Robert Werder
February 20, 2012
English 202-015
Against All Odds In the January/February 2004 issue of Mother Jones, Adam Hochschild, writes "Against All Odds", a story that encourages us to keep our dreams of change, and to act on them through the strategies of the dreamers before us. Hochschild informs us that in 1787 "Well over three-quarters of the people on earth are in bondage of one kind or another." While many in England did not see a problem with slavery, a few rebelled. Thomas Clarkson and his followers started a movement on May 22, 1787 to put an end to the slave trade, and to abolish slavery forever in Great Britain. Thomas Clarkson was a student at Cambridge University and man with no interest in slavery or its moral dilemmas. It was not until Clarkson entered in the" Cambridge Latin Essay Contest" that Clarkson realized the immorality of slavery. Clarkson, outraged and disgusted with slavery, found a Quaker James Phillips, to print his winning paper to the community at George Yard. Thus the movement was started, and Clarkson continued his campaign against slavery through newsletters, petitions, political posters, and decorative medallions with a logo depicting the evils of slavery. Determined to expand his movement Clarkson joined forces with William Wilberforce a fellow abolitionist and friend within Parliament. To gain more support for his cause Clarkson rode across Great Britain gathering evidence, and witnesses to testify in court. Parliament was no longer able to ignore the issue of slavery, and Wilberforce motioned to abolish slave trade. This was met with opposition saying slaves were uncivilized, and if they didn't take the slaves, foreigners would take the market and would treat them poorly. Well with the support of Scottish