So What.... does that second paragraph say?

From the discussion I figured that the biggest part that would help would be the So What? I believe that people need to write things that have a reason. It's pointless and a waste of time to write or read something that doesn't have a reason to it. Why even read it? It's not worth it.

Another was the problem-solution essay. I think it's very important to have straight facts that are also in depth when talking about a topic. I think that if you leave stuff out of a paper or a discussion, it will significantly hurt the attempt to get the point across. if you give a bland answer it will be hard to write about.

Okay, so the last paragraph probably doesn't make a lot of sense but i hope you get what im trying to say. But anyway, anther point is to have 3 or 4 sides of view for one topic. If you think about how you see the issue, how they see the issue, how people are for/against the issue could really help the essay or discussion.  

The Curios ReSearcher

Points I Found Helpful

Deciding Whether to Say I

Having the paper talk, not the author in the essay

Beginning at the Beginning

Leads are the most important part of the essay, its hard to write one and the writer really needs to focus on it.

Writing Multiple Leads

Knowing this is the most important part of the paper, write a few to know where you want to take your paper.

The Different voices of Research

The way someone writes changing how similar topics can sound different

Writing for reader Interest

This is a great idea because your basically writing for the reader. You want to write a paper that will be enjoyable to the reader all the time.

Questions in class

One of the questions that had the most check marks on it was “Why did the sugar boycott work when most others seem to fail?” I would be able to tie this into my essay in multiple ways. I  can start out by talking about who started the boycott. Then I would be able to talk about how the boycott took form and how long before people started to notice that sugar wasn’t being purchased. I can also talk about how effective it was. I can talk about how it affected the economy. I can put in the background information about how important sugar is to the British. That they need it for their tea, tea is a very important drink to have in British culture.

            The next question I had with the most check marks was the “why do boycotts work?”. This question alone can be used to write an entire paper on. This can go in so many directions with how broad the question is. You can talk about where they start, how they develop, how important it is for people to continue to back up the boycott, how important people are to the boycott, who is in the boycott (how important the person is, what level of government do they hold). Many questions can be developed from this question. I can also use this question to put in an example of a boycott. I can also list successful boycotts and how each of them were successful in their own way.

My Essay

As of right now i want to write how boycotts are effective. These past reading were useful because of how the boycott of slave grown products were used. I think there would be plenty of information regarding this topic from the civil rights movement and other famous boycotts. I will use parts of this book to show how boycotts are effective in an effective manor.

Summary of Pages 324-354/365-366

In these pages in Bury the Chains, Adam Hochschild went with the continued theme of abolishing everything that has to do with slavery. Elizabeth Heyrick was a woman introduced in the these pages who wanted to create a boycott. In this boycott was to get everyone to stop buying the goods created by slaves. This boycott was effected because of the heavy support that the woman gave her.

We also read about how the British Parliament worked. We learned that through certain requirements people who chosen for candidates. Through these candidates the Agency Anti-Slavery Committee was formed to continue the efforts of the complete banish of slavery. This Committee also spread fear of revolt to the remaining slave owner because the touched many people with what they say and spread about slavery. It took about five years to completely release all people from slavery. Finally ending in the last 1830's.

Chapter 21

In Chapter 21 of Bury the Chains, Adam Hochschild wrote about how the abolitionist were still attempting to stop slavery in Britain. After a bill was created and passed to stop 2/3 of the slave trade, within a year another bill was passed to completely abolish slavery, the only opposition was the amount of revenue Britain was making off of the slave trade. This was overlooked and the bills were passed, getting rid of slaves in Britain. 

Chapter 18

In chapter 18 of Bury the Chains, Adam Hochschild talks about one of the largest slave revolts in history, the St. Domingue revolt. St. Domingue was the beginning of travel for most slaves because it was the largest atlantic slave trade market. This revolt had a huge effect on the slave trade because within a few year, slavery ended in St. Domingue. This happened because when the revolt happened, it forced people to take sides.

