Chapter 8

In Chapter 8 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains, Hochschild talks about the Quaker movement towards the abolition of slavery, and the important role in which those in the Anglican church were able to play in seeing this dream through.  Hochschild describes the Quaker movements ideals as one and the same as Clarkson's and Granville's, however their religion got in the way of the formalities required to reach a larger audience.  The simple omission of "My Lord" and "Mr." stood in the way of their documents being taken seriously.  With Clarkson's Anglican background and excellent ability at digging up the truth he soon found himself leading the Abolitionist movement.  Clarkson takes on the job full time and begins traveling to the port towns collecting stories and acquiring signatures for petitions.  Along the way he also acquired props of the torture devices used and also of the exports that Africa had to offer.  Perhaps his largest discovery was the industrialized town of Manchester's support for its abolition with as many as 1/5 of the town signing a petition to parliament.

Clarkson's zealous attitude and his unwavering constitution allowed him the ability to collect important information on his quest to abolish slavery.  I believe because of this zeal Clarkson was able to be so successful.  Clarkson did not have the knowledge that we do today on how to create a strong argument yet he has created a modern template on how to go about changing peoples beliefs.  This to me was the most striking factor of the chapter.  I do not believe that Clarkson set out with a plan in mind but his firm belief and unwavering constitution led him to the answers he needed in order to present a sound argument.