Introduction Summary

The main point in the introduction of Hochschild's Bury the Chains is to establish the scene and scope of the subject of the work. The aforementioned subject is the abolitionist movement in Great Britain that began when twelve men met in a printing shop on the twenty second of May in 1787. The introduction serves also to establish basic descriptions of many of the characters that will be featured in the work such as John Newton and Olaudah Equiano. Continuing from there, the author describes the significance of the movement to history and how the movement set the stage for much of the future of social movements in the centuries that followed.