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Culloden.
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In Scotland, no other name
casts such a long shadow.
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The Jacobites' failure
to restore Bonnie Prince Charlie
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to the British throne in 1746
was a catastrophe.
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00:00:20,262 --> 00:00:23,811
While the rest of Britain
now saw Scots as hated traitors,
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the defeat had left Scotland divided
and bankrupt.
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But there was another,
less well-known Culloden,
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here in Jamaica.
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00:00:32,502 --> 00:00:35,699
This beautiful place
was once a sugar plantation.
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00:00:35,742 --> 00:00:38,415
Many of them round here
were owned by Jacobites
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who'd fled Scotland
after their final defeat.
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But why travel all this way
to re-invent yourself in a new life,
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while carrying with you
all the baggage of the old one?
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Because the very name Culloden
was to be a bloody reminder
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that they must never again
allow themselves to be so humiliated.
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But rather than dwell on defeat,
on the Britain that might have been,
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the exiled Jacobites started afresh.
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Jamaica was a land rich in resources,
waiting to be exploited.
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From halfway across the world
they helped rebuild Scotland,
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injecting it with wealth
and new possibilities.
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It was the dawn of a new era,
when Scotland made her mark on the world
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by exporting her most valuable
commodities - her people and ideas,
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ideas that would help start a revolution.
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After Culloden, there was chaos.
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17-year-old Jacobite John Wedderburn
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had been lucky to escape the battle
with his life,
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but his father had been captured,
his land seized and sentenced to hang.
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Now young Wedderburn was on the run.
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He needed money
and he needed to disappear, fast.
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Dodging spies,
sleeping in hedges, half-starved,
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Wedderburn found his way to Glasgow.
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There, he boarded a ship,
destined for the Colonies.
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Young John Wedderburn's world
had been turned upside down.
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A trip like this would've been
terrifying for a boy who, after all,
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had spent his whole life
living in Scotland.
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And even supposing he survived
the harsh voyage,
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who knew where he would end up?
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After months at sea, John Wedderburn
arrived here, in Jamaica.
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To Wedderburn,
it must have seemed fierce and strange.
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Men as black as the earth working
in fields filled with giant plants,
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the place splitting with heat.
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In spite of its otherworldliness,
it was a British colony,
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a place where a young man with energy
and enterprise could re-invent himself.
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But what as?
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As John Wedderburn
was searching for his future abroad,
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another young Scot
was hoping to find it at home.
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Adam Smith
had been studying in England
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and missed the upheaval
of the Jacobite rebellion.
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As the dust settled, he returned
to a country at a crossroads.
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To many Scots,
the past was a dark place.
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It was time to start again.
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This was the dawn of a modern age,
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an age that was ready to embrace
new ideas and a new philosophy.
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From childhood, Adam Smith
had questioned everything around him,
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even the existence of God.
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Now he was determined to make
his mark in this new Scotland,
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as an academic.
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Rejecting Christianity
as a student at Oxford,
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Smith set out to better understand
human behaviour
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and how it impacted upon the codes
and laws that governed society.
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At the time, it was radical, almost taboo.
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Smith argued that if God was removed
from our understanding of the world,
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man's true nature would be revealed.
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He said that man's fundamental drive
was not to please God,
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but to please himself,
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and, controversially, that this
invisible hand of self-interest
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was what made for a healthy,
productive society.
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The ideas contained in his lectures
threatened to blow apart a world
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that had always been dominated by God.
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But just as Smith's reputation
began to spread,
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something happened that would change both
Smith's and Scotland's future forever.
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Europe's first world war.
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In 1756, a global war broke out,
over trade.
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Until then, trading with colonies
in America, Canada and the Caribbean
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had been a free-for-all,
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but with so many valuable resources
at stake,
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Europe's leading powers
fought to take control.
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The war lasted seven years
and a million lives were lost,
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but eventually, Britain prevailed,
securing a trading empire
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that stretched across
the Atlantic for a century to come.
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The British victory made a huge impact
on one element of Scottish society -
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Glasgow's tobacco merchants.
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Suddenly the Colonies had opened up
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and the River Clyde
was their gateway to the West.
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The Glasgow merchants
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rapidly became the wealthiest and
most successful businessmen in Britain,
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outstripping their rivals
in London and Bristol
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and gaining 50%
of the world trade in tobacco.
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With their uniform of gold-topped
canes and scarlet frock coats,
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they announced their presence
as the country's first self-made men.
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These Tobacco Lords
fascinated Adam Smith.
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They seemed to embody his ideas.
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They were the selfish,
self-interested men
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he believed would benefit society.
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It seemed that the wealth
created by these men
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was the key to generating improvement
and progress in society.
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But Smith wanted to get closer.
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He wanted to learn
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precisely how these men made
their money and how they spent it.
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You can imagine Adam Smith
down here at the docks,
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watching all the frenzied activity.
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This was his first real experience
of big business -
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a huge labour force pulling together
to unload the ships,
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heaving barrels,
hauling on fresh supplies.
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After the secluded cloisters
of the university,
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the atmosphere here
must have been overwhelming.
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For Smith, there would have been
a resonance to this scene,
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because it wasn't his first experience
of seeing seafaring entrepreneurs.
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Smith had grown up in Kirkcaldy in Fife,
where smuggling was rampant.
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His father was
the local Customs officer
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and had fought a losing battle
against the smugglers
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who found ever more ingenious ways
to evade the law.
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Adam Smith was left with the feeling
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that his father's interventions
had been pointless,
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that nothing can stand in the way
of self-interest.
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Making money was man's natural instinct.
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After observing the Glasgow merchants'
trading empires at first hand,
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Smith concluded that what drove
their ambition to succeed in business
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was an insatiable, stop-at-nothing
desire to turn a profit.
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And he admired them for it.
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On the other side of the world,
in Jamaica,
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Scottish entrepreneurs were also getting
rich, John Wedderburn amongst them.
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It didn't take long
for the Jacobite runaway to find his way.
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He settled here in the west
of Jamaica near Montego Bay,
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and quickly set about
finding the occupation
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that would make him his fortune - sugar.
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Running a sugar plantation
was not a job for the faint-hearted,
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but before long,
Wedderburn was expanding his estates
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and amassing huge profits.
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John Wedderburn's estate lay just
a few miles from the town of Culloden
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so he would regularly
have passed this way.
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Within a couple of decades, a name
synonymous with defeat and division
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had come to mean something
quite different for the Scots in Jamaica.
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Money was beginning
to heal the wounds
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for many exiles like Wedderburn.
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Having fled halfway across the globe,
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he was starting to live the life
he once hoped to inherit in Scotland.
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John Wedderburn was becoming
a comfortable landed gentleman.
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Just what kind of money are we
talking about? How rich could you get?
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Well, John Wedderburn
got to own ten...ten properties,
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um,
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all totalling over 17,000 acres of land.
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Of the 168,000 acres of land
which was returned...
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- He had 10% of...
- He had 10% of the land
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and he was the largest land-holder
in that part of the world
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and could be seen as ranking as among
the top five landowners in this country.
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We have his will here.
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His will was probated and we have
a copy at the Island Records Office.
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All his entire estate
was valued at £300,000,
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Jamaican currency.
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In today's money, you are talking
about £22 million sterling.
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That would be the value
of their entire estate.
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By any stretch of the imagination,
he was a top dog.
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He was. He was.
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As Scottish settlers were making
inroads into the Caribbean,
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Glasgow tobacco merchants
were building on their success in America.
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Their transatlantic operation
was tightly controlled
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by three mafia-like families - the
Glassfords, Spiers and Cunninghames.
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Their fleets of lightweight ships
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could cross the Atlantic faster
than any vessel had done before.
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Young William Cunninghame
was heir to one of the big Glasgow firms.
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His job was to supervise the speedy
turnaround of his father's ships.
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Time was money, so as soon as the cargo
was unloaded here in Virginia,
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the ship was sent back to Scotland
packed with barrels of tobacco.
