Where Did Freedom Come From?

Recently,  our class has been discussing where slavery came from and who gave it to the people. The questions that were asked to us were Who gave freedom to enslaved Americans?  Did freedom come from above or below?  To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans? To answer these questions we looked at documents that held quotes from the time. In addition we analyzed a photograph of Lincoln with a black man kneeling before him.  

Now whether freedom came from the higher or lower parts of society is a difficult question to answer.  The lower part of society had more people to show the strength of their cause,  but Lincoln and other people of the higher class was much more influential.  They also had more power to free the blacks of the U.S.A. Abraham's actions were very influential and a lot of his decisions he thought of the african slaves on his soil. Lincoln was able to call the shots and even though if he knew that the south would not like his decisions he knew he had to support the slaves anyway.  This can seen through the Civil war.  He took action and by the end of the war blacks would be free from their chains , but have to endure stereotypes, discrimination,  and unfair treatment nonetheless.  The slave population was not able to be as powerful as the president in the decisions they made,  which is why freedom came from above.

In my opinion I think that freedom started with the slaves and ended with Lincoln.  The slaves started to push the boulder down the hill,  then Lincoln brought in war and political power to do the rest. All the sources seem trustworthy,  and I trust them for the most part. It makes sense that slaves started the freedom of themselves and that people with more power finished it.

http://www.edline.net/files/stream/2CCF070452E21064-0000014CAFD896FD/Freedom+to+the+Slaves.jpg

Civil War Battles

The battles of the civil war led to the victor which way of life would be accepted.  Both the North and the South wanted a different future for America,  and this war would decide it all.  In war each side had their own advantages and disadvantages that helped to decide the outcome at each battle.  To learn more about each individual skirmish every student was assigned one battle to research.  Then they linked their findings in a bit.ly and a qr code.  The posters that held this information were scattered around the school to create a civil war scavenger hunt. The question that was assigned to us to answer with our cumulative information was What are some commonalities you can identify in the reasons for the results of the battles? Basically we had to create connections between battled in terms of why each side won.  The majority of the north victories are due to their ability to outlast the south.  Their manufacturing allowed them to keep their troops supplied while the south struggled to give guns out to all their troops.  Population numbers also let the north to continually be fueling their army while the south's numbers began to dwindle.  As the war continued to north stayed as strong while the south became weaker and weaker.  The south however had better trained troops and also an advantage for they just had to stop the north from winning.  The confederate's strategy was to just stop the north from advancing to situations where the south had a defensive advantage they would usually win. The other essential question was who was the ultimate victor in each of the theaters of war:  East,  West,  Naval? The east was difficult to say the one side dominated.  In the beginning of the war the south was likely to win while as the war dragged on the north was more likely to win.  The west was won out by the north because of their strategical advantages.  Their manufacturing,  railroads and population size let them usually beat the south.  The naval battles were dominated by the union due to the fact that they had a preexisting navy before the war started.  This gave them a huge advantage in any battles near or on water.

http://www.hsunews.com/civil-war-display-at-hsu/

http://padlet.com/KerryHawk02/2015BTheaters

Election of 1860

Were the results of the election of 1860 representative of the deep divisions over slavery? This question was asked to us in class. We watched a Crash Course video to get an understanding of the Election. Basically, to get some context over the situation. We looked at different primary sources of the time and we made a video describing what we found and in our notes. Specifically we looked at Art during the civil war to draw our conclusions. 

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/30146288/?ref=embed&s=QqTtCx

http://www.civilwarinart.org/exhibits/show/causes/introduction/the-election-of-1860-and-seces

North vs. South

My Info graphic's main goal was to display the information simply, but to explain the differences of either sides of the Civil war. I decided to only use graphs because I felt that they are the most efficient way to display information. The statistics that I chose were the main components that made one side strong. For example I showed the difference in Cotton production and population between the North and South. The population of the South is much smaller than the North, but the South controls Cotton production. The info graphic made it easy for me to see both sides of the war so that I could clearly see what each side had at their disposal.

A "game" of CHess: the battle between north and south | Create infographics

Why is there an Elephant in Alabama?

In the beginnings of the United States slavery was a main component to the society and the economy created by settlers of America. As time continued some felt that slavery was still needed and that it was necessary for slaves to exist. Others thought they should not even be around black people and that America should be a white only country. The side that won out today was neither slavery nor white supremacy, but the abolition of slavery entirely. This change took many years to occur and even a war to settle this conflict once and for all. Speaking about this topic became a problem in itself becomes of the sorrow and destruction that followed slavery in its wake.  The waters of america become filled with waves and no politician wanted to be the first one to dive in. Looking back into American history how do we know the debate over slavery was “the elephant in the room” for politicians in the U.S.A?