Essay Lead

Throughout controversial times people have been exposed to propaganda. Propaganda has been used throughout time to have people be for or against a certain issue. Wars, political issues and controversial topics like slavery all had propaganda in them. Does it actually work? Do people really pay attention to posters and signs? How is it used? When was it used? Does it still go on today? Is this propaganda?

Chapter Fifteen

This chapter was about the spread of the word. How the abolishinist used the new advances in technology to help their cause. They wanted to go out and stop slavery and the easiest way to was to use newspapers, magazine and books. British people were able to be aware of the horrifying thing known as slavery through first and second hand accounts. As newspapers were uncensored, they were able to write whatever they wanted to. This spread word fast of horrifying experiences. The word even traveled throughout European countries that were enslaving people like France. This spread was also helped greatly due to the best postal service, the British Postal Service was able to send letters back and forth to help stop slavery. Between newspapers, books, magazines, post office, the last great part about the new ways of spreading the information is through the coffee shops. 

Essay Topic

What i am would want to write about would be how propaganda has swayed citizens thoughout important times in the world. Whether it would be during this time of the slaves, how in World War II propaganda was used, other wars and how propaganda is used now for todays issues. I think this topic would be great to write about because it is geared toward regular citizens, us. I want to see how "big brother" wants us to see other people because though this paper i would be able to investigate the other side of the propaganda. I would also be able to see how or if the propaganda worked in the past and if it's currently working.

Chapter 11 and Select Pages

In chapter 11 of Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild was all about a new bill that was trying to get passed in Britain about abolishing slavery. The biggest part that would help the abolitionists was when Equiano sent Clarkson a detailed picture of a slave ship. It had a front, side and depth view of the ship. This was then blew up by Clarkson on posters to get the citizens in it. It showed how little space each slave passenger had and how they lived within the ship. Along with the diagram, there was a great slave song that was also shown. Another big part of the attempt to pass the bill was the amount of people who helped Clarkson's case and the power whose those names bring, John Newton, Equiano, James Steven and Revered James Ramsey who just passed away from a massive gastric hemorrhage.

To jump ahead in the chapter, it would bring us to France. Under new leadership from Lafayette, he talked about how his big issue he will deal with is the abolishment of Slaves. Now with rumors of democracy  approaching, the chance of slavery in France is diminishing. There was a big revolt in Paris when Clarkson went to collect witnesses for the case in britain. This revolt was a crowd that stormed an old run down prison that was a massive symbol of tyranny in France. 

In the select pages 167-174, it talked about how Equiano wrote a book. It was an auto-biography and talked about when he was on a slave ship. this book was hit during this time. It wasn't only a hit because of how much it had an effect on people and how much money it made, it showed that slaves and African Americans can be literate. Europeans believed that all Africans were illiterate. Equiano proved everyone wrong. This book opened the eyes of behind the scenes of the slave trade and what happened through the eyes of a slave.

In the second set of select pages 192-198, these few pages were packed with information about how woman now were stepping in and leading the sugar boycott. They wouldn't use sugar in their tea or anything that has sugar in it for that matter. They wanted to squeeze the country for money until they stop slavery. Sugar was/is a big factor in life of Britain. This boycott had a big effect on the abolishment movement. Also during this time Clarkson wrote another book about the problems slaves had and what happened during the slave trade. This would be more literature to help stop slavery in Britain.

Chapters 8/9 and Views

In chapter 8 and 9 of Bury the Chains, Adam Hochschild brings us into the start of the abolitionist movement. This start was created by people enlisting behind Clarkson. Everyone wanted to be apart of this movement due to the fact everyone finally realized how wrong the slave trade was. Clarkson had the Quakers to enlist first and then it moved on to fellow sailors, clergymen and of coarse the slaves themselves. People who weren't in the slave trade just average citizens started to speak out too against the movement. Finally someone got the abolitionist movement started. Britain however didn't want the abolishment of the slaves due to the money they are making off of it. Clarkson continued to go around to find out the condition of the slave ships. He wanted to fully expose this market and get rid of it through the support of his "enlisted"members. Another big factor was the newspapers, they were able to quickly spread the word. Another big fact was the fact that John Newton and his ally was on the abolitionist side. Newton wrote a pamphlet about the horrors of the slave trade. With a name like John Newton on your side will create a heavy pull to the side of abolishment. 