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Here in Chesapeake Bay,
between 1750 and 1770,
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The Cunninghame docked twice a year,
full of goods to sell to the planters.
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It was young William's job to get
rid of as many leather-bottomed chairs,
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golf clubs, silver teapots,
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cream jugs and china plates
as he could sell from the company store.
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The purpose of the stores
was not just to make more money -
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they were a means to control
the supply and price of tobacco.
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Cunninghame was expected
to find and persuade
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even the smallest and most far-flung
growers to sell their tobacco.
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Demand for tobacco in Europe
was outstripping the supply,
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and Scots traders
were out to find every last leaf.
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Young men like William were hand-picked
by the elders back in Glasgow,
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because they had specific
qualities or qualifications.
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They had to be single,
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so they could devote all of
their energies to the business.
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They had to be likeable and trustworthy
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so they could ingratiate themselves
with the local community.
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They were under constant pressure to
expand the business and to raise profits.
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So, above all else,
they had to be ruthless.
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On the same day every year,
the local price of tobacco was decided,
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usually at the county courthouse.
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It was the most important day of the year.
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All the local growers turned up,
and a heated exchange ensued.
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A market price was set depending
on how good the harvest had been
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and what the demand was from Europe.
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It was a gentleman's agreement
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that everyone should stick to
this price, no matter what.
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But William Cunninghame's company
didn't get get rich playing by the rules.
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They played dirty.
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Cunninghame was instructed
to ignore the market price
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and to deal with the farmers directly.
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The firm back in Glasgow
encouraged him to offer credit to farmers
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00:15:49,742 --> 00:15:53,417
who were otherwise paid only
once a year, at harvest time.
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00:15:53,462 --> 00:15:55,771
Now, the credit
could take the form of a loan,
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00:15:55,822 --> 00:15:59,178
or it could be a choice of the goods
just brought in from Scotland.
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But it was a deal with the devil.
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Having taken the loan or the goods,
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00:16:02,742 --> 00:16:06,098
the farmers were shackled
to the merchants, and at harvest time,
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00:16:06,142 --> 00:16:10,021
those merchants could demand whatever
price they wanted for the tobacco.
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It was commerce without conscience.
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00:16:14,422 --> 00:16:16,811
Cunninghame and company did well.
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00:16:16,862 --> 00:16:20,980
They managed to beat the farmers down
to 20% less than the market price,
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using the lure of credit.
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00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:26,418
But there would be a price to pay
in the long run.
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The local economy began to falter
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as the tobacco growers sank further and
further into unsustainable levels of debt.
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00:16:33,862 --> 00:16:38,253
By the 1770s,
the farmers of Virginia and Maryland
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00:16:38,302 --> 00:16:41,100
owed Scottish merchants over £ 1 million.
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00:16:44,022 --> 00:16:49,142
Scottish business was booming,
but it was sucking America dry.
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00:16:49,182 --> 00:16:53,778
The Scots traders were described by
one American farmer as, "Vile weeds,
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00:16:53,822 --> 00:16:56,461
"which if cut down, grow more fiercely".
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In truth they were clannish, mafia-like,
and they put profit before ethics.
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Adam Smith considered them
perfect examples
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00:17:05,142 --> 00:17:07,781
of the kind of self-interested capitalists
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00:17:07,822 --> 00:17:11,656
he believed were vital
to bring forth wealth and progress.
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00:17:11,702 --> 00:17:13,738
Smith thought greed was good,
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00:17:13,782 --> 00:17:17,411
and these men were nothing
if not very, very greedy.
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00:17:24,622 --> 00:17:30,299
By the 1760s, Glasgow was beginning
to look very different... for some.
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00:17:30,342 --> 00:17:34,893
Adam Smith watched as the merchants
ploughed fortunes into great houses,
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and the Merchant Quarter
became an exclusive community
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on the edge of the city.
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Not content that their mansions
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were the most expensive houses ever to be
built in the city, they went further.
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00:18:01,622 --> 00:18:05,410
They helped the local burgh
to build this church, St Andrew's,
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00:18:05,462 --> 00:18:09,250
which was modelled on
St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.
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It perfectly sums up their showiness,
their conspicuous wealth,
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00:18:21,342 --> 00:18:23,981
and their self-serving aspirations.
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00:18:30,262 --> 00:18:34,619
The balconies were mahogany, imported
from Honduras on one of their ships.
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00:18:45,422 --> 00:18:47,458
After just six years in Virginia,
234
00:18:47,502 --> 00:18:50,812
William Cunninghame returned
from the New World to the Old.
235
00:18:50,862 --> 00:18:52,853
In his short time overseas,
236
00:18:52,902 --> 00:18:56,212
he'd been promoted to running
the entire Virginia operation.
237
00:18:56,262 --> 00:18:58,981
He'd proved himself
in that ruthless world
238
00:18:59,022 --> 00:19:03,061
and now he returned to Glasgow
to join the ranks of older merchants
239
00:19:03,102 --> 00:19:08,096
and to oversee the family firm
in considerably more comfort, from home.
240
00:19:23,222 --> 00:19:25,292
As Scotland's trading empire grew,
241
00:19:25,342 --> 00:19:28,573
so did the reputation of
the Scottish Enlightenment.
242
00:19:28,622 --> 00:19:32,535
The control of the harsh and repressive
Scottish Kirk was waning
243
00:19:32,582 --> 00:19:35,494
and now a generation of intellectuals
244
00:19:35,542 --> 00:19:39,615
made the study of human nature,
not God, their new religion.
245
00:19:39,662 --> 00:19:43,701
They made waves which rippled all the way
across the Atlantic to America.
246
00:19:43,742 --> 00:19:47,417
One of the Colonies' leading lights,
Benjamin Franklin,
247
00:19:47,462 --> 00:19:50,659
was keen to meet
these radical young thinkers.
248
00:19:50,702 --> 00:19:53,341
During a trip to Scotland,
he got the chance.
249
00:19:55,582 --> 00:19:59,860
Franklin's father was English and he
had lived on both sides of the Atlantic,
250
00:19:59,902 --> 00:20:02,860
so he was familiar
with the politics and the culture
251
00:20:02,902 --> 00:20:05,211
of both Britain and America.
252
00:20:05,262 --> 00:20:09,050
He had a brilliant mind,
he could turn his hand to anything.
253
00:20:09,102 --> 00:20:13,539
He was a publisher, a musician,
a scientist, a writer,
254
00:20:13,582 --> 00:20:17,336
and he was in Scotland
to collect an honorary degree in law
255
00:20:17,382 --> 00:20:19,771
from the University of St Andrews.
256
00:20:19,822 --> 00:20:23,497
As both an agent
and representative of the Colonies,
257
00:20:23,542 --> 00:20:27,251
Franklin was keen to discover
how the Anglo-Scottish union worked,
258
00:20:27,302 --> 00:20:30,692
what unity and strength
it brought this emerging superpower.
259
00:20:30,742 --> 00:20:32,380
But after touring Scotland,
260
00:20:32,422 --> 00:20:36,301
Franklin gained quite a different
impression of Great Britain.
261
00:20:36,342 --> 00:20:40,335
He told Scotland's finest minds
one evening in 1759
262
00:20:40,382 --> 00:20:43,931
how all he'd seen
was inequality and poverty.
263
00:20:43,982 --> 00:20:46,735
Among the guests was Adam Smith.
264
00:20:46,782 --> 00:20:50,172
Later, he put his thoughts
in a letter to a friend.
265
00:20:51,742 --> 00:20:54,893
"I have lately made a tour
through Ireland and Scotland.
266
00:20:54,942 --> 00:20:58,651
"In these countries,
a small part of the society are landlords,
267
00:20:58,702 --> 00:21:00,579
"great noblemen and gentlemen,
268
00:21:00,622 --> 00:21:04,979
"extremely opulent, living in the highest
affluence and magnificence.
