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The Politics Of Slavery Analysis

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The Politics of Slavery
In the book, The Politics of Slavery, Linda Jacobs Altman explains different perspectives and the evolution of slavery. From politically based views to emotionally based views everyone has their own way to acknowledge slavery. Some people have based their opinions off of the founding documents of our country, while others have based their opinions off of their religious beliefs or their morals. Some have even used the documents of our country, merged with their beliefs, to come up with their own reasoning’s and justifications. It all depends on whom you may ask.
Is slavery constitutionally ethical? In the Declaration of Independence, it states that “All men are created equal,” but with slavery in existence, is this true? It’s a logical argument, but slave owners and some whites didn’t want to accept the fact that Africans should have the same rights. They claimed Africans were inferior to whites and only suited for servitude. Equality was out of the question. Some …show more content…

There were many compromises to fulfill the needs and wants of both parties. Politicians and slaves spoke out on their concept of slavery. Anthony Burns wrote a letter to a church and said “Look at my case, I was stolen and made a slave as soon as I was born…The manstealer who stole me trampled on my dearest rights. He committed an outrage on the law of God” (98). In my opinion, most people who were against slavery based it off of religious beliefs.
Some might say that the men that founded this great country we know as America didn’t believe in slavery, but do their actions say the same? That’s a great question, but as the saying goes “actions speak louder than words,” and indeed their actions did. From my point of view, slavery should have never existed. In the Declaration of Independence it says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” this declares that everyone is equal and shall be treated as

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But I refused to speak that name. there was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains” (311). Slavery is a topic that can never get too much media as it is a dark passage in human history, one that should be

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Many years after the Government abolished the international slave trade, a great unrest period developed. For a decade the question of slavery was swept underneath the rug. The issue of slavery was not fully exploited until 1861, when the civil war broke out. The author, Joseph Ellis, from the book Founding Brothers, presents the founding brothers as worried about slavery and wanting to maintain the peace of the fledgling nation. Joseph Ellis suggests an inquiry that slavery split the country so extremely that it became unresolveable every time the argument was pushed further into the future.

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Everything you said about the Supremacy Clause is correct. So the question of how did slavery exist? The Declaration of Independence states "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal".

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After completing the process of the Constitutional Convention, I have learned an exceptional amount of information that can be used to take on the real world. During the convention there were many factors that impacted how the convention was run, and what choices were made. The preliminary discussion topics, the lessons learned, and the factions represented in the convention all modified the ending result. Each of the preliminary discussions with other factions prior to the convention were very important to the final decisions made. Slavery, a very important topic during the convention, was one such example that branched out into other different issues including slave trade and the abolishment of slavery.

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Are “all men created equal”? Why did the Constitution allow slavery to continue? The framers of the Constitution allowed slavery to continue because of political, economic, and social issues. They wanted their nation to be unified and the number of states to stay intact. They wanted to secure wealth and slavery was a great part of their economy.

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Although from different eras, both Douglass and Rowlandson use similar techniques such as religion, repetition, and sentimentalism to show that being held captive and slavery is wrong. America was founded on Christian beliefs, so Douglass attacked that. He states, “If the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it” (Douglass 1037) Douglass is making a bold move that will spark controversy. He uses statements like this to keep the audience’s attention.

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In today’s society having a slave is unacceptable, so for many people they wonder what made people once think that having a slave was right. This letter allows students and scholars to get a first-hand look on a slave holders perspective of owning slaves. It allowed readers to try to understand slaveholder’s motives for believing slavery is tolerable. Reading the Letter to an English Abolitionist with an open mind is significant because it allows readers to have a better grasp on American history when studying

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“The Hypocrisy of American Slavery: Slavery at its best” Frederick Douglass an activist for anti racism and also an abolitionist’s speech “The Hypocrisy of Slavery” was given on the occasion of celebrating the independence day. Here, in this speech he actually brought out some questions like why we should celebrate Independence Day while almost four million people were kept chained as a slave. He actually mocked the fact of the people of America’s double standards which is that they are singing out the song of liberty, on the other hand holding the chain of slavery. Frederick Douglass, a former American-African slave who managed to escape from his slavery and later on became an abolitionist gave this speech on Fourth of July,

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One of the strategies Douglass uses to convince his audience slavery should be abolished is by “calling out American hypocrisy in his Fourth of July oration” (Mercieca 1). He shames them with no remorse. He speaks on the opposite treatments that enable whites to live in a state of freedom and liberty, while the blacks are living in a state of bondage. As the audience listens, he reminds them, there are men, women and children still held hostages to the chains of

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Kevin Bales once said, “Slavery is theft -- theft of a life, theft of work, theft of any property or produce, theft even of the children a slave might have borne”. Slavery takes your freedom away and forces you do whatever your master or leader wants you to do. This quote is proven to be true by the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by himself, Frederick Douglass tells his life story as a slave which ends in freedom. George Fitzhugh thinks otherwise when he writes an essay called “Slavery Justified”. In this essay, Fitzhugh argues that slavery is justifiable.

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Ultimately, the U.S. Constitution was pro-slavery because there wasn 't anything in it that was overly anti-slavery; slavery was being supported. I think that it makes sense to have the Constitution be pro-slavery because the country was left in a chaotic state after the Articles of Confederation failed and it needed to become united fast. To quickly unite the country, the Constitution needed everyone’s support and help, which couldn 't have been received without slavery. The large slave states wouldn 't have ratified the Constitution if slavery was going to be abolished

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During the 17th century, the Black Slavery is the biggest and the most controversial issues in the European world. It has a big influence to the existing economic, political and social order. Many nations needed slaves for their colonies, their plantations,and their mines.(document 3) Such as the White people are incapable of working in the field under the hot sun in Saint Domingue; thus to make the best of this precious soil, it has been necessary to find a particular species of laborers. (D4) So if the abolish of Black slavery will bring a lot affect to their plantation, agriculture.

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“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong” (Finkelman, 17). By the 1850s, new tract territories was added to United States. The moral issue of slavery was not presented in the eyes of the Southerners. “For the South, it was a federal code guaranteeing slavery in the territories and paving the way for the new slave states, coupled with a Fugitive Slave Law that fully swung the weight of the federal government behind the interests of slaveholders” (Earle, 8). The Fugitive Slave Law benefitted the slave states because runaway slaves were returned back to slave masters.

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The Abolishment of Slavery: Essay The emancipation proclamation, “The Meaning of July Fourth for a Negro” and the spiritual songs of slavery: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot are strong topics because they all show different prospective of slavery and how they are claiming freedom. The emancipation proclamation tell the everyone the plan for the future in ending slavery and how Abraham Lincoln is going to enforce this document on the southern states this document has the same message as the speech of “The Meaning of July Fourth for a Negro” this speech gives reasons why Fredrick Douglas is concerned about the definition of freedom and this is show they are alike. The spiritual songs of slavery: Swing Low; Sweet Chariot has a much different viewpoint

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The generally acknowledged choice may be to choose to satisfy basic needs over human rights. Therefore, according to the utilitarianism, which takes the action moral if it maximize the happiness of people, slavery is justified. And if the choice is human rights over basic needs, it is still not sure whether a slave whose freedom is deprived but whose basic needs are satisfied is happier, or a hobo who has freedom but who finds it hard to satisfy his/her physical needs is happier. The problem with utilitarianism is that people view happiness differently, and it is impossible to accurately quantify the happiness people are experiencing. Therefore, for utilitarianism there is no accurate criterion to make judgement on, and there will be a problem if we simply use the idea of utilitarianism to make any decisions in real

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