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The case for abolition intensified in 1781 when the captain of a Liverpool slave ship threw more than 130 African slaves overboard and tried to claim insurance for them.However, the abolition of the slave trade could not have happened without the New Baptist Methodist churches and non-conformist groups that formed the backbone of the abolition movement in Britain during the 18th century.The abolitionists also had support within parliament, namely in the form of MP William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian with a passion for social reform. Seeing as both Bentham and Mill were passive social reformers, the abolition of became important to the introduction of utilitarianism.
Those who were not part of the Revolution were beheaded by the revolutionists. This was occurring between the years of 1789 and 1799. These murders were immoral, while the people were suffering great amounts of pain. This could have led to Bentham's utilitarianism and hedonic calculus.
Bentham was also a strong proponent of the separation of church and state, explored in his books Swear Not At All (1817. This was also an attack on subscription to articles of faith and the taking of compulsory oaths. Religious faith was made a personal matter, and allowing freedom of religious observance, rather than stamping out religion all together, was key to Bentham’s vision of an ideal utilitarian society where individuals would be given the opportunity to judge what was in their own interests and act accordingly.
The science of the Enlightenment featured theories with a very small number of general laws and vast explanatory power. Newton’s laws, for example, seemed able to account for all of the motion in the universe. Utilitarianism fit right in: it was an ethical theory compatible with science and featuring a single law of morality with great explanatory power. It was a sort of science of morality.
Both Bentham and Mill supported suffrage for women and those without property.
Supported the abolition of slavery.
Criminals should be reformed and not punished, although Bentham agreed with capital punishment.
Bentham spoke out about cruelty to animals.
Mill was a strong supporter of meritocracy.
Everyone's happiness counts equally.