Table of Contents Economic Policy Causes and Consequences of the Subprime Crisis Brendan Dowling 11

In any event, the results seen here make it possible to conclude that prodigiosin is produced optimally at room temperature. It is also plausible to conclude that prodigiosin production is inhibited at higher temperatures such as 37˚C. Based upon these findings, as well as the findings that show that prodigiosin is always produced to some degree, regardless of temperature, it is plausible to surmise that negative transcriptional control regulates the expression of the gene that produces prodogiosin. The results also provide the grounds for the conclusion that the expression of the gene that produces prodogiosin is also mediated by quorem sensing. While there is some uncertainty about whether or not post translational gene expression regulation plays a role in the disappearance of prodigiosin moved from room temperature to 37˚C, further studies could serve to reveal this information. Finally, the reasoning as to why prodigiosin production seems to begin and end first around the edges of a lawn of S. marcescens is another topic that should be further investigated in other studies.

References

Position of Power

Haley Dougherty
From the start of the transatlantic slave trade in 1501 until the end in 1875, more than 12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported from Africa to various disembarkation points in the New World.ⁱ In 1772, however, Judge Mansfield in Britain ruled that slavery was not supported by British common law, thus legally freeing James Somerset and declaring a historic abolitionist victory.ⁱⁱ In 1776ⁱⁱⁱ, abolitionist thought began to emerge amongst philosophical thinkers, thus inspiring activists to call for an end to the slave trade. Of course, this formal abolitionism was not the first form of resistance against the slave trade. Indeed, Africans had physically and mentally rebelled against the slave trade since its inception in 1501. Whether in Africa, along the Middle Passage, at disembarkation points, or their place of work, enslaved Africans fought against the slave trade and slavery at every chance they had, in every way they could.^iv When considering the abolition of the slave trade and slavery as a movement, the individual and collective acts of rebellion must not be discounted. In fact, this paper argues that these acts of resistance created the political climate necessary for legal action to be taken against the slave trade and slavery. However, although resistance created a conducive atmosphere for change to be made, ultimately, most acts of resistance alone did not achieve grand legal measures; in fact, in cases such as the Haitian Revolution, resistance worked against the abolitionist movement. Pragmatically, the Christian-led abolitionist movement played a greater role in the eradication of the slave trade and slavery by utilizing the political, legal, religious, and social capital amassed by its leaders. This power positioned abolitionists to effectively lobby the British government for tangible legal action to be taken. Subsequently, due to Britain’s powerful standing in international politics, it was able to organize an international effort to officially suppress the slave trade. Although African resistance in Africa and the Americas provided a hostile environment suitable for abolition, the Christian-led abolitionist movement in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries contributed more significantly to the eradication of the slave trade and slavery due to their access of power within Britain—a diplomatically powerful country able to enforce international laws to end the slave trade.

Firstly, the abolitionist movement’s connection to Christianity would contribute to its credibility amongst the everyday British and American people. The formation of a base network of Christian supporters would prove an invaluable asset to the abolitionist movement—an audience enslaved Africans did not have direct access to. Originally, in continental Europe, abolitionist thought derived from mid-eighteenth century “Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu, Smith, and Rousseau” ^v which would win “the support of part of the intellectual elite” ^vi but not the common people. However, in Britain, a range of Christian denominations—primarily those of Quaker and protestant belief—added a “strong religious element” ^vii to the exiting philosophical abolitionist argument against slavery, thus making abolitionism more accessible to average people. The effects of this addition could be seen in the spread of abolitionism to the masses “through their network of churches.” ^viii This vast network would then form the foundational audience for the British abolitionists to preach their arguments against slavery, giving the abolitionists an advantage in the eradication of the slave trade.

