Editing Granville Sharp (section)

===Increasing involvement===
[[File:William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield]]]]

The Strong case made a name for Sharp as the "protector of the Negro"{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}} and he was approached by two more slaves, although in both cases (''Hylas v Newton'' and ''[[Slavery at common law#R v Stapylton|R v Stapylton]]'') the results were unsatisfactory, and it became plain that the judiciary – and [[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield|Lord Mansfield]], the Chief Justice of the King's Bench (the leading judge of the day) in particular – was trying very hard ''not'' to decide the issue. By this time, Great Britain controlled the largest share in the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]], and the [[triangular trade]] based on slavery was important to the [[Economy of the United Kingdom|British economy]].

In 1769 Sharp published ''A Representation of the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery ...'', the first tract in England attacking slavery. Within it, he argues that "the laws of nature" grant equality to all humans regardless of any artificial laws imposed by society. He also condemns slave contracts because the liberty of a man cannot be matched in value by anything.<ref name=":1" /> Sharp's work attracted the attention of [[James Oglethorpe]], who had long been concerned with slavery as a moral issue. The two men remained close until Oglethorpe's death in 1785.<ref>Wilson, Thomas. ''The Oglethorpe Plan'' (Epilogue). Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Press, 2012.</ref>