- SUMMARY: What historical event topic from this time period did you select? (1 paragraph)
- CAUSE: What factors contributed to this event taking place? Why did this happen? (1 paragraph)
- EFFECT: How did the historical event you selected impact the practice of slavery in America? (1 paragraph)
- ARGUMENT: What information from the topic selected can be used to support your thesis? (1 paragraph)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Historical Points of Reference for Your Argument (DUE 10/21)
DIRECTIONS: Select a historical topic from the 19th Century on the website Eyewitness to History. Write a 500-word essay on which you answer the following questions:
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"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." These are words by which Abraham Lincoln communicated his feelings about slavery in an 1864 letter to a constituent. Lincoln believed that his power came from the Constitution and believed that it did not grant hi the ability to abolish slavery. In 1862 a different approach was made to free slaves in the Border States. The masters of slaves would e bought out to free the slaves. However this would not ultimately end slavery.
ReplyDeleteUltimately the decision to end slavery was a military one. As Commander-In-Chief of the Union Lincoln saw that the South’s entire war effort was based on slave labor. “On the battle front, slaves dug the trenches, built the battlements, cooked the meals and drove the wagons. On the home front, they tilled the fields, ginned the cotton, and performed many other duties that underpinned the South's economy. Slave labor freed the Confederate soldiers for combat.” To reunite the states and create a real union between North and South the Civil War needed to be won by the North. If the Confederate soldiers continued to use slave labor than the North could never win. This helped bring Lincoln to his final decision.
So he revealed his plan and a first draft of the proclamation to his Cabinet on July 22, 1862. He made it clear that he was not seeking their approval, as he had made up his mind to issue the proclamation. He did, however, ask for their comments. The Secretary of State at the time questioned the timing of the announcement. The war was not going well for the North. The Secretary of State felt that announcing the proclamation at this time would appear to be a desperate attempt of a broken government to rally opinion at home and abroad to its cause. Better to wait for a victory on the battlefield and Lincoln agreed.
The victory Lincoln was cautioned to wait for came in September when it repulsed Lee's invasion of the North at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation on September 22 that warned the Confederacy that if it did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would issue a second proclamation declaring the slaves of those states "forever free". His warning was ignored. While the reaction in the North was pleasant many believed the plan would not be followed through.
“Vast as were its consequences, the act itself was only the simplest and briefest formality. It could in no wise be made sensational or dramatic. Those characteristics attached, if at all, only to the long-past decisions and announcements of July 22 and September 22 of the previous year. Those dates had witnessed the mental conflict and the moral victory.
No ceremony was made or attempted of this final official signing. The afternoon was well advanced when Mr. Lincoln went back from his New Year's greetings, with his right hand so fatigued that it was an effort to hold the pen. There was no special convocation of the Cabinet or of prominent officials. Those who were in the house came to the executive office merely from the personal impulse of curiosity joined to momentary convenience.
His signature was attached to one of the greatest and most beneficent military decrees of history in the presence of less than a dozen persons; after which it was carried to the Department of State to be attested by the great seal and deposited among the archives of the Government." (Eyewitness account of signing of the Emancipation Proclamation)
Clarissa Oraczewski
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Keckley was a well known slave. She was lucky enough to be skilled in something that helped her get out of slavery. Elizabeth had a lot of duties to do when she was a slave. One of the duties and she will never forget is when she was assigned to watch one of the babies. All she had to do was keep the flies away from this young child and not let her cry. Seems like an easy task right? Wrong, Elizabeth didn’t follow up on these tasks and she paid for them badly. Elizabeth was wiped for her miss happenings. That’s what made her remember this crucial event.
Elizabeth should have never been treated this way. Slavery is bad in so many ways, this being one. Nobody deserves to be treated this way for carelessness. We all make mistakes and that’s how we learn and get stronger. Some of the things that slave owners would do to their slaves where beyond anyone could imagine. Think about losing your family and loved ones because they were bought off at an auction as a slave. Or to watch your kids get beat and tortured right in front of your eyes. The pain that slaves were put threw is so wrong in many ways.