The way that i view this is as big as the upset the Giants had against the Patriots. When Newton went to the abolitionist side it created a huge advantage for them. With such power on one side, one tends to think that slavery will so be abolished. I know this going to take while judging by the 200 pages left in the book but i believe with Newton on their side it going to be hard for this abolishment movement to stop. They have first had accounts for what happened, how the slaves were treated how they're view as non-humans, basically mules and most important, what slave ship captains/owners treat their crew and cargo (slaves) on board. Another view i have of this is since Newton is such a holy and correct person he secretly knows who he has done and wants to completely clear his name with the people on earth and God. I think he wants to die without a thought on his mind and believe how much he helped the world get better.

Chapter 7

In Chapter 7 of Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild, Adam Hochschild starts out by asking "In an Atlantic world still in slavery's grip, was it possible to build a free black community? if so, where? This question in very important to the rest of the chapter. To focus on the question, it can be broken down into a few ways. The straight forward question of is it possible for a black community and another hidden question of is it possible for blacks to live among the whites. This alone can spark a controversial debate.

The rest of the short chapter is filled with important background information. It went into the American Revolution. It talked about how Britain was giving slaves freedom if they joined the British Army. The problem arouse when the war ended. Yes, many slaves did join the army but now back to the original question where do they go and what do they do? The answer came when Britain forced the "freed" slaves back to their rightful owner Carleton. But as a "noble man" Carleton sent his freed slaves to Nova Scotia, Canada to create the largest community of freed slaves. The only reason why Carleton did this was because of the respect to Britain. He kept their promise even though he was not an abolitionist.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 in Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains was very informative chapter. Starting off with how John Newton retired of being a slave ship master. It then went into detail about how hypocritical people can be in the world. In this chapter there were two names that came to mind, George Whitefield and Countess Huntington. These two are against slavery but realize that "hot countries cannot be cultivated without Negroes." (p.87). This is very critical because these to ministers both own slaves. Countess Huntington has one and the notorious George Whitefield owns fifty of them in Georgia. This is ironic considering they both don't agree with the idea of slavery.

For the greater part of the chapter it talks about Thomas Clarkson's Essay he wrote. His Essay won the Latin prize. The topic of the peace was "Is it lawful to make slaves of others against their will". Thomas Clarkson had trouble sleeping during the two months he had to write this essay. He realized how important his essay was going to be. He researched everything he could to learn more about the topic and wanted to know just about everything. When he won it he wanted to publish it to start the abolitionist movement against slavery. He said it was hard for him to sleep because of the information he learned about the topic. He realized how horrible the slave ships were when he finally got on one and had many primary sources talk about the slave ships and how terrible slavery was. At the end of the chapter it talked about with the help of the Quakers, Thomas Clarkson formed the first anti-slavery efforts.

The section of this chapter that really caught my attention was how it took a twenty-five year old to start this revolution. There were obviously many people who opposed slavery but they never did anything about. It just goes to show that someone can really change the world if they want to. This was the beginning of the end of slavery in Britain and later, the United States.

Class Questions

Carl,Matt,Greg: The numbers game: importing new slaves to "replace" those killed off. The numbers are horrific. Slaves were treated like a machince

How hypocritical was equiano? Measured up against John Newton?

Did greed motivate change in slavery from menial servanthood (serf-like) to mechansitic, working of the slaves to death?

How genious was eqiano's pragmatism? Did he play the game to well?

Does Hochschild's Book suffer from an undue bias agianst religion?

