Town Hall Meeting Reflection

While playing the Frederick Douglass game, I learned and got reminded about the horrors of slavery. The cruelty that would happen to slaves was extraordinary and not reasonable to happen to human beings. Unfortunately, slaves were not looked at as human beings during that time period, so the slaveowners made it acceptable for these incidents to occur.

                                                                     Frederick Douglass

Slaves had their basic freedoms taken away from them. Mothers' sons would be ripped away from them and be sold to never be seen again. Slaveowners would do this as punishments for their slaves. Imagine you mess up slightly while doing a task, and then your children are being sold away from you.

Harriet Tubman was rented out as if she was not human. She served as a nurse for her master, and she
would get whipped every time their baby would cry.

                                                                         Harriet Tubman

Sojourner Truth didn't even have a birthday. He was born straight into slavery. He was bought for one hundred dollars and a flock of sheep. 

It was said that white doctors would not use anesthesia on black patients because "black people do not feel the same pain as the white people." 

After hearing all of these stories from the slave perspective, it shows how I did not see the extent of the cruelty of what these people went through. Every day they would be in the fields or house fighting to do everything perfectly, just so that they could live to see the next day. This town hall meeting was extremely beneficial in a way that it opened my eyes fully, and I could see what they fully went through.

Thomas Jefferson Pro-Slavery Argument

  During this town hall meeting, I played the roll of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and a slave owner. Although he vouched for slavery in his youth, Thomas Jefferson ended up being opposed to slavery as he got older. This quotation below is what I had come up with after researching the subject of Thomas Jefferson being pro-slavery.

                                                                     Independence Hall

    "Hello, my name is Thomas Jefferson. I live in Virginia and own a mansion and farm named Monticello. On this farm, I own around 600 slaves and would not be able to run this farm without them. Although they run my farm, I believe blacks are racially inferior and are not as capable as the white man. All of my slaves are consisted of one family connection and their wives. As I was writing a letter to George Washington, I noticed something that I had not recognized before. I allow nothing for losses by death, but on the contrary, shall presently take credit 4 percent more annually financially. I had an acquaintance that suffered financial reverses. If the family had any cash left, every farthing of it should be laid out in land and negroes, which beside a present support would bring a silent profit of 5 to 10 percent in this country by the increase in their value. His family might have been saved if he was a slave owner. Additionally, as my land was beginning to be worn out, a change on the farm added even more value to being a slave owner. As my land wore out, I had to switch to grain, and it changed my perspective on the relationship between the slave and the planter. Tobacco was raised by gangs of slaves all doing the same repetitive tasks. Grain, on the other hand, requires less work force and more skilled laborers. After getting some skilled artisans to help start growing the grain and some of my slaves to help the artisans with the harder tasks, I was able to put the rest of my slaves into specialized training. This would modernize and industrialize slavery as the times change. Older, specialized slaves now end up helping on the farm or in the house, while the younger boy and girl slaves work in the nailery or do spinning and weaving operations. This gives me more of a work output in the house, farm, and in the new nailery. Using your slaves efficiently, while advancing their own skills for the betterment of themselves, is another reason that slavery should stay.

Now, as I have gotten older, I believe that white Americans and enslaved blacks make up 2 separate nations that cannot live peacefully with each other. Because of this, I have come up with gradual emancipation. This is a concept where all people that were born into slavery after a certain date would be freed and sent beyond the borders of the United States when they reach adulthood. 

Thank you for listening and considering what I have to say in your final decision."

Thomas Jefferson was pro-slavery in his youth, but ended up switching his beliefs on slavery as he got older. He believed that it should stay and is extremely beneficial for the South when he was young. As he got older, he believed that having slaves divides the country from the North, and would eventually lead to war. He was correct on that theory, as the Civil War broke out soon after.

Source

Gone With the Wind Reflection

 

Gone With the Wind is an excellent movie from the 1930's that does a great job at portraying the destruction in the South from the Civil War. It shows how lives changed from having fun and living a normal life to all hands on deck to aid the war. As we follow the life of Scarlett O'hara (played by Vivien Leigh), we watch her turn from a young, energetic girl to a tired nurse in the war. The Civil War changed the lives of everyone in the South. All the men were fighting against the "Yankees", and the women were slowly changed into nurses to help aid the soldiers. Even in the end, Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) changed from a wealthy, ladies man to a last stand soldier for the South.

In almost every battle scene that we see, we see injured soldiers, and canon balls destroying towns and civilians. As time goes on in the movie, almost every town in the South is destroyed. Women and children were rushing to evacuate towns, so that they were not caught in the crossfire of the North's weapons. The North was portrayed as horrible people who want only destruction for the South and not assimilation. You do not see a single Northerner actually on screen. Every single time that a yankee is mentioned, people are either running, or a town is being blown up or destroyed. Not only did the North destroy towns, but also the North destroyed people's sanity and confidence. Imagine being a doctor or nurse in the field of war. You were around screams of agony and pain every single day. You would even have to cut off a person's limbs more than once a day, which would lead to insanity for most people.

Amputation Scene

Injured on battlefield scene

In the end, what I see from Gone With the Wind is a Southern perspective of the war. Not only do i see the Southern perspective, but also I see the reality of the Civil War and the destruction that the war had brought to the South. The Southerners were destroyed mentally and physically, as they were going insane and their towns were being  destroyed.

How Religion Played a Factor for Both Sides of the Civil War

     Most people think that the Civil War started because of slavery but history tells us it started because of religion. Two sides who were getting their beliefs from the same religions and books believed two opposite things. One side says that it is clear and obvious that slavery is wrong, and one other says it's clear that it is okay and even a basic human right! In this blog we evaluate both sides and what they believed and why. 

    In traditional religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), arguments against slavery are abundant and clear. It is shown in the Bible and Quran that slavery is not just, and should be abolished. A large portion of abolitionists in America, before the Civil War, were Evangelical Christians. This means that most of the people against slavery would use religion as a support system for their views on slavery. Not only does Christianity have evidence of being against the roots of slavery, but Judaism and Islam show evidence of being anti-slavery also. For Judaism, the Bible is anti-slavery when the subject of the Exodus, and freeing the slaves from Egypt is told. It is even stated in Deuteronomy 24:18: ”Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I command you to do Justice.” For Islam, the Quran is also against slavery, and that all people are equal. The Sura 90 states that the righteous path involves “the freeing of the slaves.” 

    The Antebellum Period to its end after the Civil War was a time like no other where southern slave owners defended slavery with religion. The Civil War obviously started with slavery, but both sides had different arguments using the same excuse. The north and the south both used their Bibles in defense of what they believed. Most of the south took to their bibles for reasoning because of what they believed was in there. They believed that God built slavery for humans and the confederates thought the words in the bible confirmed this. In fact, the Bible has multiple passages that condone slavery, Paul’s letters are a great example of this. In Ephesians 6:5-8 Paul states “Slaves, be obedient to your masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ.” This is one of the many examples of writing in the Bible condoning slavery and the confederates took this literally. They used these writings to justify the use of slavery because they still wanted to be good Christians, and this made them believe they were. The confederates lost this war which answers that God was on the side of the union.

    As you can see, religion was a large factor in starting the civil war. Both sides of the war had gone to the Bible or other books and interpreted them in completely opposite ways. The way each religion talks about slavery is interpreted by its followers in different ways, which causes conflict. Although the views on slavery have changed over time, the way that each religion sees and interprets the Bible and other books will stay the same.