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Slavery before ‘The Civil War’
Slavery before ‘The Civil War’
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Slavery before ‘The Civil War’
Slavery is part of the history of the United States which can never be eliminated. It formed one of the most important concerns of humanity and it even led to the civil war at a time when it ended. However, it did not end completely since some of the southerners even after being defeated by the union and the northern states did not fully accept those black people needed to be treated as full human beings. Apart from the civil war, there were other silent wars like the gag rule and the later formed Ku Klux Klan movement which originated from the south. It has therefore been a long journey to liberation from slavery and it goes on even today whereby the main issue being addressed is the systemic racism within the society of the united states. This paper, therefore, addresses the attempts of Congress to eliminate slavery, issues surrounding slavery that led to the civil war, and when the war was inevitable.
Eli Whitney invented the use of cotton in making clothes. It was at a time when slavery especially in the south was losing its value due to the few jobs for the slaves and the abundance of the slaves. It was just before the invention that the abolitionists believed that congress was going to abolish slavery. Unfortunately instead of the expected abolishment, slavery skyrocketed from 700,000 slaves in 1790 to 1.2 million slaves in 1810 due to the establishment of cotton farms. Due to the large numbers, the slaves were treated harshly and the abolitionists were against this. It was one of the reasons for the civil war. The southerners were making so much profit and did not want to end slavery and lose the profits. On the other hand the abolitionists were mainly focused on humanity. Therefore the southerners seceded when the abolitionists wanted to end slavery. This made the war inevitable since it was the fight between human rights on the side of the union and northerners versus economic wealth on the side of southerners.
The Missouri compromise, on the other hand, was an issue and an effort by Congress to end slavery. Even though it achieved its primary short-term goal it failed at the end. The laws which were put into place were that there would be no acceptance of any state into the union which supported slavery. This came as a result of the tension which had been growing between the north and the south. The tension was due to the states of both whereby the south was pro-slavery and the north was anti-slavery. The Missouri compromise, therefore, was in effect until the time when Missouri applied for statehood in 1817. The controversy began when the state was granted the freedom to be free of any binding rules and laws concerning whether it was pro-slavery or anti-slavery. With this, James Talmadge tried to amend the bill to state that no more enslaved people would be brought into Missouri. He also amended it into saying that the enslaved children should be set free by the age of 25. Even though this held for some time it still did not solve the issue of slavery. Instead it gave birth to Kansas-Nebraska Act which later turned out to bleeding Kansas.
Kansas-Nebraska Act was devised by Senator Stephen Douglas and his aim was the expansion of railroads. He hoped that the hub of the railroads would have been Chicago. However, there was a problem in that they had to pass through Lowa and Missouri. Therefore these two had to be recognized into the union before the railroads could pass through them into California. This act even though made with good intentions fueled chaos and violence. One of the provisions of the act was that the states should depend on the sovereignty of the people or rather popular sovereignty. This is whereby the states were to vote whether they wanted slavery or not. This was the main cause of the violence as forces of both sides arrived in Kansas and violence erupted. The violence reached its peak in 1856 when there was a burning of the free soil. It was due to this violence that the territory was referred to as bleeding Kansas a name given by Horace Greeley who was an editor of the new york tribune. With congress trying all they could to end slavery the slaves were also involved in fighting for their liberation. This was evident in the efforts of Nathanial “Nat” Turner. Claiming that he had been chosen by God to lead his people away from suffering he organized a group of slaves who decided to flee and find their freedom away from their masters.
Claiming to get inspiration from the eclipse of the sun in 1831 he led a group of more than 80 slaves into killing Travis’s family where he was stationed and fled. However, this was not successful and some of the slaves were beaten by white people mobs of around 50 individuals. Nathaniel hid for around six weeks and later was found and he was executed by crucifixion. Even though this did not bear fruit it encouraged the others that there was a way out. It even encouraged the abolitionists as it openly declared how the slaves were being treated. In the wake of Mexican-American war new territories were added. However there was the challenge of these states supporting slavery and therefore there had to be devised a method of dealing with them. This resulted into the compromise of 1850. It was made up of 5 bills and all tried to address the issue of slavery among the new states which were acquired from Mexico. Senator Henry Clay came up with this compromise and through it he hoped to end or to stop civil war. The five major points of the compromise included; permission of slavery in Washington but abolishment of slave trade, addition of California to the union as a free state. Others included establishment of Utah and New Mexico as territories to decide their fate in face of slavery and also defined new boundaries for the state of Texas. There was also the fugitive act which required citizens to assist in apprehending run-away slaves. All these tried to stop the civil war however they never worked and it still happened.
In conclusion therefore it is true that slavery was a very strong force whose effects are still felt even up to today. At the same time, it is also important to recognize the efforts and the leaders of the abolition even those who suffered for the right course because the value of human beings can never be degraded as southerners did. The above history explains the slavery activities leading to the civil war which was the most important part of the end of slavery in the United States.