269
00:21:05,022 --> 00:21:08,094
"The bulk of the people, tenants,
extremely poor,
270
00:21:08,142 --> 00:21:10,576
"living in the most sordid wretchedness
271
00:21:10,622 --> 00:21:14,900
"in dirty hovels of mud and straw,
and clothed only in rags.
272
00:21:14,942 --> 00:21:18,617
"And the effect of this kind
of civil society seems only to be,
273
00:21:18,662 --> 00:21:21,574
"the depressing multitudes
below the savage state
274
00:21:21,622 --> 00:21:24,295
"that a few may be raised above it."
275
00:21:26,022 --> 00:21:29,697
This trip was to have
a profound effect on Franklin.
276
00:21:29,742 --> 00:21:32,893
He was disillusioned
by what he saw in Scotland.
277
00:21:32,942 --> 00:21:36,491
Its union with England
had not made it a thriving country.
278
00:21:36,542 --> 00:21:39,181
Men had no chance of being equal.
279
00:21:39,222 --> 00:21:43,659
At least America was a place where a man
could succeed through his own efforts.
280
00:21:43,702 --> 00:21:48,901
America was unfettered by centuries
of class division and corruption.
281
00:21:48,942 --> 00:21:51,058
It was a place of new beginnings,
282
00:21:51,102 --> 00:21:55,857
where there was real potential
to create a civilised and fair society.
283
00:22:03,622 --> 00:22:06,182
Scotland was becoming
more polarised than ever.
284
00:22:06,222 --> 00:22:09,100
Tobacco Lords like William Cunninghame
were getting rich,
285
00:22:09,142 --> 00:22:11,610
but ordinary working people were not.
286
00:22:13,182 --> 00:22:16,379
Dr John Witherspoon
was the minister of a church in Paisley
287
00:22:16,422 --> 00:22:19,778
and he worried that Scotland
was now a place where his congregation
288
00:22:19,822 --> 00:22:23,132
struggled both materially and spiritually.
289
00:22:23,182 --> 00:22:25,491
(WOMAN COUGHS)
290
00:22:27,502 --> 00:22:31,017
As their moral guide, he was hard-pressed
to show them anything
291
00:22:31,062 --> 00:22:34,498
that was good or fair
about the society they lived in.
292
00:22:37,862 --> 00:22:39,932
But he was more than just a minister.
293
00:22:39,982 --> 00:22:43,213
Witherspoon was also one of
the leaders of the Popular Party,
294
00:22:43,262 --> 00:22:45,173
a movement within the Church
295
00:22:45,222 --> 00:22:49,818
opposed to the imperious influence
of Scotland's elite classes.
296
00:22:49,862 --> 00:22:52,012
Although he was an educated man,
297
00:22:52,062 --> 00:22:56,931
he hated what he regarded as the louche,
soft world of the Edinburgh intellectuals,
298
00:22:56,982 --> 00:22:59,860
who were hand-picked
by the same rich patrons
299
00:22:59,902 --> 00:23:03,019
who controlled the country
with an unseen hand.
300
00:23:09,062 --> 00:23:12,259
He had become well-known
for writing a satire
301
00:23:12,302 --> 00:23:15,738
lampooning the system of patronage
amongst intellectuals.
302
00:23:15,782 --> 00:23:18,580
For Witherspoon,
the ideas of Adam Smith
303
00:23:18,622 --> 00:23:21,056
and other leading lights
of the Enlightenment
304
00:23:21,102 --> 00:23:23,411
were the ideas of the privileged few.
305
00:23:23,462 --> 00:23:26,215
They could afford
to intellectual game-play
306
00:23:26,262 --> 00:23:29,891
and debate concepts as profound
as the significance of God.
307
00:23:29,942 --> 00:23:34,015
In writing it, Witherspoon
raised an uncomfortable question.
308
00:23:35,662 --> 00:23:38,381
But what kind of society will we have
309
00:23:38,422 --> 00:23:43,132
if our responsibilities are set by man,
and not by God?
310
00:24:03,822 --> 00:24:07,576
Out in Jamaica, just such a society
had put down roots.
311
00:24:07,622 --> 00:24:12,980
Not only had it lost God,
but it was fast descending into hell.
312
00:24:13,022 --> 00:24:17,413
This was the dark side of Scotland's
progress to the modern age,
313
00:24:17,462 --> 00:24:22,092
because the engine driving both the
tobacco and sugar industries was slavery.
314
00:24:33,582 --> 00:24:37,131
John Wedderburn,
although a Christian man,
315
00:24:37,182 --> 00:24:40,652
knew that he could not plant,
weed and tend his sugar canes
316
00:24:40,702 --> 00:24:44,012
and manage his acres of plantation
without slaves.
317
00:24:48,542 --> 00:24:52,854
Every port in Jamaica in the 18th century
had something called a "scramble".
318
00:24:52,902 --> 00:24:56,019
When ships docked bringing
the newly enslaved from Africa,
319
00:24:56,062 --> 00:24:58,940
there was a rush to inspect them
320
00:24:58,982 --> 00:25:01,940
and pick the best and strongest
for your plantation.
321
00:25:01,982 --> 00:25:06,931
It was much like farmers sizing up the
best animals at an agricultural auction.
322
00:25:15,142 --> 00:25:18,134
John Wedderburn found
such scrambles hard to face.
323
00:25:18,182 --> 00:25:21,094
Human beings were on display like cattle.
324
00:25:21,142 --> 00:25:24,339
Half had already died during
the journey and many others,
325
00:25:24,382 --> 00:25:27,613
in the tight confines of the ship,
had contracted diseases.
326
00:25:27,662 --> 00:25:31,894
But all of that was as nothing compared
to the lives they were about to face,
327
00:25:31,942 --> 00:25:36,060
of backbreaking physical labour
and soul-destroying confinement.
328
00:25:47,542 --> 00:25:51,774
For all of his career as a sugar planter,
Wedderburn had tried to turn a blind eye.
329
00:25:52,942 --> 00:25:56,537
But he did attend one scramble,
in the spring of 1762.
330
00:25:56,582 --> 00:25:59,221
And in amongst the sorry crowd,
331
00:25:59,262 --> 00:26:04,655
he saw a young boy, only 12 or 13,
that he found he couldn't ignore.
332
00:26:08,822 --> 00:26:12,098
He was called Joseph Knight,
after the captain of the ship
333
00:26:12,142 --> 00:26:15,771
that had been his prison
on the three-month journey from Guinea.
334
00:26:15,822 --> 00:26:19,451
He was now a commodity,
for sale to the highest bidder.
335
00:26:30,182 --> 00:26:33,060
Joseph became
Wedderburn's personal servant.
336
00:26:33,102 --> 00:26:35,696
Something about him
appealed to Wedderburn.
337
00:26:35,742 --> 00:26:38,461
So, he spared Joseph
the hard labour in the fields
338
00:26:38,502 --> 00:26:42,017
and had him brought inside instead,
to be trained up as a houseboy.
339
00:26:42,062 --> 00:26:45,293
He learned to speak English,
to read and write.
340
00:26:45,342 --> 00:26:48,698
Wedderburn even allowed him
to be baptised.
341
00:26:50,142 --> 00:26:55,170
Knight became the focus for Wedderburn's
personal struggle with slavery.
342
00:26:55,222 --> 00:26:59,579
Perhaps having one indoors that
he treated well, almost humanly,
343
00:26:59,622 --> 00:27:01,931
allowed Wedderburn
to ignore the hundreds
344
00:27:01,982 --> 00:27:06,134
that were no better than animals,
whipped and chained in his cane fields.
345
00:27:11,742 --> 00:27:15,655
When Wedderburn was finally rich
enough to return to his beloved Scotland,
346
00:27:15,702 --> 00:27:16,976
he took Joseph with him.
347
00:27:17,022 --> 00:27:20,810
He'd grown into a fine-looking man,
and was a Christian by then as well,
348
00:27:20,862 --> 00:27:23,137
equal to any man in the eyes of God.
