*Please note this lecture has been cancelled.*
Speaker: Priya Satia (Stanford)
The biggest gun-making firm in 18th-century Britain was owned by a Quaker family, the Galtons of Birmingham. They were major suppliers of guns to the slave trade in West Africa, the East India Company, settlers and trading companies in North America, and the British government. But a core principle of the Quaker faith is belief in the un-Christian nature of war. How, then, do we explain the Galtons?
In probing the Galton’s conscience and the Quaker community’s shifting judgment, Prof. Satia will assess the difficulty of avoiding participation in war in 18th century British industrial society, whatever one’s principles. The Galton story reveals a hidden truth about the role of war in the Industrial Revolution.
Co-sponsored by Peter Wall Institute
