Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Hochschild's Bury the Chains begins by discussing how entrenched slavery was in Great Britain and was booming after the Revolutionary War had ended. At the time, there were some abolitionists, but none believed they could break down something so deeply ingrained in British society. To once again relate past events to events happening today, he compares the abolitionist movement to the uphill climb with today's environmental movement. Continuing another trend of Bury the Chains, Hochschild points out the hypocrisy of Voltaire. Voltaire had mocked the idea of slavery in Candide, but had no problem with a slave ship being named after him.

The chapter then moves into the tale of Thomas Clarkson, a man attending Cambridge University. The dean of Cambridge held a Latin essay writing competition with the question being "Anne liceat invitos in servitutem dare?", meaning Is it lawful to make slaves of others against their will? He wrote an essay that declared slavery to be unlawful, and his essay won the contest. The thoughts of the essay began to sweep through his mind until reaching a crescendo during a horseback ride to Wades Mill. He though to himself that if the contents of his essay were true then "some person should see these calamities to their end." At that moment, many feel that the Anti-Slavery movement had begun. Two years later in May of 1787 the abolitionists had their first meeting in a printing shop which set the movement afoot.