“My life has been an eventful one.” Elizabeth Keckley said. She was brought to this world as a slave, but she was lucky enough to find her way to freedom. Thanks to Elizabeth’s mom, who taught her some unique skills in sewing, she helped Elizabeth and her son get out of slavery. Elizabeth was hired out as a woman who makes her living through sewing. This is known as a seamstress. Elizabeth made her money this way. Even though everything she made went to her master, her patrons gave her a loan which gave her and her son freedom 1855.
Elizabeth’s master wanted 1,200.00 than she could be set free and do whatever she wanted. She wouldn’t be a slave anymore. Even though that doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but 1,200.00 is worth about 27,000.00 in today’s money. Elizabeth would of never been able to get that kind of money if it wasn’t for her helpful patrons. When Elizabeth was set free she decided to set up shop in Washington, D.C with her son right by her side. Because Elizabeth was really good at what she does, she was hired as a personal maid for Mary Lincoln.
I’m glad to actually here a good ending to a slave story. Elizabeth deserved to be free just like all the other slaves. Everyone deserves a fair chance in this world. I hope no one agrees what slavery was a good thing. I say that slavery had its dark side, as well as its bright side.
I selected “Death of a Child, 1890 Life in the City”
ReplyDeleteIt was a very sad tale compared to the stories you hear about the big city. You usually hear about the big lights and stars and everything is beautiful. But this explained the rough sad truth about “city life”. Poverty, illness and death are the down sides to the “city life”. The story explained about this poor little white girl who was deathly ill in a city with her family who was also sick due to diseases. The husband couldn’t get work because of lead poisoning the mother and sons were nearly blind and the other children were clearly famished.
The dying child was laying on two chairs rather than a bed, simply because they didn’t have them. The extent of work on Americans is becoming more and more demanding. This country is starting to build up we can’t do it all on our own that is where the fair fuel we discussed, they do right by me and I’ll do right by them. It is important that they help in this cause because if America was falling rather than growing then we will not be able to save them from themselves.
This story was very sad but it ended on a good note. The next door neighbors felt really bad about what was happening to the family but because of the fact that they are poor as well they could only do what they could. To shorten the suffering of the child the neighbors gave them 2cents for some ginger ale. “There was enough in the bottle to go round to the rest of the family. In fact, the wake had already begun; before night it was under way in dead earnest."
It is a real shame about what happened to that little girl and her family but that only supports my point of a stale economy relies on slaves because they aren’t paid for the work they do, hurting the economy they are helping by working for no pay. This helps the rest of America get back on her feet.
Charles Darwin, stated “People, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal.” This to me is such a true statement while all people should be considered as equals, the people that were considered “slaves” in the 1900 weren’t considered people but 3/5 of a person. They were basically lower than dogs in the hierarchy of the Americas. The historical event I chose was “Return of a Fugitive Slave, 1854.” I chose this because while reading this is one of the articles that captured my attention the most.
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a slave named Anthony Burns that tried and almost succeeded to escape during the Fugitive Slave Act. He was a slave in his twenties who had been hired out to a man in Virginia. His duties were to very often go to the city docks. In February 1854, with the help of a friendly sailor he sailed down to a new, free life. “Unfortunately for Anthony, four years earlier Congress had passed the Fugitive Slave Act as part of the Compromise of 1850 that balanced the admission of new Slave and Free States to the Union.”The act required every US citizen to assist in returning escaped slaves to their owners, and not long after he arrived his owner and a great amount of slave hunters were in Boston looking for him, because they were promised a reward.
This event impacted the practice of slavery in America greatly. This caused many “northerners” to oppose slavery. “The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law that constituted one of its provisions were controversial federal laws intended to pacify the slaveholding South but that outraged northern abolitionists and ultimately helped provoke the Civil War.” Northerners were outraged because even northern states that ruled slavery illegal were to abide by the southern slave laws, which meant that they must return slaves back to their owner. This was very legal and made southerners very angry because in the southern states slavery was still legal and they had to listen, regardless. “Moreover, the law contained conspicuously corrupt provisions such as those that denied accused fugitive slaves the right to testify in their own defense or the right to trial by jury.”
