"Bury the Chains" Chapter 9 Summary

In Chapter 9 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains, Hochschild mainly focuses on the beginnings of the antislavery movement. He tells of John Newton again, who, after being retired from the slave trade for 34 years, begins to speak out against slavery. He tells of how many people were opposed to interracial relationships, and how lower class women were pretty much disgusting because they "are remarkably fond of the blacks, for reasons too brutal to mention..." He tells of a former slave, Quobana Otoobah Cugoano, who publishes a book that is very popular. There are a ton of petitions that are sent to Parliament at this time in 1788, which contain between 60,000 and 100,000 signatures to abolish the slave trade. Hochschild writes of a man, William Wilberforce, who is a member of the Parliament. Clarkson persuades him to speak to Parliament on the topic of slavery, and when he about ready to do so, he falls ill and cannot speak before Parliament. While recovering, Sir William Dolben proposes that, after Parliament saw the overcrowding on a slave ship, a bill be passed to regulate the number of slaves a ship could carry. His bill is eventually passed. Soon after, the King goes mad and no more bills can be passed in Parliament until the situation is resolved.