349
00:27:23,182 --> 00:27:25,491
But he was still Wedderburn's slave.
350
00:27:58,862 --> 00:28:03,617
Although John Wedderburn had returned
to a country he had never stopped loving,
351
00:28:03,662 --> 00:28:06,256
Joseph Knight was arriving
in yet another place
352
00:28:06,302 --> 00:28:09,738
that reminded him
how far he was from home.
353
00:28:26,982 --> 00:28:31,373
In Wedderburn's Perthshire mansion,
Knight did odd jobs around the house.
354
00:28:31,422 --> 00:28:35,779
He took his meals and slept below stairs
along with the domestic staff.
355
00:28:35,822 --> 00:28:39,371
But apart from his colour,
there was one other crucial difference
356
00:28:39,422 --> 00:28:41,982
that separated him
from the rest of the servants.
357
00:28:42,022 --> 00:28:43,899
They were paid.
358
00:29:08,382 --> 00:29:10,452
Knight felt lost.
359
00:29:10,502 --> 00:29:15,178
He drew some comfort from a friendship
with a housemaid called Annie Thomson,
360
00:29:15,222 --> 00:29:17,053
but it was his only consolation.
361
00:29:17,102 --> 00:29:20,777
He was now 24, educated and restless.
362
00:29:24,542 --> 00:29:27,500
He asked his master
if he could learn a trade,
363
00:29:27,542 --> 00:29:31,421
perhaps shaving and cutting hair,
and Wedderburn agreed.
364
00:29:31,462 --> 00:29:35,535
Knight was released for a few hours a week
for training in the local town.
365
00:29:35,582 --> 00:29:39,860
It was probably on one of those trips
that he came across a newspaper
366
00:29:39,902 --> 00:29:43,133
headlining a fascinating drama
that was the talk of London.
367
00:29:43,182 --> 00:29:47,061
An African slave named Somerset
had taken his master to court
368
00:29:47,102 --> 00:29:48,899
in a bid to gain his freedom.
369
00:29:48,942 --> 00:29:52,571
He had argued that anyone
living in England was British,
370
00:29:52,622 --> 00:29:56,012
and that all British citizens
should be free men.
371
00:29:56,062 --> 00:29:58,417
The Lords of the King's Bench
were up in arms
372
00:29:58,462 --> 00:30:02,501
and Knight, reading carefully
as he'd been taught to by his master,
373
00:30:02,542 --> 00:30:05,852
would have been amazed to discover
that Somerset had won.
374
00:30:20,782 --> 00:30:23,342
As Knight dreamt of
a new life as a free man,
375
00:30:23,382 --> 00:30:27,933
the Reverend John Witherspoon
gave up his old life in Scotland.
376
00:30:27,982 --> 00:30:30,257
He'd been offered
a fresh start in America,
377
00:30:30,302 --> 00:30:32,611
teaching at Princeton College, New Jersey.
378
00:30:35,062 --> 00:30:37,781
But his wife thought he'd lost his mind.
379
00:30:37,822 --> 00:30:39,858
For her, this wasn't a new life.
380
00:30:39,902 --> 00:30:43,338
11 weeks at sea
was more like a death sentence.
381
00:30:46,942 --> 00:30:49,297
But Witherspoon knew it was time to go.
382
00:30:49,342 --> 00:30:51,902
Scotland had gone soft on religion.
383
00:30:51,942 --> 00:30:54,661
The influence of the Church
was waning here,
384
00:30:54,702 --> 00:30:57,421
and Scotland
was going to hell in a handcart.
385
00:30:57,462 --> 00:30:58,895
It was becoming a country
386
00:30:58,942 --> 00:31:02,332
where commerce seemed
to matter more than Christianity.
387
00:31:02,382 --> 00:31:04,816
The place had lost its moral compass.
388
00:31:04,862 --> 00:31:06,773
He had a point.
389
00:31:14,462 --> 00:31:17,101
Witherspoon wasn't alone
in starting a new life.
390
00:31:17,142 --> 00:31:20,452
Scotland's rural communities
were leaving en masse,
391
00:31:20,502 --> 00:31:22,811
after years of hardship and poverty.
392
00:31:22,862 --> 00:31:25,740
The famous literary figures
Boswell and Johnson
393
00:31:25,782 --> 00:31:28,421
wrote a diary of their Highland travels.
394
00:31:28,462 --> 00:31:31,340
They remarked on seeing
a whole village celebrating
395
00:31:31,382 --> 00:31:34,931
on the eve of their emigration,
dancing a jig they called "America".
396
00:31:40,102 --> 00:31:44,380
Johnson was later to describe
the empty villages and broken communities
397
00:31:44,422 --> 00:31:46,936
as "an epidemical fury of migration".
398
00:31:51,382 --> 00:31:55,057
While the Colonies represented
a new beginning for Witherspoon
399
00:31:55,102 --> 00:31:56,979
and thousands of other rural Scots,
400
00:31:57,022 --> 00:32:01,140
the bonds that tied America to Britain
were beginning to look like shackles.
401
00:32:03,222 --> 00:32:06,931
America viewed her British master
with growing frustration.
402
00:32:06,982 --> 00:32:09,371
Lack of representation at Westminster,
403
00:32:09,422 --> 00:32:12,619
coupled with increasing taxes
on tobacco and imported goods,
404
00:32:12,662 --> 00:32:15,813
fuelled resentment and talk of rebellion,
405
00:32:15,862 --> 00:32:18,456
as Witherspoon would soon find out.
406
00:32:29,782 --> 00:32:32,342
In spite of the darkening mood
across America,
407
00:32:32,382 --> 00:32:34,532
in the hallowed community of Princeton,
408
00:32:34,582 --> 00:32:37,779
Dr Witherspoon could not have received
a warmer welcome.
409
00:32:40,022 --> 00:32:42,820
All the students turned out
to light up Nassau Hall,
410
00:32:42,862 --> 00:32:44,580
the college's central building.
411
00:32:44,622 --> 00:32:47,455
It was a glorious beginning to his career.
412
00:32:47,502 --> 00:32:52,496
In that moment, he fell in love
with the place, with its seriousness,
413
00:32:52,542 --> 00:32:55,852
its sense of community and its beauty.
414
00:32:55,902 --> 00:33:00,259
It was a place where the New World
could be shaped.
415
00:33:02,422 --> 00:33:05,619
If there was one thing Witherspoon
could be relied on to do,
416
00:33:05,662 --> 00:33:09,257
it was to bring his boundless energy
and enthusiasm to the job.
417
00:33:09,302 --> 00:33:11,611
He lived up to his magnificent welcome,
418
00:33:11,662 --> 00:33:14,540
and straight away set about
spring-cleaning the place,
419
00:33:14,582 --> 00:33:17,574
airing it and opening it up to new ideas.
420
00:33:20,982 --> 00:33:22,495
His big obstacle was money.
421
00:33:22,542 --> 00:33:26,171
When he arrived,
the college was in debt,
422
00:33:26,222 --> 00:33:30,579
and, keen to keep the place independent
and away from the meddling of patrons,
423
00:33:30,622 --> 00:33:34,376
he set out as a one-man band
to raise the funds himself.
424
00:33:37,182 --> 00:33:40,857
Using all the charismatic charms
he could muster,
425
00:33:40,902 --> 00:33:43,132
he set out on an open-air preaching tour.
426
00:33:43,182 --> 00:33:45,537
Witherspoon's style was unusual -
427
00:33:45,582 --> 00:33:48,176
he spoke from the heart
rather than the page
428
00:33:48,222 --> 00:33:54,252
and he drew people in with a rare mix of
emotion, common sense and great oratory.
429
00:33:55,582 --> 00:33:58,096
In Williamsburg, Virginia,
430
00:33:58,142 --> 00:34:02,260
Witherspoon raised the equivalent
of £5,500 with just one sermon.