This topic can be used to support my thesis statement because it basically is a great argument for exactly what I was explaining. Anthony Burns was a slave, and tried to escape but because of the fact he was basically not anything in the world, although a very hard working man, he knew nothing about the law or therefore the world in general. If he did he would have made sure to take extra precautions and this ties into my statement because one of the reasons I had against slavery was that even if slaves are freed, we will have no presence in the world, we will be as lost as a baby in New York City. Also we will have really hard times finding jobs because they are hardly educated.
In the 19th century slavery was abolished and that was a very historical event. After hundreds of years of slavery on Africans it opened a lot of peoples eyes. Many other countries also abolished slavery, such as "The Hatian Revolt".
ReplyDeleteThis was caused by the abolitionist who wanted the slaves set free. The North(Abolitionist) and South(Slaveholders) were already divided and this caused the Civil War. After the North, or the abolitionist, won the war, this divided our country even more. Even though slavery was abolished, blacks were still treated harshly and subject to beatings as if they were still enslaved.
This supports my thesis because i believed slaves should be free, and this is referring to the abolishment of slavery; it's giving my thesis "back-up". Now the former slaves could be treated as a FULL human instead of 3/5, and now we are actually treating everyone as the Constitution says they should.
Slave Auction, 1850
ReplyDelete“Four hundred thirty-six slaves were to be put on the auction block including men, women, children and infants.” I chose the Slave Auction as a historical event topic. This article explained how the auctioning of slaves took place during 1850. They were sold at a racecourse. When they sold the slaves they did not split up husband, wife, children, and infants from there family. They prepared the slaves for the auction and allowed the buyers to inspect them. Then they were ready to be auctioned off. Slaves were sold anywhere up to the price of $1,600, which was equivalent to $35,200.
The slave auction was an easier way for slave owners to buy slaves. They could bid on them all in one place and receive then right then and there. It wasn’t a chase to try and get them. It was a lot more convenient. The whole reason why the slave auction happened was because slaves were a very popular thing to have. They were a big help on plantations; it was away to get cheap agricultural labor for the production of rice, cotton, sugar cane and tobacco. It was very popular in the south because that was where the most land and plantations existed.
The practice of slavery almost became “normal”. Many plantation owners felt the need to have slaves work on their plantation to get a lot of work done. This made people buy more and more slaves to receive cheap or free labor. This created a chain reaction and eventually everyone with a lot of land that needed help, felt the need to have a slave. This made slavery a big thing in America.
This information from the topic that i selected can be used to support my thesis because it shows how useful slaves were in the 1800s. They were a lot of help on plantations. Farmers and slave owners could get almost double or more work done with slaves. It didn’t only help them get money but it also helped the common people.
I selected “Escape from Slavery.”Right away, the title caught my attention. It seemed very interesting. My eyes gazed as I read the article. How many people can really say they escaped slavery? Frederick Douglass was one of the few people that could of say that he escaped slavery. Born in 1818 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, his mother was a slave, his father an unknown white man.
ReplyDeleteDouglass began his life by being forced to work the fields on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At age 18, he was sent to Baltimore where he learned to caulk ships. He worked in the local shipyards. He earned a pretty decent wage. However he had to give all his earnings to his master. This is when he decided to take action. He then realized that his first step to freedom was to borrow the identity papers of a freed slave.
It was necessary in the State of Maryland for the “free colored people” to have what were called “free papers.” They were often required to renew them, and by charging a fee. In these papers the name, age, color, height, and form of the “freeman” were described, together with any scars or other marks. This device was of course defeated because anyone could personate the person.
To escape Douglas borrowed someone’s paper. He had one friend, (a sailor) who owned a sailor's protection (which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers). This protection was basically good enough to describe the person and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. However, it did not describe its bearer very accurately. It called for a man much darker than he was, and close examination of it would have caused his arrest at the start. But, Douglas was brave enough to take the risk. At the end, all he went through was all worth it because he was a free man.
How did the historical event you selected impact the practice of slavery in America? Let’s reword that to, how did escaping slaves affect slavery in America? Did escaping slaves cause problems for slave owners? Escaping slaves affected slavery in America because it gave others hope. It showed them to take risk and to not be afraid. Escaping slave did cause problems for slave owners. It caused problems for slave owners because the slave owners depended on the slaves so much. The slave owners probably went chaos without them.