In addition to a Christian audience of British and American citizens, abolitionists’ success was contingent upon their individual advantageous careers. The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (SEAST) in Britain and the International Coalition Movement in the United States were both formal groupings in which multi-skilled advocates were able to form a syndicate of lawyers, politicians, economists, clergymen, authors and military officers. For example, Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations”—now considered to be the foundational text of American capitalism—included critiques of slavery from an economist’s perspective by claiming that it was not a financially efficient enterprise.^ix In Britain, SEAST leadership included Granville Sharpe, who could contribute knowledge as a lawyer, and William Wilberforce, whose prominent position in the House of Lords in British Parliament granted access to the insider political knowledge needed to lobby the government.^x Additionally, James Ramsey, a member of SEAST, realized the importance of abolition while working as a British Navy doctor aboard a slave ship in the late 18^th century and could testify—as a trusted military man—to the horrendous conditions on the Middle Passage.^xi Thomas Clarkson, an international traveler and professional lecturer also proved to be an enormous asset to SEAST through his ability to spread their message from London across the world.^xii

Furthermore, abolitionists’ strategy and access to resources made their advocacy work more prevalent and accessible in British and American society. Founded in 1787 and lasting ten years,^xiii SEAST was created by Quakers with the intent to “organize a mass political campaign against the institution [of the slave trade].”^xiv In order to accomplish this, SEAST made the strategic decision to prioritize an attack against the slave trade rather than slavery itself.^xv SEAST knew that “to attack slavery directly would make enemies of the colonial planters, a group they considered too powerful to defeat at present.”^xvi Although SEAST considered slavery to be a great evil, they considered the Middle Passage “the cruelest part”^xvii of the slave system and that if it fell, slavery itself would follow. Although the elimination of the slave trade would not come for another century, the advocacy work of SEAST was “key to the movement’s rise and triumph”^xviii through their “formation of antislavery clubs (ultimately more than 1,000), organized massive petition drives garnering hundreds of thousands of signatures, and engaged in high-level lobbying within Parliament itself.”^xix Due to their individual roles of prominence in British society, SEAST was able to bring the horrors of the slave trade into the national spotlight. Similarly, across the Atlantic, the Christian-driven International Coalition Movement formed in the United States to implement numerous tactics such as legislation advocacy to state governments as well as the publication of books, pamphlets, articles, and newspapers.^xx Additionally, the International Coalition Movement had the resources to conduct field research in order to investigate the slave trade further by interviewing slave traders and sailors.^xxi The abolitionist groups SEAST and the International Coalition Movement were able to garner an audience to lobby the government due to their access to resources and a powerful audience of Christian citizens.

Most significantly, abolitionist groups included African-born men as well as men born into slavery who could attest first-hand to the cruelty of the slave system. For example, Fredrick Douglass, a man born into slavery in Maryland in 1813, went on to become a prominent leader within the abolitionist movement with the publication of his abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, as well as two autobiographies.^xxii In Britain, SEAST’s connection to the Sons of Africa—an abolitionist group made up of freed slaves^xxiii—legitimized their group by linking them to African-born men able to provide personal accounts of the horrors of slavery. In fact, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, who was enslaved in Grenada—the disembarkation point of at least 139,785 other enslaved Africans^xxiv—wrote an autobiography about his experiences in the slave system. Subsequently, the publication of “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” in 1789 by a fellow Son of Africa would prove to be a key abolitionist text through its sway of public opinion.^xxv Equiano’s kidnapping from Igboland^xxvi was representative of another nearly 1,528,411 enslaved Africans embarking from the Bight of Benin^xxvii. The abolitionist movement’s inclusion of the African perspective was an important element because it added legitimacy and authenticity to their message.