431
00:34:02,302 --> 00:34:06,056
He quickly secured Princeton's future
by expanding the library
432
00:34:06,102 --> 00:34:09,651
and by funding new places
for increasing numbers of students.
433
00:34:09,702 --> 00:34:14,856
As well as raising money, he also
unintentionally raised his own profile.
434
00:34:14,902 --> 00:34:17,257
Beyond Princeton, his reputation grew,
435
00:34:17,302 --> 00:34:21,011
both as a man of the people
and as an eloquent future leader.
436
00:34:27,982 --> 00:34:31,213
Witherspoon had two ambitions
for Princeton.
437
00:34:31,262 --> 00:34:34,652
The first was to be
a cutting-edge centre of learning.
438
00:34:39,542 --> 00:34:41,658
He brought with him
439
00:34:41,702 --> 00:34:45,536
the Scottish Enlightenment's thirst
for knowledge and understanding,
440
00:34:45,582 --> 00:34:48,733
and he created a curriculum
where students would read widely
441
00:34:48,782 --> 00:34:52,457
and open their minds
to all points of view.
442
00:34:52,502 --> 00:34:57,212
The second was to rid his students
of any false sense of entitlement.
443
00:34:57,262 --> 00:35:00,254
Once a week
he opened the place up for meetings,
444
00:35:00,302 --> 00:35:04,181
inviting townsfolk to mix with students
for lively debating sessions
445
00:35:04,222 --> 00:35:09,660
that inspired camaraderie and democracy,
and blew away the cobwebs of elitism.
446
00:35:09,702 --> 00:35:13,138
In Witherspoon's new America,
it would be education,
447
00:35:13,182 --> 00:35:17,460
not social standing,
that elevated men to great things.
448
00:35:19,022 --> 00:35:20,421
In Perthshire,
449
00:35:20,462 --> 00:35:25,092
John Wedderburn's only ambition
was to live the life of an aristocrat.
450
00:35:25,142 --> 00:35:28,851
His sugar fortune
had brought him Ballindean House
451
00:35:28,902 --> 00:35:32,178
and had ensured him
a comfortable retirement.
452
00:35:32,222 --> 00:35:36,534
Of all his staff, he was particularly
pleased with Joseph Knight.
453
00:35:36,582 --> 00:35:41,451
He felt that it had been
an act of charity to rescue the boy.
454
00:35:45,262 --> 00:35:48,891
But below stairs, all was not well.
455
00:35:59,502 --> 00:36:01,652
Joseph Knight could not settle.
456
00:36:01,702 --> 00:36:05,217
He didn't want to spend
the rest of his life in domestic service.
457
00:36:05,262 --> 00:36:09,653
In fact, he had already staked his claim
to a different future.
458
00:36:09,702 --> 00:36:13,297
Annie Thomson
was pregnant with his child.
459
00:36:13,342 --> 00:36:18,177
He wanted to be free to marry her
and have a family.
460
00:36:18,222 --> 00:36:21,055
Knight broke the news to his master.
461
00:36:21,102 --> 00:36:25,493
Uppermost in his mind was the case
of Somerset, another African slave.
462
00:36:25,542 --> 00:36:29,137
He was hopeful that Wedderburn
would at least consider his liberty,
463
00:36:29,182 --> 00:36:31,252
perhaps even give him his freedom.
464
00:36:31,302 --> 00:36:33,258
But Wedderburn was horrified.
465
00:36:33,302 --> 00:36:37,090
Despite all the privileges and help
he'd given Knight over the years,
466
00:36:37,142 --> 00:36:41,181
all the skills that had endowed him
with his independence of mind and spirit,
467
00:36:41,222 --> 00:36:43,577
Wedderburn refused to let him go.
468
00:36:45,982 --> 00:36:48,257
Somerset had been freed in London,
469
00:36:48,302 --> 00:36:51,772
but Knight didn't know that the law
was different in Scotland.
470
00:36:51,822 --> 00:36:53,699
No slave had ever been freed here.
471
00:36:53,742 --> 00:36:56,620
But he was so enraged
by Wedderburn's refusal
472
00:36:56,662 --> 00:36:58,414
that he made his mind up to leave.
473
00:36:58,462 --> 00:37:03,582
He would elope with Annie Thomson,
the housemaid,
474
00:37:03,622 --> 00:37:06,898
who had already been dismissed
over her relationship with Knight.
475
00:37:10,742 --> 00:37:14,735
Wedderburn found Knight packing his bags
and summoned the magistrate.
476
00:37:14,782 --> 00:37:17,137
He was arrested and taken to Perth Gaol,
477
00:37:17,182 --> 00:37:19,252
and no doubt the chains and confinement
478
00:37:19,302 --> 00:37:22,135
reminded Knight
of the earliest days of his slavery.
479
00:37:22,182 --> 00:37:25,970
John Wedderburn, when pushed,
had proved to be the kind of man
480
00:37:26,022 --> 00:37:29,219
who was more interested
in enjoying his own wealth and liberty
481
00:37:29,262 --> 00:37:30,934
than offering it to others.
482
00:37:30,982 --> 00:37:35,612
He had his limits, and Joseph Knight
had pushed him to the very edge.
483
00:37:41,942 --> 00:37:46,333
Joseph Knight had no money, no influence,
nothing to win him his freedom.
484
00:37:46,382 --> 00:37:48,259
Or so he thought.
485
00:37:48,302 --> 00:37:51,260
But the Lord Advocate of Scotland,
Henry Dundas,
486
00:37:51,302 --> 00:37:54,612
was outraged by his case
and offered to represent him.
487
00:37:54,662 --> 00:37:57,813
The case went to
the Court of Session in Edinburgh,
488
00:37:57,862 --> 00:37:59,853
the highest court in Scotland.
489
00:38:01,702 --> 00:38:05,331
For Dundas,
it was the case of the century.
490
00:38:05,382 --> 00:38:08,055
The rights and liberties
of the British subject -
491
00:38:08,102 --> 00:38:10,616
it was the most controversial issue
of the day.
492
00:38:10,662 --> 00:38:13,574
England had just freed her first slave.
493
00:38:13,622 --> 00:38:17,217
The Colonies were agitating for release
from their British master.
494
00:38:17,262 --> 00:38:22,017
Increasingly in Scotland, fundamental
human rights were being acknowledged.
495
00:38:22,062 --> 00:38:25,020
But what haunted
liberal philosophers and thinkers
496
00:38:25,062 --> 00:38:29,772
was the knowledge that Scotland's success
and wealth depended on slavery.
497
00:38:40,102 --> 00:38:42,377
The documents of the case have survived.
498
00:38:42,422 --> 00:38:46,256
Both John Wedderburn and Joseph Knight
recorded lengthy memorials,
499
00:38:46,302 --> 00:38:49,135
stating their grievances
in their own words,
500
00:38:49,182 --> 00:38:53,016
to be used by the advocates
and judges as evidence in court.
501
00:38:53,062 --> 00:38:56,737
What details, what insights
come out of this record?
502
00:38:56,782 --> 00:39:00,377
A great amount of detail
about the facts of the case.
503
00:39:00,422 --> 00:39:02,413
Not only that,
504
00:39:02,462 --> 00:39:04,612
but the feelings that were involved
505
00:39:04,662 --> 00:39:07,051
and I think
John Wedderburn's hurt feelings.
506
00:39:07,102 --> 00:39:08,820
He sees himself as a good master
507
00:39:08,862 --> 00:39:11,330
and that Joseph Knight
is somehow betraying
508
00:39:11,382 --> 00:39:14,818
the good treatment that he was given.
509
00:39:14,862 --> 00:39:16,261
On the other hand,
510
00:39:16,302 --> 00:39:20,500
Knight's own strong feelings of wanting
to be emancipated from his status.
511
00:39:20,542 --> 00:39:25,696
NEIL OLIVER: That's an amazing irony
from our 21 st-century perspective,
512
00:39:25,742 --> 00:39:29,860
that the slave owner would be indignant
about his behaviour being questioned.