Slavery and the Revolution
Slavery and the Revolution
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Slavery and the Revolution
After going through chapter 6, the most exciting part of it was about the slaves and their owners and the process towards freedom and how that was achieved. Slavery and the revolution was the part of chapter six which was most appealing to me. First of all, when Americans complained about slaves being mistreated and denied basic human rights, Britain replied by stating that it was the Americans who had the slaves and not them. Therefore, it was up to Americans. In these states, it can be seen clearly that Britain had brought slavery for their areas colonized in the US, but they did not feel responsible for the other ill-treatment these black men were going through.
The other thing is that at the time of independence in the United States, the slaves were so many, especially in the south, that they totaled like 500,000 slaves. This was a significant number to maintain or give freedom, and therefore there had to be ways to prevent them from doing some things that the whites were doing. This was because even though the whites gave them freedom, it did not mean that they thought they were equal but instead, most whites believed that it was a decent thing to do. An eighteenth-century writer notes there are two extremes of happiness and misery, including freedom and slavery. Freedom is sweet and has responsibility, and slavery is full of misery.
However, one thing comes out clearly that the whites needed to thank the blacks who were their slaves since it was due to their efforts and work that the American whites managed to obtain freedom from Great Britain. The whites were also very well developed from the actions and works of these blacks, and therefore they needed to treat them better than the way they were treating them at that particular time.
As freedom continued to be talked about, there was a great desire on the side of the slaves to be free and to do their things without the supervision of the whites. This led to the petition for freedom which even the blacks defined freedom for themselves by stating that freedom is a universal right and that every human being needed to have it. From this definition, there came a need to have universal liberty. Several white people also championed this, who firmly believed that slavery was the wrong way to go. Therefore they tried to convince their counterparts that they had to declare freedom. In the United States, the first part of proclaiming freedom was the north. The south was adamant about doing this since they depended heavily on slaves for the cotton farms and other types of works and therefore after the civil war, they had to set slaves free.
Reference
Foner, E. (2013). Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition (Vol. 1). WW Norton & Company.
Sklar’s Article Reflection
Sklar’s Article Reflection
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Sklar’s Article Reflection
The author states that every dance has a kind of cultural knowledge and therefore it is very important for the people to understand what different movements mean within a certain kind of dance. This is because most of the dances are inherited and together the culture is also inherited. This means that the dancing style is a culture and not just the dance alone. Some dances have very deep meaning for certain cultures, others are not allowed while other dances are only done during certain occasions because they mean different things. This to an outside person it is just normal and a dance is a dance. US tribal uses different styles of dances and costumes and there is always a percentage of American indigenous people to represent how important they are to American tribal. Therefore this dancing style presents cultural knowledge that even before the other people came into America there are people there and they had their own way of doing things.
Moment knowledge is conceptual in that the sounds created through music makes a person make certain movements in dance and it is through this was that a dance comes up. Conceptual means that the person upon hearing the music creates or remembers concepts of how music was being danced and therefore try to follow those concepts. Something emotional means that music presents a situation of mixed feelings whereby at some points a person becomes emotional and they want to even express their feelings because the music makes them emotional. Apart from music influencing this emotions are also expressed through music and therefore when a person senses those emotions they get to understand that they are not alone and they get emotional. Kinaesthetic refers to bodily movements with full awareness of the sensory organs. This means that the ears are well coordinated and a person dances in a certain way very consciously. Thus the three are different.
Movement knowledge is not explained because to the author each movement in mastered at different places and different people have different movements. This means that the knowledge of how to move in a certain way is not important as the other aspects which are clearly discussed. A person can know the dance movements of certain music yet they do not know what that music means to them. Therefore the author focuses on other aspects like meaning, culture and coordination of the body rather than the movement knowledge since anyone can learn how to move or dance in a certain way.
For a person to look beyond the move and get meaning it is important to bring together all the senses and the concepts discussed by the author. This means that if a person is to understand what different aspects of the music or the movement they have to know the culture and what those movements know as well as be fully involved into the moment and allow their bodies to move in a certain similar direction with the music. Having a background of the culture is also very important since a person will look beyond the move and realise that in a certain culture a certain move means something.
Movement is not always explained by word of mouth and understood. Therefore sometimes even when you try to explain to someone it is almost impossible and this person cannot even understand. Therefore the best way for a person to understand is just to watch and be able to understand from the watching and not from being talked to. This happened at a time when I tried to explain to my friend with Asian original about tribal America dances, she could not understand and I just urged her to continue watching till they got absorbed into it and they got something out of it.
Reference
Sklar, D. (2001). Five premises for culturally sensitive approach to dance: Moving history dance culture to a dance history reader. Wesley UP Middle Town: CT30-32.