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Jefferson and Wilberforce:
Leaders Who Shaped Their Times, Part I
JEFFERSON AND WILBERFORCE, PART I
Also in this series:
Jefferson ’s Early Mentors
 Both Wilberforce and Jefferson would say that they were fortunate protégées and indeed, they were deeply impacted by their early mentors.
It was at William and Mary at the age of 17, that Jefferson encountered the three men who would be his most important mentors. The first, William Smalls, was a philosopher and mathematician from Scotland (and the only non-clergy person on the faculty) and one of the earliest Enlightenment scholars in America. There was also Governor Fauquier, a prominent government leader in Williamsburg, who held strong views on the role of government and the need to curtail state sponsored religion—an issue Jefferson later took up with some success. And, finally, there was attorney George Wythe who would shape Jefferson not only as his law tutor but also later as a business partner and lifelong friend. Wythe would later become a prominent Virginia leader as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and as a framer and signatory to the Constitution.
The four men formed somewhat of a European style salon during Jefferson’s university years, brought together by Smalls, with the teenage Jefferson the clear beneficiary of such heady company arranged by Smalls. Here the great issues of the day were discussed and debated as Jefferson learned to think widely about the world he was entering.
Jefferson would say later in his autobiography that of the three mentors, William Smalls, his professor in mathematics and later philosophy, “probably fixed the destinies of my life.” 4 Perhaps Smalls’ greatest impact was on Jefferson’s lifelong passion for science and the supremacy of rational thought over supernatural revelation.
Smalls’ form of philosophy, formerly called skepticism, and later rationalism, would be fully embraced by the young Jefferson as a means of understanding the world and later the role and limits of politics. That philosophy marked the emergence of the Enlightenment in Europe and in America. Jefferson’s years as ambassador in France where the Enlightenment originated only reinforced his early discovery of the exciting new way of understanding the shaping of history and the destiny of man at William and Mary. It was also a rejection of the longstanding biblical view of the sovereign guidance of God in the affairs of men.
In one sense, this begins to explain how Jefferson could write so tellingly about slavery as a violation of rights (and not moral law). This was a central idea from the Enlightenment: a rejection of revealed truth about morality as a basis for decisions. He would also come to place his trust in the moral progress of man as the eventual answer to slavery—another central Enlightenment tenet. We will examine these impacts in greater detail later, but it is clear that the roots of those views in an older Jefferson can be traced back to Smalls and to the Williamsburg salon. It did fix Jefferson’s “destinies” in ways he may not have understood. Throughout his life, Jefferson was more a man of great ideas with a faith in the ultimate perfectibility of man and society.
Wilberforce’s Mentors
Wilberforce was only 10 when his father died and his mother was also ill at the time, so for two years he lived with his uncle and aunt, recent evangelical converts to Methodism under Whitefield. There he met two of their friends who both became important male role models and mentors.
The first man, John Thornton, his aunt’s half brother, was also a convert under Whitefield’s preaching and one of the wealthiest men in England who lived simply and used his wealth to do his “Church work.” He took the unusual step of giving William a large sum of money and instructing him to use it to alleviate the needs of the poor. Here was a lesson that could be seen later in Wilberforce’s life as he took up dozens of causes for the poor in England.
The other mentor, John Newton, was the colorful ship’s captain, preacher, and converted slave trader— whom we know as the author of “Amazing Grace.” Childless, he came to consider young William as a son. Under the influence of Thornton and Newton and that of his uncle and aunt, William became a practicing evangelical and a Methodist, alarming his mother who finally recalled him home. Though his early faith would fade as Wilberforce encountered the culture at his mother’s insistence, he would later recommit his life to this faith spawned under his mentors’ influence.
For Wilberforce, the more influential of his two mentors was clearly John Newton. In those early days at his aunt and uncle’s, Newton and the boy he came to call his “son” became close. Newton would come to the house to preach “parlor sermons,” often an exposition on Pilgrim’s Progress, which remained vivid in Wilberforce’s memory. Later as Wilberforce came to place his entire faith in Christ after a time of wandering in the cultural enticements of his day, he came to repent of his man-about-town ways as a young, bachelor parliamentarian.
Newton had not lost track of Wilberforce over the ensuing years but followed his career, even using him to illustrate how a life could go off track. “The most promising views of this sort (Christian conviction) I ever met with were in the case of Mr. Wilberforce when he was a boy but now they seem entirely worn off, not a trace left behind, except a deportment comparatively decent and moral in a young man of a large fortune.” 5
It was on the heels of his recommitment to his earlier Christian faith that he secretly sought out Newton for advice. To openly associate with such a religious enthusiast as Newton would potentially doom Wilberforce’s political career, yet the two met. This was to be a life changing conversation, because Wilberforce had concluded that now as a professing Christian, he could not remain in the sordid world of politics but must instead enter the ministry. He sought confirmation from Newton only to be told that his calling was to remain where he was. The government needed godly leaders during difficult times. Newton made it clear that his calling to politics was not a lesser choice.
This understanding of vocation would become the centerpiece for Wilberforce’s work for the next 40 years and soon led him directly to his clearer understanding of his call. In 1787 he saw his specific mission was laid down in “two great objects” that came from God—to abolish slavery in all of Britain’s colonies and to reform the manners and morals of England. Against horrendous odds, that breathtaking vision remained his focus for the rest of his life.
Newton ’s early influence led to the conversion of young William; his later influence was certainly twofold. First, in helping Wilberforce to see that his vocation, his calling by God, was politics, not the church. This ran counter to the common view that the highest expression of religious commitment was to be in the profession of clergy. Second, Newton helped Wilberforce to understand the horrors of the capture and transporting of slaves where almost half would die in what was called “the middle passage.” It not only galvanized William’s conscience, it provided him with the beginnings of his exhaustive documentation of the realities of slavery that proved so effective in the debates that led up to the slave trade being ended in 1807. Without Newton’s influence as a mentor, it is doubtful that Wilberforce would have become the man in later life that became known as “the Washington of humanity.” It was in the shaping of Wilberforce’s character that Newton made the greatest impact.
Conclusion
Two older men, Smalls and Newton, were at the forefront of those who shaped the thinking and ultimately the destinies, not only of Jefferson and Wilberforce, but arguably of America and England as well. Their place is perhaps little appreciated but clearly they were a part of God’s design for the lives of Jefferson and Wilberforce as both began their rise to power. Their role is at least one piece to the puzzle of why the leadership of Jefferson and Wilberforce in transforming their cultures was one of divergence from their early commitments. Jefferson became a man of science, philosophy, and rational thought, trusting in the forces of enlightened minds. Wilberforce became a man with a calling and a commitment to act on that call, empowered by a God who acted in history.
However, a fuller explanation remains as we next examine the role of their colleagues, followers and supporters in forging their commitments and then as we take a fuller look at how their worldviews impacted not only their choices but their legacies as they shaped the culture of their times.
Footnotes
1 Morgan McCall, Jr., Michael Lombardo, Ann Morrison, The Lessons of Experience, (New York: Lexington books, 1988), p. 68.
2 Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, Ken McElrath, The Ascent of the Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999); Howard and William Hendricks, As Iron Sharpens Iron: Building Character in a Mentoring Relationship, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995)
3 James M. Houston, The Mentored Life, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002), p. 16.
4 Adrienne Koch and William Peden, eds., The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (New York: Random House, 1944), p. 4
5 Steve Turner, Amazing Grace, (New York: Harper Collins, 2002), p. 95
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