513
00:39:29,902 --> 00:39:33,577
Yes, that's right. He obviously felt
he had strong rights in the case
514
00:39:33,622 --> 00:39:36,500
and that he'd done the decent thing,
if you like.
515
00:39:36,542 --> 00:39:40,455
NEIL OLIVER: What aspects of that
could you show me in the paperwork?
516
00:39:40,502 --> 00:39:44,814
DR TRISTRAM CLARKE: Well, I think
one thing that we can pick out here
517
00:39:44,862 --> 00:39:47,171
is where Wedderburn talks about the time
518
00:39:47,222 --> 00:39:49,816
when Joseph Knight
had read in the newspapers
519
00:39:49,862 --> 00:39:54,174
about the famous case decided
by Lord Mansfield in England in 1772,
520
00:39:54,222 --> 00:39:56,975
which had appeared in the newspapers
521
00:39:57,022 --> 00:39:59,616
and it gave him an idea
that he was now free,
522
00:39:59,662 --> 00:40:03,974
so Wedderburn claims that after this time,
Knight becomes discontented and sullen,
523
00:40:04,022 --> 00:40:06,013
and is wishing to pack up and leave.
524
00:40:06,062 --> 00:40:09,611
- Discontented and sullen?
- That's right. Presumably not speaking.
525
00:40:09,662 --> 00:40:11,300
Taking the huff, if you like.
526
00:40:11,342 --> 00:40:13,537
For having the temerity
to want to be free.
527
00:40:13,582 --> 00:40:15,493
That's right, exactly. Exactly.
528
00:40:15,542 --> 00:40:18,215
There are other parts
we can perhaps pick out here.
529
00:40:18,262 --> 00:40:23,211
This is Wedderburn referring to
Knight's claim about his clothing
530
00:40:23,262 --> 00:40:28,131
and that, "He was clothed as well
as the rest of Sir John's servants,
531
00:40:28,182 --> 00:40:32,255
"but his stockings
were generally coarse, except four pairs,
532
00:40:32,302 --> 00:40:34,532
"and that he got
no regular pocket money."
533
00:40:34,582 --> 00:40:39,258
- Pocket money! For a grown man.
- Yes. Yes. Nothing for wages.
534
00:40:39,302 --> 00:40:43,898
NEIL OLIVER: It's quite interesting
in a way, isn't it,
535
00:40:43,942 --> 00:40:48,493
that given that it was a society
that still accepted slavery at that time,
536
00:40:48,542 --> 00:40:53,252
and yet his words are recorded
in just as much detail
537
00:40:53,302 --> 00:40:55,452
as Wedderburn's.
538
00:40:55,502 --> 00:41:01,293
There's a demonstration that the court
was recognising him already.
539
00:41:01,342 --> 00:41:06,621
Yes, as an individual with perfect rights
to come before the court and make a claim.
540
00:41:34,782 --> 00:41:37,342
This is where the drama unfolded.
541
00:41:37,382 --> 00:41:39,850
The case was called
from that little window.
542
00:41:39,902 --> 00:41:41,733
The judges sat in the alcoves.
543
00:41:41,782 --> 00:41:45,821
The advocates took the floor
and everybody else stood and watched,
544
00:41:45,862 --> 00:41:48,012
Wedderburn and Knight included.
545
00:41:53,902 --> 00:41:57,133
The case, as predicted,
provoked passionate debate.
546
00:41:57,182 --> 00:42:01,095
Counsel for Knight
argued that he did not consent
547
00:42:01,142 --> 00:42:03,133
to give up his liberty in the first place
548
00:42:03,182 --> 00:42:05,138
and that stepping on to British soil
549
00:42:05,182 --> 00:42:08,060
should give him
the constitutional right to liberty
550
00:42:08,102 --> 00:42:12,380
that is offered to every man
in any free country.
551
00:42:13,622 --> 00:42:16,261
Pandering to the pockets
of Scotland's elite,
552
00:42:16,302 --> 00:42:19,977
Wedderburn's lawyers made an argument
they believed few could reject.
553
00:42:20,022 --> 00:42:24,379
"Make a choice," they said.
"Choose between liberty and money."
554
00:42:24,422 --> 00:42:29,132
They asserted that Scotland was
"the first commercial nation in the world"
555
00:42:29,182 --> 00:42:31,298
and that we had "interwoven our interests
556
00:42:31,342 --> 00:42:33,936
"with those of our settlements
in the New World",
557
00:42:33,982 --> 00:42:39,056
and that therefore "the institution
of slavery is absolutely necessary".
558
00:42:39,102 --> 00:42:42,538
But the judges' decision
took everyone by surprise.
559
00:42:42,582 --> 00:42:45,380
In spite of Wedderburn's appeal
to collective greed,
560
00:42:45,422 --> 00:42:49,017
Scotland's top judges ruled for freedom.
561
00:42:57,422 --> 00:43:01,301
The Knight case sent a strong message
across the Atlantic.
562
00:43:01,342 --> 00:43:04,379
Britain had ruled to free a lowly slave,
563
00:43:04,422 --> 00:43:06,538
yet it continued to deny America
564
00:43:06,582 --> 00:43:09,938
an equal relationship
with its colonial master.
565
00:43:09,982 --> 00:43:13,258
Benjamin Franklin described
the storm that was coming
566
00:43:13,302 --> 00:43:16,100
if America's grievances
weren't recognised.
567
00:43:18,222 --> 00:43:22,500
He wrote, "Every act of oppression
will sour their tempers,
568
00:43:22,542 --> 00:43:26,330
"lessen, if not annihilate the profits
of your commerce with them,
569
00:43:26,382 --> 00:43:29,180
"and hasten their final revolt.
570
00:43:29,222 --> 00:43:32,294
"For the seeds of liberty
are universally sown there,
571
00:43:32,342 --> 00:43:34,298
"and nothing can eradicate them."
572
00:43:37,222 --> 00:43:39,258
This was the warning bell.
573
00:43:39,302 --> 00:43:41,372
America had had enough.
574
00:43:48,582 --> 00:43:50,334
In Princeton,
575
00:43:50,382 --> 00:43:54,773
Dr Witherspoon couldn't help himself
but get involved in the increasing unrest.
576
00:43:54,822 --> 00:43:58,019
He saw the matter
as a deeply moral and religious one,
577
00:43:58,062 --> 00:44:01,941
and was convinced that it was in
God's plan to free America from Britain.
578
00:44:01,982 --> 00:44:03,381
He wrote a public letter
579
00:44:03,422 --> 00:44:06,732
to all the Presbyterian churches
in the Colonies,
580
00:44:06,782 --> 00:44:10,457
urging ordinary people to come together
to reject Britain's shackles,
581
00:44:10,502 --> 00:44:14,051
with its crippling regime
of taxation and control.
582
00:44:16,142 --> 00:44:21,899
Every parishioner from Georgia to Maine
would have heard it read out in church.
583
00:44:21,942 --> 00:44:26,299
He urged all of Christian America
to listen carefully.
584
00:44:26,342 --> 00:44:31,780
"We must think of America as a nation,"
he said, "and assert our rights as such."
585
00:44:31,822 --> 00:44:34,780
He knew that this wouldn't happen
without a fight,
586
00:44:34,822 --> 00:44:39,942
but he argued that he preferred "war,
with all its horrors, even extermination,
587
00:44:39,982 --> 00:44:45,295
"to slavery, riveted on us
and on our posterity."
588
00:44:46,862 --> 00:44:52,494
In April 1775, British troops
marched in to Lexington, Massachusetts,
589
00:44:52,542 --> 00:44:56,012
to control crowds
demonstrating against British rule.
590
00:44:56,062 --> 00:44:59,372
Shots were fired
and eight men were killed.
591
00:44:59,422 --> 00:45:01,731
It was the start of
the American Revolution.
592
00:45:03,702 --> 00:45:06,216
Witherspoon had got the war he wanted.
