Week 3- Slavery

Throughout this past week, we studied industrial slavery and its affects on masters, economy, and slaves themselves. Slavery in the mid 1800's was such a humongous thing. Meaning it effected almost everything Americans did. When creating new states and expanding the borders of the country, everytime, the debate of whether or not that state, be it Kentucky, Louisiana, or Alabama, would start up once again. In fact this issue got so big, that eventually congress had to pass a law stating that if the new territory was south of a specific point of latitude, it would be a slave state. If the territory was north of that line, it would be free. Both the Mason-Dixon Line and the Missouri Compromise dealt with this line. In terms of economy, some states, those in the South, became so dependent on slavery, that if for any reason it was to end, southern states would probably be utterly destroyed. This is because all labor was done by slave. Cotton had become the new tobacco, and the cotton gin made the business of slavery fifty times more profitable. So there was no reason for the South to try factories because the slave business was so good. The last effect of slavery is on the slaves themselves. Many people think that there were no revolts, that the slaves did not try to rise up and stand for themselves. That is simply not true. There were several of these revolts. Some were successful, some weren't but each came with the same risks. Either failing or succeeding, thousands of slaves, men women and children would be tortured to ensure they would not try to do this again. These are the general effects slavery had on America in the 1800s.

Week 2- Liberties

Liberty is a very broad word. This week in both American Literature and American Studies, the topic of liberties was addressed and what type of liberties separate groups of people got. The liberties of men, women, American Indians, and blacks were all discussed for varying amounts at different times during this week and a bit during last. Liberty is defined as either “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.” or , “the power or scope to act as one pleases”. The liberties of the Indians were greatly restricted, and their situation more applies to the first definition. The Indians were NOT in a free state, as their land was taken away and made to be for the Americans. In fact, according to Chief Justice John Marshall, the Americans were doing a favor to the Indians by civilizing the. Another unique set of liberties were those of the Lowell girls. They were textile workers in Lowell Massachusetts, a factory like those that were now popping up all over the country. They had rights like those of factory workers now. Hard work, yet eating breaks and long-term breaks also existed. These differences in how people were treated shows a lot about America in the 1800’s. Different people were granted different liberties. Thomas Jefferson’s famous claim that all men were created equal is put into even more speculation here. Why are different groups of people treated differently? If all men are created equal, then shouldn't slaves and women and American Indians all be treated the same? Liberties came and went for different groups of people, and these liberties were considered obvious for some while inconsiderable for others. That is why liberty is such a broad word in early America.

Week 1- Communication

I believe that most of the problems that people in those times encountered were because lack of communication or the inability to do so. There are many examples of this in both classes' pieces of literature, and the videos we have watched. The first example is from American Studies, the documentary we watched about Guns Germs and Steel. Both groups of people were not exactly sure what to do with one another because of the fact that they could not communicate very well at all. This led to each of them trying to outdo the other, which in turn led to the demolition of the Incas. Another example is from Lit. Equiano was a slave from Africa, and only knew the African version of slavery. However, nothing could have compared him to the form of slavery that was use in the Americas. Because he could not communicate with any Americans, he at times possibly didn't even know at times what he was supposed to be doing. The last example also comes from Studies. This one has to do with the Indians of the Massachusetts Bay area. They believed that they were signing a temporary contract that would allow them to still utilize the lands they had given away at any time they pleased. However this was not the case and led to thousand of deaths and a few Puritans dying. So from theses example its pretty clear to me that communication, especially when dealing with a new people, is vitally important, because if you cannot converse in one way or another, history show that bad things will happen.