Domesticated Abolitionism, the “Human Cargo” of the Zong, and the British Legal Usage of Dehumanizing Rhetoric, 1783–1807

Abstract

The essay provides readers with an analysis of the dehumanizing rhetorics that were placed in the path of Granville Sharp during the 1783 debates about the “jettisoning” of 132 slaves from the Zong. The author contends that while Solicitor General Lee and the other counsel for the ship owners openly characterized African slaves as “human cargo,” Lord Mansfield advanced a more ambivalent, and moderate, legal position that was based on the notion of “absolute necessity.” The essay concludes by noting that many contemporaries have forgotten about many of the legal interpretations of insurance contracts that hindered the sentimentalists.