Nat Turner's Rebellion: Dred Scott Decision, And The Emancipation Pro

APUSH 4.06

Nat Turner’s rebellion, the Three-Fifths Compromise, the Dred Scott decision, and the Emancipation Proclamation all relate to the historical theme of Politics and Power. Each of these terms relate to how political participation and individual rights have been limited throughout U.S. history. To begin with, Nat Turner’s rebellion was a revolt in which a slave named Nat Turner led a group of other slaves through Virginia in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow and kill the plantation owners and their families. This rebellion was driven by the desire to have the same individual rights as the plantation owners. During this time slaves were unable to vote, run for office, attain property, leave the plantation by choice, and were denied

However, the northern states argued that slaves weren’t recognized as actual citizens and didn’t hold the right to vote. To settle the debate, the decision was made to count slaves as three-fifths of a person when determining the population of a state. This relates to theme of Politics and Power because it displays how African Americans were denied political participation and had limited rights. Instead of being recognized as a citizen who could vote and participate in politics, African Americans were seen as three-fifths of a person, who had no voice, for the benefit of others. Third, the Dred Scott decision was when an African American slave tried to sue for his freedom after he had spent a long residence in free territory. The decision was handed down to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was a slave and

Therefore, he didn’t have the ability to sue in a federal court because only those considered to be citizens had that individual right. When Dred Scott was unable to sue for his freedom, it displayed one of the many rights that were limited towards African Americans during this time period. Next, the Emancipation Proclamation was established after the Union victory at Antietam during the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation stated all of the slaves in the rebelling states were free, however, it didn’t free slaves that were still apart of the Union. When the Emancipation Proclamation was established, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in states he didn’t have control over but didn’t free slaves from the states he did have control over. The Emancipation Proclamation was aimed to injure the confederacy, rather than to free those in slavery. This again displays how the African American slaves had limited rights because they had no control over whether or not they were free, and they were often used as pawns for political advantage. Through these many aspects, Nat Turner’s rebellion, the Three-Fifths Compromise, the Dred Scott decision, and the Emancipation Proclamation are all able to relate to the theme of