Did riches (stand-in for greed) and or the persuit of a comfortable lifestyle make people more willing to suspend their morals and participate by proxy in slave trade?

Was Equiano "lucky" as Hochschild says? how mught Hochschils be using the word ironically?

Is the chapter on Equiano well placed? Does it serve as a good counterweight story to express what a slave went through? Would i have been more effective to tell more horrid stories of slave ship conditions in a chapter after J.Newton

Alright...

When your common sense fails, there's always help.

Chapter 2/4 Personal Response

In chapters two and four, Adam Hochschild introduced us to Olaudah Equaino and James Stephen in Bury the Chains. In chapter two it came mostly from the perspective of Olaudah Equaino. He didn't talk about how much he benefited from the slave trade like Newton did, he talked about what it was like to be a slave. Olaudah Equaino talked about how treacherous the conditions were on the slave ship. How crammed and how non-sanitary it was. The Oder from the sweat, vomit and feces he said seeped into the wood of the boat and was impossible to clean out. Olaudah Equaino also talked about how he was on a hunger strike to try and kill himself. He would rather KILL himself then go through the horrible and horrifying conditions Newtons boats created. He talked about how a three slaves jumped off the side of the boat knowing they would KILL themselves from drowning. Again, these slaves wanted to die then be on the slave boat. Even though Olaudah Equaino did have a better life after the slave ship. Equaino learned how to become literate and used that to his advantage to become a "free slave". Equaino also talked about how if Britain has power and permits slavery, no black man will be free.

Chapter four started off with some background of the sugar plantations. The Caribbean is home to the top sugar fields and the most brutal place for slaves. I was told that in the Caribbean that the average slave would only live for the first three years. Now bring in James Steven. He has another personal story about the slave trade. He was a lawyer in the Caribbean and realized how horrific the slave trade actually is. He would be a primary source for a project because of his personal view of two slaves being burned at the stake. The were accused of committing a crime and were killed for it. He used this and other examples to show how much worse the Caribbean slaves had it compared to the American slaves.

Out of these two chapters, the biggest part that caught my attention was when Olaudah Equaino talked about how he and other shipmates were trying to commit suicide because of how bad it was to be on the ship. From what I have personally experienced in my life, I believe i cannot take my own life. I know that in certain circumstances it could change like Olaudah, but I just can't fathom the thought. It's really impressive how much someone can be put through and still not die. He was intentionally starving himself to perish and he was also getting beaten during it. It's really heart wrenching to know that people can put other individuals through this much pressure and hardship into anther's life. Could you do that?

Intro and Chapter 1

Blog #1 Introduction Chapter

            In the introductory chapter of Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild laid the template of the book, the stop of slavery in Britain. In the introduction, it talked about how slavery was beginning in Britain and how important it was to the economy. Nearly 2/3rds of the people alive were in some kind of imprisonment. This story will talk about how important it was and how Thomas Clarkson is going to start the revelation to abolish the slave trade.

Blog #2 Many Golden Dreams

            In the chapter of Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild, John Newton talked about his experiences through memoirs he talked about how he started transporting slaves. He was on a boat that traveled to Africa and then south around the tip of Africa delivering slaves to the other side of the continent and also picking more slaves up.  He talked about how he wanted to provide for his girl friend. He also talked about how much rape went on with the woman slaves. How easy it was for him and his fellow shipmates take advantage of them. He later quoted several bible passages to almost “forgive” himself for what he did. Another section of the chapter talked about how John Gladstone, a member of parliament help Britain out during many parts of his life. How generous he was as a person even though it was over looked that he was a slave trader. When a statue of him went up, people carved “SLAVE TRADER” over the section of the plaque that talked about everything he has done. Also in the chapter it talked about how the triangle trade worked, who it was with and what happened during the voyages in it. It talked about how intense of a captain Newton was and how he tortured his slaves to not revolt against him. He also put guns and other ammunition on board to intimidate slaves to prevent revolts against him.