Sugar Changed the World

Led by people like Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce in England, the abolitionists were activists who fought for outlawing slavery. Abolitionists “created the most effective public relations campaign in history, inventing techniques that we use to this day” (78). They linked the inhumanity of slavery to cheap sugar to draw the public’s attention. Although the abolitionist campaign in England was hurt by the chaos and bloodshed of the French Revolution (82), the abolitionists succeeded in getting the English Parliament to pass a law banning English involvement in the slave trade in 1807 (91).

Aronson and Budhos define the Age of Honey as the era that preceded the Age of Sugar, when most people in the world relied on sweeteners from bee-produced honey, maple trees, or fruits instead of sugar (6). However, they focus on more that people’s diets. The Age of Honey “was a way of living: People ate foods grown near them, did the same work as their parents and ancestors, and owed honor and respect to kings, nobles, those above them” (7). It was also a time when people “valued tradition over change” (70). The Age of Honey came to an end when knowledge of sugar cane became widespread (10).