Adam Hochschild ( bury the chains ) Chapter ( 6&7) - Book Report/Review Example

Adam Hochchild (bury the chains) Chapter (6 & 7) The Theme of Chapter 6 and 7 The theme of chapters six and seven is the liberation of slaves. The chapters describe the early struggle against slave trade in England and USA. The slaves, who were majorly Negros or the blacks forcefully taken from Africa and transported by the sea in slave ships, were subjected to harsh, ruthless and inhuman treatments by their holders. They were forced to work in sugarcane plantations under hard conditions and were ruthlessly tortured, acts that lead to death of most of them.

During 1700 century, when the slave trade was at its climax in Britain and in America, some of the anti slave liberators began preaching an end to slavery globally. Though separated by geographical distance, the liberators unanimously revolted slave trade arguing that the slaves had the right to resist the oppression and that every person, blacks as well as the whites, had the responsibility to help freeing the slave from the hands of their cruel tyrants who to some extent abused tem sexually1.

Methodology The seventeenth century was marked as the period of enlightenment. It was an era in which the ideologies of human rights were increasingly gaining popularity. Most revolutions are believed to have sprouted from his period. It was around 1785 that Thomas Clarkson, a 25 years old son of a deceased clergyman attending Cambridge University on a special scholarship entered the scene as a revolutionist against the slave trade. The methodology used to fight slave trade was non violent struggles but characterized by the fights of the intellects.

However, the slaveholders would not take the struggles lightly and would do anything within their power to cause trouble to those opposing slave trade. The essay competition which staged a question whether it is lawful to make slaves of others against their will at the university, which Clarkson participated sped the events of fights against slavery. Little did he know that the evidence he presented in the essay, which made him win the competition, would later overwhelm him and compel him toward fighting for the freedom of the slaves.

In 1786, his essay which was the length of a book was edited and published as a tool to fight against slave trade2. Such liberation efforts yielded positive results when some states especially in the Northern American States embraced emancipation of the slave, giving them equal rights as the whites. However, the southerners still resisted freeing the slaves since they had large numbers of slaves compared to other states. The British authorities were the frontlines in the fight for the freedom of the slaves.

They gave freedom to the slaves who revolted the oppression of their masters and crossed over to the British Territories. Thousands of slaves, especially from the Southern America did so, some taking the belongings of their oppressors with them. Analysis and Interpretation The non violent methods used by the liberators were appropriate. Violent mechanisms would arguably made life difficult both for the slaves and the revolutionists. For instance, they were opposing the regimes that were in support of support of the slave trade.

As such, most of them would have been arrested if they had resorted to violent methods. However, there were no well laid down strategies to protect the ex-slaves. Soon most of them were recaptured by their owners and re-enslaved. Reference UsedHochschild, Adam. Bury the Chains: Chapter 6 & 7. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company (2005).