History DBQ Project: The Plight of the Slave

like his master's; and Death, the great Liberator, alone can break his fetters! Rationale: In this letter by William Lloyd Garrison, he describes how slavery affected the lives of African Americans, the lowest social class in the United States during the Antebellum years. This relates to my question by giving me examples of how slavery affected society socially before the Civil War began, which was by making the African Americans look like property to everyone rather than human beings. It also tells us that the simple reason they were slaves was just because their skin color was different to his master’s.

Document B Source: E. W. Taylor(A Pro-Slavery New Yorker) letter to a friend, 1837

I care not what people at the North think, for I am now a regular Southerner.... And men, like the abolitionist... [who goes] about meddling with other Peoples' affairs... [should] pay attention to his own affairs, & let his neighbor alone. As long as those professed to be Christians, are... by their influence & gold [are] producing discord & discontent--rebellion, insurrection, & division, it [emancipation] will never take place. If these matters are going to be [agitated it will]... lead to the separation of the Union.... [I] feel as though I could plunge the dagger to the heart almost of a brother in such a glorious cause--it would be for Liberty, Liberty.... I heard of an incident the other day of one of your fraternity suddenly changing his views with regard to slavery.

A minister from the North, he was spending the winter in a Southern city and when he could, made known his sentiments. In the course of time he was introduced

to a young lady of much beauty, but more property in Plantation slaves amounting to $116,000. All at once his feelings suddenly changed, he ranted against northern abolitionists & northerners generally, the result of it is he's just got the gal & what he likes better the slaves, & I bet $100,000 dole, thus in less than a year, and he will have slaves of his own blood.

Now such men I detest. I abhor them, & I must say that I cordially think that these and hundreds of others at the north who are now accusing the southern slaveholder of cruelty thus would jump to do as this minister has done. Rationale: This letter written by a pro-slavery New Yorker during the Antebellum years expresses how sometimes slavery would change the mind of many Northern abolitionists and make them pro-slavery just because of the money it gave them.

This excerpt relates to my question because it tells me how slavery ffected Americans and their society economically and socially during these years, which was by making Northern abolitionists realize that slavery could give them more money than any other job they had in the North. What really angered people is how these abolitionists would just jump to the South and become rich slaveowners after accusing other Souther slaveholders of the same cruelty they were committing, which is one of the reasons of how slavery affected Americans socially, by transforming just abolitionists into cruel slaveowners.

Document C Source: “Slave Market,” illustration by Unknown artist, painted sometime in 1850

Rationale: This great painting painted by an American Unknown Artist sometime between 1850 and 1860 shows the importance of the slave market

during the Antebellum years for the rich Southern masters and how cruel it was with African American. This painting relates to my topic by providing information about how slavery affected the American Society economically and about how Southern slaveowners would get richer through slave trades. This also shows how slavery affected society socially, by making slaves look like property belonging to their masters putting them in another social class, the lowest one.

Document D Source: Hinton Rowan Helper, excerpt from the book “The Gathering Storm,” 1857

In our opinion, an opinion which has been formed from data obtained by assiduous researches, and comparisons, from laborious investigation, logical reasoning, and earnest reflection, the causes which ave impeded the progress of the South, which have dwindled our commerce, and other similar pursuits, into the most contemptible insignificance; sunk a large majority of our people in galling poverty and ignorance, rendered a small minority conceited and tyrannical, and driven the rest away from their homes; entailed upon us a humiliating dependence on the Free States; disgraced us in the recesses of our own souls, and brought us under reproach in the eyes of all civilized and enlightened nations-may all be traced to one common source, and there find solution in the hateful and horrible word, that was ever incorporated into the vocabulary of human economy-Slavery!

Notwithstanding the fact that the white non-slaveholders of the South are the majority, as five to one, they have never yet had any part or lot in framing the laws under which they live. There is no legislation except for the benefit of slavery, and slaveholders. Rationale: Helper who also wrote the Impeding Crisis of the

South believed that slavery was inefficient and wasteful, that it made the South look bad, degraded labor, inhibited urbanization, and it was a great obstacle for Industrialization. This excerpt relates to my question by showing how slavery affected the American society mainly the Southern society economically and socially, which was by impeding the progress of the poor white non-slaveholders and enriching the already rich slaveholders.

Document E Source: Abraham Lincoln, speech at Alton, Illinois, October 15, 1858

You may say … that all of this difficulty in regard to the institution of slavery is the mere agitation of office seekers and ambitious Northern politicians… But it is true that all of the difficulty and agitation we have in regard to this institution of slavery springs form office seeking -- from the mere ambition of politicians? … How many times have we had danger from this question? … [D]oes not this question make a disturbance outside of political circles? Does it not enter into the churches and render them asunder? … Is it not this same mighty, deep-seated power that somehow operates on the minds of men, exciting and stirring them up in every avenue of society -- in politics, in religion, in literature, in morals, in all manifold relations in life? Is this the work of politicians?

Rationale: This pre-civil war speech of Lincoln states the reason of why didn’t politicians abolish slavery before, since the establishment of the Republic. He also calls them selfish and ambitious for worrying more about their economic situation than the situation of the whole country. This relates to my prompt by stating how slavery really affected politics and the mind of politicians

back in the Antebellum years. Lincoln also argues that slavery goes beyond politics, and impacts areas like religion, literature, and morals, which could be used by the writer to support the thesis in the essay.