593
00:45:10,102 --> 00:45:13,253
And so had William Cunninghame.
594
00:45:13,302 --> 00:45:15,418
Back in Glasgow, many Scottish merchants
595
00:45:15,462 --> 00:45:19,978
would never recover the debts owed to them
by the American tobacco planters,
596
00:45:20,022 --> 00:45:24,777
but war with the Colonies
just made Cunninghame wealthier.
597
00:45:27,502 --> 00:45:29,493
In the build-up to the conflict,
598
00:45:29,542 --> 00:45:33,296
Cunninghame had stockpiled as much tobacco
as he could lay his hands on.
599
00:45:37,302 --> 00:45:39,736
Now fighting had cut off the supply,
600
00:45:39,782 --> 00:45:43,172
he started selling it
at an astronomical price.
601
00:45:46,742 --> 00:45:50,735
Cunninghame might have been the talk
of the merchant gentleman's club,
602
00:45:50,782 --> 00:45:54,297
but to Adam Smith,
this was shameless war-profiteering.
603
00:46:01,382 --> 00:46:04,055
As the American Revolution broke out,
604
00:46:04,102 --> 00:46:07,219
Smith was working
on a book about commerce.
605
00:46:10,742 --> 00:46:14,451
It was the sum of all his observations
on Scotland's trade with America.
606
00:46:14,502 --> 00:46:17,096
But the war proved to be
a turning point for him.
607
00:46:20,942 --> 00:46:24,730
The merchants' greed
and William Cunninghame's profiteering
608
00:46:24,782 --> 00:46:28,457
began to sow doubts in Smith's mind.
609
00:46:32,542 --> 00:46:34,976
Cunninghame's behaviour appalled Smith.
610
00:46:35,022 --> 00:46:36,853
Despite his friendship with them,
611
00:46:36,902 --> 00:46:40,338
he began to paint an unflattering picture
of the Glasgow merchants
612
00:46:40,382 --> 00:46:43,260
and their questionable moral practices.
613
00:46:43,302 --> 00:46:47,341
He attacked their monopolising spirit
and even went so far as to say
614
00:46:47,382 --> 00:46:50,533
that if the government
were composed entirely of merchants,
615
00:46:50,582 --> 00:46:54,416
"it would be the worst of all governments
for any country whatsoever".
616
00:46:56,022 --> 00:47:00,174
The rest of society had not benefited
as much as Smith had hoped.
617
00:47:00,222 --> 00:47:04,295
The money had gone into the bricks
and mortar of great houses.
618
00:47:04,342 --> 00:47:06,697
Greed and vanity
had blinded the merchants
619
00:47:06,742 --> 00:47:10,178
to any real self-regulation
or social responsibility.
620
00:47:10,222 --> 00:47:13,214
Maybe it was more
than just government taxation
621
00:47:13,262 --> 00:47:15,856
that provoked
the American War of Independence.
622
00:47:15,902 --> 00:47:20,054
If the merchants hadn't displayed
such rapacious greed for profit,
623
00:47:20,102 --> 00:47:24,414
if they hadn't pushed the tobacco growers
into such huge debt,
624
00:47:24,462 --> 00:47:28,853
then perhaps America wouldn't have felt
aggrieved enough to go to war.
625
00:47:31,662 --> 00:47:33,573
In Princeton,
626
00:47:33,622 --> 00:47:38,252
John Witherspoon believed that America
was waging not only a just war,
627
00:47:38,302 --> 00:47:40,941
but a war that had God's providence.
628
00:47:40,982 --> 00:47:44,338
His stirring views
and increasingly popular sermons
629
00:47:44,382 --> 00:47:46,532
drew the attention of the British.
630
00:47:46,582 --> 00:47:51,019
The college became known
as "the seedbed of revolution"
631
00:47:51,062 --> 00:47:55,977
and British forces stormed Princeton,
destroying everything in their path.
632
00:47:59,862 --> 00:48:04,777
Witherspoon evacuated the university
just in time, and no-one was hurt.
633
00:48:04,822 --> 00:48:07,131
Cannon-fire
wrecked many of the buildings.
634
00:48:07,182 --> 00:48:08,581
But to his horror,
635
00:48:08,622 --> 00:48:12,581
British troops damaged the one thing
he cared most about - his library.
636
00:48:15,862 --> 00:48:20,378
But this setback only served to strengthen
Witherspoon's religious faith
637
00:48:20,422 --> 00:48:25,257
and his resolve to fight for liberty
and bring democracy to America.
638
00:48:27,182 --> 00:48:29,935
Everything Witherspoon
had been working for
639
00:48:29,982 --> 00:48:33,099
was to culminate
in one tightly-worded document
640
00:48:33,142 --> 00:48:36,817
that declared a new set of liberties
for this new nation.
641
00:48:36,862 --> 00:48:40,571
It was called
the Declaration of Independence.
642
00:48:45,742 --> 00:48:48,734
The wording was argued over
to the finest detail.
643
00:48:48,782 --> 00:48:50,818
This was going to be a country
644
00:48:50,862 --> 00:48:54,411
whose very beginning
was based on democracy and equality.
645
00:48:54,462 --> 00:48:59,297
Not everyone involved could agree
to the revolutionary ideas held in it.
646
00:48:59,342 --> 00:49:04,621
But Witherspoon was there, behind
the scenes, urging the process along.
647
00:49:04,662 --> 00:49:09,577
Witherspoon didn't just argue
for independence and democratic freedom,
648
00:49:09,622 --> 00:49:12,853
he brought the pulpit
onto the floor of Congress.
649
00:49:12,902 --> 00:49:15,132
The only clergyman present,
650
00:49:15,182 --> 00:49:19,175
Witherspoon argued that many Americans
would hesitate to join the revolution
651
00:49:19,222 --> 00:49:22,532
unless their cause
was seen to be just in the eyes of God.
652
00:49:22,582 --> 00:49:26,018
God must bless America.
653
00:49:27,422 --> 00:49:31,131
It was almost certainly Witherspoon
who championed the line
654
00:49:31,182 --> 00:49:35,494
that forms the very last sentence
in the document, which states,
655
00:49:35,542 --> 00:49:37,658
"And for the support of this declaration,
656
00:49:37,702 --> 00:49:41,138
"with a firm reliance on the protection
of divine providence,
657
00:49:41,182 --> 00:49:44,060
"we mutually pledge
to each other our lives,
658
00:49:44,102 --> 00:49:46,855
"our fortunes and our sacred honour."
659
00:49:49,302 --> 00:49:52,738
Now the Declaration
not only proclaimed independence,
660
00:49:52,782 --> 00:49:56,172
it was a visible demonstration
to the American people
661
00:49:56,222 --> 00:49:59,259
that it was God's will
to back the revolution
662
00:49:59,302 --> 00:50:01,657
and free America from British tyranny.
663
00:50:10,542 --> 00:50:14,296
Witherspoon persuaded any remaining
doubters to sign the Declaration,
664
00:50:14,342 --> 00:50:19,939
saying, "There is a tide
in the affairs of men, a nick of time.
665
00:50:19,982 --> 00:50:22,257
"We perceive it now before us.
666
00:50:22,302 --> 00:50:26,090
"To hesitate
is to consent to our own slavery."
667
00:50:31,262 --> 00:50:34,174
The fighting continued
for another seven years,
668
00:50:34,222 --> 00:50:35,655
but in the end,
669
00:50:35,702 --> 00:50:37,340
the British conceded defeat.
670
00:50:44,502 --> 00:50:50,020
To Witherspoon, it seemed that
divine providence had turned the tide.
671
00:50:54,062 --> 00:50:59,420
In 1783, a peace treaty was signed
and America secured her independence.
672
00:51:09,622 --> 00:51:12,978
The ideas of John Witherspoon
and Adam Smith
673
00:51:13,022 --> 00:51:15,013
had lit the fires of revolution.
