The following is the full question I asked: "In his book "A letter on the abolition of the slave trade", why did William Wilberforce defend abolitionists, though not excuse abolitionists, who decided to continue personal slave ownership through their fight for abolition? Why did he insist this is not a form of hypocrisy?" Response:Yes. The key is that Wilberforce is making a distinction between opposing the slave trade and immediately abolishing slavery itself. That distinction can seem morally uncomfortable to a modern reader, but it is central to his argument.What Wilberforce was defendingIn A Letter on the Abolition of the...