One notable aspect of Obi or, The History of Three-Fingered Jack is its overt abolitionist leanings. Because historical information about Three-Fingered Jack was so scarce, the story was susceptible to manipulation from both ends of the political spectrum, and was often used to both support and indict the British slave trade. While many accounts of Three-Fingered Jack depict him merely as a terrorist or boogeyman, including a melodrama by William Murray and a pantomime by John Fawcett, Earle’s treatment explicitly presents him as “a bold and daring defender of the Rights of Man” and “as great a man as ever graced the annals of history” (68, 157). In order to gain his readers sympathy, Earle invests considerable effort into depicting the horrors of the slave trade and the immoral transgress