Document F Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Letter to James N. Brown" (October 18, 1858), p. 327.

I believe the declara[tion] that 'all men are created equal' is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest; that slavery is violative of that principle; but that, by our frame of government, that principle has not been made one of legal obligation; that by our frame of government, the States which have slavery are to retain it, or surrender it at their own pleasure; and that all othersindividuals, free-states and national government are constitutionally bound to leave them alone about it.

I believe our government was thus framed because of the necessity springing from the actual presence of slavery, when it was framed. That such necessity does not exist in the territories[sic], where slavery is not present. " Rationale: In this letter by Abraham Lincoln states that the Declaration states that “all men are created equal” didn’t include slaves and those states who had slavery were supposed to abolish it or still have it, according to their decision, because that’s how our government was. This letter relates to my question by stating that slavery affected Americans politically because when the declaration was drafted, it did not include slaves in any of its laws about freedom, it led the states to decide what to do with it, without letting anyone interfere with their decision because

our government thought that we needed slavery in our country when the declaration was drafted.

Document G Source: Abraham Lincoln, Speech delivered in Springfield, 1858

When our Government was established we had the institution of slavery among us. We were in a certain sense compelled to tolerate its existence. It was a sort of necessity. We had gone through our struggle and secured our own independence. The framers of the Constitution found the institution of slavery amongst their other institutions at the time. They found that by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of what they had already gained. They were obliged to bow to the necessity. They gave power to Congress to abolish the slave trade at the end of twenty years. They also prohibited it in the Territories where it did not exist.

They did what they could and yielded to the necessity for the rest… Rationale: In this speech by Lincoln, he declares his position toward slavery and how it affected equality in the American society of the Antebellum years. He also expresses his conviction that when the American government was established the founding fathers knew slavery was a necessity to our country and didn’t step forward to abolish it. This relates to my question by telling me how slavery affected our society politically and mainly politicians like Lincoln before the Civil War. The writer can also take a look of how it affected the founding fathers when our government was first established and Congress 20 years after when they had the right to abolish it.

Rationale: This graph shows the amount of slaveholding families in the South before the Civil War. Which

represent less than half of the population in most states. From what it tells us we can conclude that most white families in the South didn’t own slaves which relates to my question by telling me that not everyone in the Southern American Society was able to own slaves. Through this Graph we can also see how slavery affected Southern Society socially by dividing it in two different classes, the majority white non-slaveholding and the minority white slave owners.

Document I Source: Narrative of Sarah Frances Shaw Graves at the age of 87, published in the book: “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project,” 1936-1938

The matter of allotment was confusing to the interviewer and Aunt Sally endeavored to explain. "Yes'm. Allotted? Yes'm. I'm goin' to explain that," she replied. "You see there was slave traders in those days, jes' like you got horse and mule an' auto traders now. They bought and sold slaves and hired 'em out. Yes'm, rented 'em out. Allotted means somethin' like hired out. But the slave never got no wages. That all went to the master. The man they was allotted to paid the master. " "I was never sold. My mama was sold only once, but she was hired out many times. Yes'm when a slave was allotted, somebody made a down payment and gave a mortgage of the rest. “ "Allotments made a lot of grief for the slaves," Aunt Sally asserted. "We left my papa in Kentucky, 'cause he was allotted to another man. My papa never knew where my mama went, an' my mama never knew where papa went. " Aunt Sally paused a

moment, then went on bitterly. "They never wanted mama to know, 'cause they knowed she would never marry so long she knew where he was.

Our master wanted her to marry again and raise more children to be slaves. They never wanted mama to know where papa was, an' she never did," sighed Aunt Sally. Rationale: In this piece of the narrative of the life of Sarah Frances, she describes the selfishness of rich slave owners from the South during the Antebellum years. This relates to my topic by giving an example of how slaves changed the economic situation of their Masters and would make them even more selfish.

Works Cited

1. Document A Garrison, William Lloyd. “Abolition and Slavery. ”(1830) http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/ documents/documents_p2. cfm? doc=73.
2. Document B Taylor, E. W. A Pro Slavery New-Yorker. ”(1837) http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/documents/ documents_p2. cfm? doc=88.
3. Document C “Slave Market. ”(1850) http://amst312. umwblogs. org/2009/04/02/slave-market/.
4. Document D Helper, Hinton R. “The Gathering Storm. ” (1857) http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/documents/ documents_p2. cfm? doc=25.
5. Document E Lincoln, Abraham. Lincoln, Abraham. “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln: Seventh and Last Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois. ” Vol III. p. 310. (10/15/1858). http:// quod. lib. umich. edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx c=lincoln;cc=lincoln;view=text;idno=lincoln3;rgn=div1;node=lincoln3%3A33.
6. Document F Lincoln, Abraham. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln: Letters to James N. Brown. ” Ed. Roy P. Basler. Vol III. p. 327. (10/18/1858). http://quod. lib. umich. edu/l/lincoln/lincoln3/1:36? rgn=div1;view=fulltext.
7. Document G Lincoln, Abraham. “Speech Delivered in Springfield. ” (1858) http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/ documents/documents_p2. cfm? doc=34.
8. Document H “Slaveholders in 1860. ” http://www. examiner. com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/ Total_Slaveholders_1860. jpg
9. Document I “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project. ” Narrative of
   

Sarah Frances Shaw Graves at the age of 87. (1937). http://lcweb2. loc. gov/ammem/snhtml/snvoices02. html Page 9