Politics in particular started to become a balancing act around 1820. As new territories started to be founded in the west both the north and south wanted to maintain power in congress. The south and the north both had the same number of states which meant that those who wanted slavery to be abolished and those who wanted slavery could both have their say. The Missouri compromise kept this balance and created an even split of 11 states to both the south and north. Similarly, in 1850 California attempted to be recognized as a state. Henry clay, senator of Kentucky, predicted this dispute and he proposed a 5-part compromise. After the victory in the Mexican war America had acquired more land. The land would be broken up into New Mexico,Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. These territories would let those who populate them decide whether or not they would be slave states or anti-slave states. In addition, the compromise would prohibit slave trade in Washington D.C, but one could keep their slaves if they had some preceding the bill. The Fugitive Slave Act was also drafted required slaves to be returned to their masters no matter the circumstances, and when the slave was caught a trial would occur and if the judge let the slave go free he would receive $5 and receive $10 if given back to the master. The 1850 compromise let the population decide whether or not the west would be anti-slavery or slaves states, stopped slave trade in the capitol (even though they allowed it), and encouraged the capture and favored those who returned the runaway slaves to their master. The Kansas Nebraska act was followed the 1850 compromise and allowed the north to build a railroad into the west, but the north was now allowed to own slaves. For the most part the north did not start to have slaves, but the borders of the south to the north did see some slave plantations.

American politicians tackled handling the dispute of slavery by avoiding to solve the problem directly. Most solutions did not drastically change slavery in America. The majority of ideas involved trying to sway what the population wanted so that eventually either slavery or anti-slavery won out. This would allow the politicians to avoid the topic and let the population choose what they wanted.

The class work was as followed, reading articles, creating a timeline of laws and bills that were passed, and class discussions on the information.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html

Article on 1850 Compromise

http://socialstudieswithasmile.com/Kensasnebraskaact.html

Slavery and its roots in the 19th Century

Slavery was once sadly a normal part of American society. It was not uncommon for people to own slaves or even to sell them to neighbors and give them to your family. How was it that slavery was able to become entrenched in American society, both economically and politically by the 19th century?

This question can be answered by looking into the constitution. For one, in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1  The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. This states that the importation of slaves can not be prohibited or taxed before 1808. After 1808 congress is able to put a tax on the importation of slaves, but the tax can't be above $10 per slave. This act of congress shows that slavery importation is not against the law, and has become economically sound that the government is willing to tax slave trade. In politics slavery was hardly ever disputed on whether or not it should exist in America. Most politicians had slavery and they became too important to the nation's economy to try to dispute whether slavery should be abolished or not.

How does a system of slavery on race affect human dignity? The dignity of the race that are able to be slaves is greatly diminished. Slavery gives unfair and unjust power to the owner of a slave for a slave is someone that is owned by another person. This power that is given to the owner is taken away from the slave diminishing the slaves persona  and personality. This system tends to ignore all characteristics regarding a human’s inner thoughts, ideas, and personality. A robot can be given a slave’s task and complete it just the same as a slave would. Slavery ignores who the person is and takes the body to do the work the owner doesn't want to do. The story of Prince is a prime example of this phenomenon. Prince became a slave in America and was used to work the fields and deliver crops to the market, but until later they found that he was an African Prince.  Slavery was an awful and cruel and it shall continue to be abolished and destroyed in the rest of the world.

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-00.html

shows how important economically slaves were to the cotton production in the south

Women's Rights

How did mid 19th century American society react to women's demands for equality? Even though women started to have a strong movement to gain women's rights, men are still viewed as being better than women. Women still had to do a majority of duties around the house, while men went to work. Women had take care of children and dogs, make clothes, and other housework. The women also had to entertain everyone in the house as well. Laws were also set up so that women are not treated the same as men.  It was considered improper for women to speak in public, and until 1839 women were not allowed to own any property. In a majority of states it is legal for a husband to beat his wife, and women could not vote on any state in the union. These are just some of the many unfair laws that are set up by the government. Does 21st century society react differently to women and men. Personally, I feel that it is mostly equal treatment between men and women, but there are certainly some differences. For example the treatment of women and men when it comes to dating and relationships they can be seen as very different. If a man goes on a lot of dates he is considered  as more of a positive than if a women were to go on a lot of dates. A Philippines commercial shows some of these differences on how women and men are thought as in the same scenarios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2kfgW7708&feature=youtu.be
http://www.edline.net/files/_AIGnD_/6df91fdbe19f85633745a49013852ec4/Laws_and_Practices.pdf