Abolitionist Visions and the Spectre of Enthusiasm

By modern definitions, an “enthusiast” is a fan, but, in the eighteenth century, an enthusiast was a fanatic, and the word’s associations with religious heterodoxy made it a devastating weapon in the political arena. Critics often used this pejorative rhetoric to target anti-slavery activists. The charge of enthusiasm, while accurate in recognizing abolitionists’ energetic vision, helped detractors mischaracterize the movement as dangerously zealous. This essay takes as a case study Richard Newton’s 1792 sketch The Blind Enthusiast, which caricatures prominent abolitionist William Wilberforce as an easily fooled fanatic. Biblical allusions show Newton’s debt to religious rhetoric, while political catchwords invoke key debates of the 1790s. The stereotype does not remain in the past, however. As this essay argues, the notion of the enthusiastic abolitionist troubles activism in the twenty-first century, too, impeding efforts toward more equitable futures.