
David L. Crosby Antislavery, Abolition, and the Atlantic World: Complete Antislavery Writings of Anthony
Benezet, 1754-1783. (Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press LSU Press, 2014), 197
25
Jackson, Maurice. “Let This Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism”. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2010.
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“From [my informant’s] first arrival he appeared thoughtful and dejected, frequently
dropping tears, when fondling his master’s children; the cause of which was not know till he was
able to be understood that, when he gave the following account. That he had a wife and children
in his own country, that some of these being sick, he went in the night to fetch water at a spring,
when he was violently seized and carried away [to America], and that the remembrance of his
family and friends where the cause of his dejection and grief.”26
Benezet’s incredible work to change the world has been overlooked by many Quakers
and historians. The humbleness of his character drew people in, but also made him and his work
forgettable. He was one of the few white men of his era who did not feel as though there was a
class system among races, and truly allowed his actions to speak louder than his words. “Unlike
many abolitionists, Benezet spent time among Philadelphia's blacks; he knew and was known by
most of the black population.”27
The originality of Benezet’s idea that all men are created equal was thought to have been
a vision shared by all Quakers of that era; however, Benezet’s true belief shone brighter than
some of the well-known abolitionists of the late 18th century. A colleague of Anthony Benezet’s,
John Woolman, was one of these men. It was said that Woolman “[started the] Abolition
movement that eventually won the freedom of every slave in America.”28 However, this legacy
of pure-heartedness on John Woolman’s part has been questioned. “While Benezet came to see
26
Maurice Jackson, “Let This Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism” (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2010), 77
27
PBS “Brotherly Love: Anthony Benezet” PBS Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p248.html; Internet;
Accessed March 28, 2015
28
Practicing Resurrection Together. “The Life and Impact of John Woolman,” Practicing Resurrection Together
online. https://practicingresurrectiontogether.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-life-and-impact-of-john-woolman/;
Internet; Accessed March 22, 2015
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the Slaves as equal human beings in God’s sight, Woolman never got that far.”29 While nothing
could underestimate the fact that Woolman was an incredibly influential force in assisting with
the annihilation of slavery, it should be noted that there were others who funneled just as many
hours of passion and dedication into the Abolition movement as he did, if not more. In 1772,
Anthony Benezet rose in Meeting for Worship to discredit the seemingly-peaceful actions of his
fellow Quakers by scorning them for their continued ownership of slaves. He stated: “‘Ethiopia
shall soon stretch out her hands unto God’ (Pslams 68:31, as reported by Brookes). After he is
done, the Yearly Meeting decides to proceed with emancipation the official policy.”30 After
seeing the success of his outburst, he wrote another volume on the consequences of slavery, and
continued on his journey to assist in the Abolishment of owning others. Benezet was sixty at the
time, and well past his prime. While proving the outspoken stewardship of Anthony Benezet
does not diminish the colossal effort others put into the shared Quaker achievement for change it
does put the integrity of Benezet’s dedication to Quaker values in perspective.
This modern-thinking Abolitionist was not just another body within the (peaceful) army
of anti-slavery, but one of the first to project his emotions outward. Benezet wrote multiple
books both denouncing the slave-trade industry, and his personal views about the repulsion of
owing another human being. He spread the unknown information about the slave industry that
was to be kept under wraps for the sake of profit, “and persuaded others to do likewise. His
correspondents included such notables as Benjamin Franklin, Granville Sharp and John
29
Maurice Jackson, Let This Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2010), 53.
30
Gwynedd Friends Meeting. “An Abstract of the Life of Anthony Benezet,” gwyneddfriendsmeeting online. http://
www.gwyneddmeeting.org/history/benezet.html; Internet; Accessed March 23, 2015
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Wesley.”31 Anthony Benezet not only dreamed about what to do to change the world, he woke up
and did it: an ambition that only few acquire.
While it cannot be said that Anthony Benezet was a widely acknowledged abolitionist,
there is no doubt that he changed the world. “Even after his death, Benezet continued to have a
profound effect on his contemporaries: the appearance of his ghost in a dream prompted
slaveowner Benjamin Rush to devote himself to the cause of abolition.”32 The philanthropists,
abolitionists, and self-designated reshapers of society alike used Benezet’s name to represent the
undercurrent of good within the malicious overtone of the pre-modern world.
But not all forgot him. The Reverend George Duffield Jr. wrote, almost one hundred
years after Benezet’s death, an article in the Hartford Daily Courant, involving keeping faith in
the name of Abolition. “[I hope our state stays] faithful to the manes of Lay: Woolman,
Rittenhouse, Vauz, Rush, and above all, of Anthony Benezet—and faithful to the onward march
of public sentiment against Slavery.”33
Anthony Benezet used his belief in peaceful protest to fuel societal behavior that he knew
was wrong. Benezet wrote: "To live in ease and plenty by the toil of those whom violence and
cruelty have put in our power, is neither consistent with Christianity nor common justice..."34
31
PBS “Brotherly Love: Anthony Benezet” PBS Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p248.html; Internet;
Accessed March 27, 2015
32
PBS “Brotherly Love: Anthony Benezet” PBS Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p248.html; Internet;
Accessed March 22, 2015
33
Duffield Jr., George. “(No Title)” ProQuest Historical Newspapers Hartford Courant (1764 - 1989) pg. 2:
Hartford Daily Courant (1840-1887), Article 3 October 14, 1856
34
The Abolition Project “Anthony Benezet (1713-1784): The Teacher” abolition.e2bn http://abolition.e2bn.org/
people_27.html; Internet; Accessed March 29, 2015
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In Anthony Benezet’s lifetime he was considered a Quaker, a father, a husband, and son;
a free-thinker, a teacher, a rule-breaker, and even at times an aggravation to those around him.
But never was he thought of as a hero. Benezet worked to create freedom throughout, and
knowledge for all; are these not traits of someone who deserves to be remembered? The Frenchborn immigrant’s passion for justice fueled a larger movement of peace-based change that is
endorsed to this day. While more and more Quakers add their names to the roll that was started
over 350 years ago, descendants of Anthony Benezet are graced with the knowledge that their
blood made a difference. Anthony Benezet was not only a main founder of Quakerism, but a man
whose beliefs, even today, are thought to be true representation of humanity.
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