At the same time, African resistance in Africa and the Americas—both individual and collective—was creating a hostile atmosphere conducive to the work of the abolitionists in England and the United States. For example, individuals would protest slavery by running away, learning to read or write, mutilating their bodies, destroying machinery, or suicide.^xxviii Although the symbolism of these individual acts carries a heavy weight and their importance should not be disregarded, no larger legal changes to shut down the slave system came directly from these individuals’ acts. Collectively, in Africa, there is evidence of armed struggle and gun trading in an attempt to shut down the slave trade.^xxix In fact, in present day Angola, Queen Nzinga (1622-1663) participated in war against Portugal to end the slave trade.^xxx However, this violence would only be met with more violence. The slave trade remained legal and countries would continue to kidnap and enslave Africans for another two hundred years after Queen Nzinga’s passing. Similarly, offensive resistance could be seen in the United States on multiple occasions: New York Slave Revolt from 1712 to 1741, the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, Gabriel’s Conspiracy in Virginia in 1800, Nat Turner’s 1831 Slave Rebellion in Virginia, Seminole Wars in Florida (1835-1838), and Harpers Ferry in 1859.^xxxi However, these acts of resistance were not as successful as abolitionist strategies regarding official legal intervention necessary to shut down the slave trade.

Although the 1841 Supreme Court case of U.S. v. Amistad resulted in the freeing of Africans aboard the vessel^xxxii, most uprisings along the Middle Passage were unsuccessful.^xxxiii In 1939, slave traders transporting Africans from Sierra Leone to the Americas was taken over by the hostages; most of the white men aboard—except the ones steering the ship—were killed by Joseph Cinquez.^xxxiv In the year of the Amistad rebellion (1839) alone, 4,388 other Africans were forcibly transported from Sierra Leone.^xxxv Although their success in the case allowed them to go back home to Sierra Leone, this was a symbolic victory because no further legal action was pursued to cease the slave trade as an institution. Shipboard insurrections such as this were not uncommon. In fact, one occurred on approximately ten percent of all slave ships.^xxxvi However, “unlike in the famous case of the Amistad, these were usually unsuccessful, resulting in the death of captives rather than their liberation.”^xxxvii These failed insurrections were so common that they accounted for the deaths of approximately 100,000 Africans.^xxxviii Although these deaths were not in vain and serve as evidence of African resistance, ultimately, they did not accomplish the same societal, legal, and governmental shifts required to officially cease the slave trade.

Despite the perceived success of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)^xxxix, it hurt the abolitionist movement in Britain at the time and thirty years later, would inspire failed uprisings in Brazil. In San Domingue, a French sugar colony based on absentee land ownership, a series of slave revolts led by Toussaint L’Overture took place during the French Revolution.^xl Although the revolution granted San Domingue the abolishment of slavery in 1793, the violent uprisings “terrified American slave-owners, as well as moderates in Britain who might have supported abolition before but now associated it with revolution.”^xli Additionally, any calls for abolition at this time now sounded like pro-French sedition due to Britain’s war with France; the coupling of the Haitian and French revolutions forced abolitionism into a ten year hiatus.^xlii Brazil, a Portuguese colony, transported and maintained more Africans from West Central Africa than any other country, with estimates as high as 1,347,728 disembarking at Brazilian ports.^xliii The Malê Revolt of 1835—inspired both by the Haitian Revolutions and the five slave revolts occurring in Bahia from 1807 to 1830—was led by Muslim freedmen, most importantly Bubakar Ahuna and Pacifico Licutan, who had opened secret mosques and schools to convert others to their cause.^xliv Unlike the success of San Domingue, however, Portuguese authorities sentenced five of the freedmen leaders to death, imprisoned sixteen people, re-enslaved any freed persons involved, flogged forty-five people, and deported some to Nigeria where they would experience alienation.^xlv Although this major revolt is thought to be the start of the decline in slavery, Brazil would be the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery in 1888; in fact, it reached its peak between 1801 and 1825 with 272,619 Africans disembarking in Bahia.^xlvi Meanwhile, most other countries had already significantly decreased the number of enslaved Africans at this point as a result of British abolitionist efforts. After 1850, the British government’s international drive against the slave trade effectively pressured Brazil—by use of force—to shut down the slave trade.^xlvii