Well, in my thesis statement I was an Abolitionist. An abolitionist was a person who wanted to do away with slavery. Abolitionists were in this case, “the good people” with hearts. My audiences were the town’s people. As an abolitionist I stated that of course, slavery is wrong. I think that this article can support my thesis statement because that’s what was going through Douglass mind when he was escaping. Also since Douglass is a slave, Abolitionist and slaves see slavery in the same point of view. They both think is a horrible thing.
SONIA R.
SUMMARY: What historical event topic from this time period did you select? (1 paragraph) this event happened when the British wanted to send out slaves to the native lands and also be and act as a slave to help the colonists build and do work. CAUSE: What factors contributed to this event taking place? Why did this happen? (1 paragraph) the British wanted more people to help with the moving and the help of gaining materials. The colonists wanted more people to act as workers the they can work long hours and for poor housing. EFFECT: How did the historical event you selected impact the practice of slavery in America? (1 paragraph) it was the beginning of slavery and their for the connection of the bringing slaves to work. ARGUMENT: What information from the topic selected can be used to support your thesis? (1 paragraph) the reasons to support that is was changing the world.
ReplyDeleteFor my topic for the 19th century, I have selected to write about the Ku Klux Klan. We hear a lot about the group in movies, TV shows, and from people. However we are never really taught much of it in school. This was my chance to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteThe Ku Klux Klan (the KKK) started out as a social club after the South’s surrender in the Civil War. Most of the KKK was made up of the Confederate Army’s veterans. The club originally was harmless but as they went through town and saw all the freed slaves in fear from their choice of group outfits, they became ruthless.
In 1871, Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act that authorized the use of federal troops in the Klan’s suppression and for the trial of its members in federal court. This caused the Klan to melt away, or at least make no more public appearances. America was impacted by slavery yet once again.
People just can’t leave other people of different races alone. There is always judgments, racism, hate crimes, etc. Why can’t people look part the skin to see that we are all truly the same? The article gave examples on some instances where the KKK hung blacks for small problems such as saying something rude to a white woman, or not moving out of a house in the time given. No one deserves to die without the reason of them killing another person. There people were innocent people with families. There was no need for them to die.
For my topic, I chose the first slave auction. "Early March 1859 an enormous slave action took place at the Race Course three miles outside Savannah, Georgia. Four hundred thirty-six slaves were to be put on the auction block including men, women, children and infants." This was supposed to be a big event, so there was a lot of "buzz" for this auction. People from all over the south showed up.
ReplyDeleteThis happened because " The sale's magnitude was the result of the break-up of an old family estate that included two plantations. " The family broke up, and had no need for the many slaves they had, most of the slaves they owned have never even left their plantation. They all were being sold, and they were going by "families," meaning; husband wife, and any offspring.
This auction just provoked slavery. It made be okay. They were selling people like they were furniture; who ever bids the most, owned that person. It made HUMAN beings become work equimpment.
This could help me with my thesis because it just shows that slave owners were greedy, and just wanted slaves. They did not NEED slaves. They were lazy, poor excuses for human beings.
GRADING FOR THIS BLOG POST IS COMPLETE.
ReplyDeleteMy topic was about the article on slave ships used to transport the slaves to America, they would often use slave ships because that was the only way to get the slaves here.
ReplyDeleteYou can't even begin to imagine what these slaves had to go through. So many people were aboard the ship called "Feloz". There were 336 males and 226 Females. So all together, there was 562 men women and children all together.
You can only imagine the condtions on the ship. There was NO food, room or any breathing space. The odor on the ship smelled so bad. Some of the slaves were thrown over board because they either died or they were complaining.
In 1807, the British Parliament bill passed. This was a bill prohibiting Slave trade. To enforce this law, they patrolled the seas off the coast of Africa. If slave traders were found, they would confiscate their ship and send they slaves back to Africa.
It's a good thing that they passed the British parliament bill because I don't agree with slave trading at all.
The people that freed the people on the slave ship say that the sight was just horrible. The people that were running the whole slave ship operation say that they need a way to make profit, but I think they are lazy and need to do their own work not force other poeple to do it for them. I also diagree with the slave ships alone. Can you imagine being on one? it must be like torture. It's not right to treat any human being like that.