674
00:51:15,062 --> 00:51:20,090
Both men were products
of the Scottish Enlightenment
675
00:51:20,142 --> 00:51:24,374
and both had given the world
a new moral philosophy by which to live.
676
00:51:24,422 --> 00:51:27,971
John Witherspoon
had combined religion and politics
677
00:51:28,022 --> 00:51:32,618
to help bring intellectual
and constitutional freedom to America.
678
00:51:32,662 --> 00:51:34,459
In his tenure at Princeton,
679
00:51:34,502 --> 00:51:39,098
he had introduced to his campus
Native American and black students.
680
00:51:39,142 --> 00:51:43,340
He educated many of the next generation
of American leaders.
681
00:51:43,382 --> 00:51:45,293
They included one future president,
682
00:51:45,342 --> 00:51:52,180
one vice-president, 39 congressmen
and three Supreme Court judges.
683
00:51:54,662 --> 00:51:58,416
And here lies the man
who chose Princeton over Paisley.
684
00:51:58,462 --> 00:51:59,861
He decided on America
685
00:51:59,902 --> 00:52:03,656
as the best place to fight for
the principles of liberty and democracy,
686
00:52:03,702 --> 00:52:07,456
backing the country he believed
had the best chance of delivering them.
687
00:52:07,502 --> 00:52:12,132
He continued as head of the college
for another decade after independence,
688
00:52:12,182 --> 00:52:15,333
and he's buried here,
in the cemetery at Princeton.
689
00:52:22,862 --> 00:52:26,013
John Wedderburn
was a bundle of contradictions.
690
00:52:26,062 --> 00:52:29,850
A Christian man, whose past
had taught him to look at the world
691
00:52:29,902 --> 00:52:32,097
from the position of the underdog,
692
00:52:32,142 --> 00:52:37,057
and yet he could not find it in his heart
to give Knight his freedom.
693
00:52:38,622 --> 00:52:41,375
Wedderburn spent the rest
of his life in Perthshire,
694
00:52:41,422 --> 00:52:45,017
living on the fortune that he built
on the exploitation of others.
695
00:52:45,062 --> 00:52:50,182
He also achieved the long-held ambition
of laying his Jacobite past to rest
696
00:52:50,222 --> 00:52:53,373
and restoring the good name
of the Wedderburn family.
697
00:52:53,422 --> 00:52:57,461
He reinstated himself
as the sixth baronet of Blackness.
698
00:52:57,502 --> 00:53:01,700
But it's a title that serves only to
remind us of a much more shameful past,
699
00:53:01,742 --> 00:53:04,939
namely the blackness
of Wedderburn's slaves
700
00:53:04,982 --> 00:53:09,021
and one slave boy in particular -
Joseph Knight.
701
00:53:10,582 --> 00:53:12,857
Knight never saw Wedderburn again.
702
00:53:12,902 --> 00:53:17,259
As a free man, he married
his sweetheart, Annie Thomson,
703
00:53:17,302 --> 00:53:19,736
and then simply disappeared.
704
00:53:22,222 --> 00:53:24,736
There's no record of him after the trial.
705
00:53:24,782 --> 00:53:27,854
But there's some speculation
that he became a miner,
706
00:53:27,902 --> 00:53:30,700
where, amidst the coal dust
that clung to everything,
707
00:53:30,742 --> 00:53:34,337
the colour of his skin no longer
marked him out as different.
708
00:53:37,062 --> 00:53:41,772
In 1778, William Cunninghame
got to build the house of his dreams,
709
00:53:41,822 --> 00:53:44,461
the ultimate symbol
of his wealth and vanity,
710
00:53:44,502 --> 00:53:48,893
and paid for with
the spoils of war and slavery.
711
00:53:48,942 --> 00:53:53,220
At £ 10,000, this was the most expensive
house ever built in Glasgow,
712
00:53:53,262 --> 00:53:58,461
and now lives on
as Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art.
713
00:54:00,062 --> 00:54:02,576
In the same year
as American independence,
714
00:54:02,622 --> 00:54:04,897
Adam Smith finally finished his book.
715
00:54:04,942 --> 00:54:06,773
In writing it,
716
00:54:06,822 --> 00:54:10,974
his theories about self-interest
as a force of good had fallen apart.
717
00:54:11,022 --> 00:54:13,297
William Cunninghame's profiteering
718
00:54:13,342 --> 00:54:16,652
taught Smith that economics
isn't just about making money,
719
00:54:16,702 --> 00:54:20,661
it's about the social responsibility
that comes with it.
720
00:54:20,702 --> 00:54:24,695
In The Wealth Of Nations,
Smith gave the world its first study
721
00:54:24,742 --> 00:54:28,781
of the moral and political dimensions
of a country's economy.
722
00:54:28,822 --> 00:54:31,416
Its success was to mark Adam Smith
723
00:54:31,462 --> 00:54:34,534
as one of the Enlightenment's
most influential thinkers,
724
00:54:34,582 --> 00:54:36,812
and the father of modern economics.
725
00:54:38,942 --> 00:54:40,978
On the last page of the book, he wrote,
726
00:54:41,022 --> 00:54:44,298
"It is surely time that
Great Britain should free herself
727
00:54:44,342 --> 00:54:47,652
"from the expense of defending
those provinces in time of war
728
00:54:47,702 --> 00:54:51,741
"and of supporting any part
of their establishments in time of peace."
729
00:54:51,782 --> 00:54:55,934
He was right, of course.
It was time to let America go.
730
00:54:55,982 --> 00:54:59,577
It reads like a diary of the build-up
to the American Revolution,
731
00:54:59,622 --> 00:55:02,420
and it's every bit as much
about a country's struggle
732
00:55:02,462 --> 00:55:05,932
for self-determination
as it is about economics.
733
00:55:10,382 --> 00:55:13,613
In the end,
there were no winners or losers.
734
00:55:13,662 --> 00:55:15,334
The new American Constitution
735
00:55:15,382 --> 00:55:18,294
made good its promises
of rights and freedom for all,
736
00:55:18,342 --> 00:55:20,856
but it never occurred
to the founding fathers
737
00:55:20,902 --> 00:55:23,860
to extend those same freedoms to slaves.
738
00:55:23,902 --> 00:55:27,212
It took a civil war
to rid America of slavery,
739
00:55:27,262 --> 00:55:30,732
and it's struggled
with the legacy ever since.
740
00:55:32,222 --> 00:55:34,611
And while Britain's vision of liberty
741
00:55:34,662 --> 00:55:38,052
remained bereft of democratic principle
for decades to come,
742
00:55:38,102 --> 00:55:43,938
it abolished slavery and paved the way
for other European nations to follow.
743
00:55:48,662 --> 00:55:51,301
And what of Scotland?
744
00:55:51,342 --> 00:55:53,572
In the wake of American independence,
745
00:55:53,622 --> 00:55:58,059
there was a feeling in the air
of anticlimax, of dissatisfaction.
746
00:55:58,102 --> 00:56:00,935
Parallels were drawn
between America and Scotland.
747
00:56:00,982 --> 00:56:02,381
It seemed as though
748
00:56:02,422 --> 00:56:05,937
all the best intellectual efforts
of the Scottish Enlightenment
749
00:56:05,982 --> 00:56:09,497
had gone to providing America
with the blueprint for liberty.
750
00:56:09,542 --> 00:56:12,454
But while Scotland thought and talked,
751
00:56:12,502 --> 00:56:16,495
it was America
that had put those ideas into action.
752
00:56:27,182 --> 00:56:30,413
In truth, America had changed
everything for Scotland.
753
00:56:30,462 --> 00:56:32,817
She had helped to lay
the foundation stones
754
00:56:32,862 --> 00:56:36,616
for one of the first and most influential
democracies in the world.
755
00:56:36,662 --> 00:56:38,220
As part of Great Britain,
756
00:56:38,262 --> 00:56:42,050
she had taken her first faltering steps
on to the world stage,
757
00:56:42,102 --> 00:56:44,570
and she would never look back.