Chapter Summary: The View From The Bottom Rail

The third important topic is the African American and the American Revolution. During the Revolutionary War many slaved crossed to the British side while others contemplated whether or not they should stick with the American in hope of being looked at as being faithful. Some ponder the idea of just looking the other way until the storm clears. Ultimately, the driving force for their decision was the hope for freedom.

For our final research paper we were allowed to choose any topic, but it had to be a topic that we learned throughout the school year. The requirements were MLA formatting, the length of 5 Pages, 1 counter argument, a works cited page, and minimum of 4 sources. I decided to write a paper on the exposure of slavery negatively affecting individuals during that time. I included Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Solomon Northup. I used each of their stories to show how slavery was cruel and could have been seen through those who went through slavery.

For my topic on Frederick Douglass’ narrative and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, I will discuss several details and points. These points will include Douglass’ adversity as a slave and Emerson’s journey in making sense of his life and self-identity. Also, in the discussion, I will add the similarities and differences between the thoughts of Douglass and Emerson on how each felt about their masters or Whites in general. These thoughts include Douglass’ reasoning of writing his autobiography, so that the reader it was intended for could understand why abolishing slavery was so important and Emerson’s hope that people would use their inner voice and learn to confront the issues on hand and not what others wanted to instill onto slaves.

The Slave Experience: Education, Arts, & Culture’, n.d.) The American slave code in theory and practice: its distinctive features shown by its statutes, judicial decisions, and illustrative facts./ By William Goodell. (n.d.). Retrieved 22 July 2015, from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/abj5059.0001.001/251?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=251 (‘The American slave code in theory and practice: its distinctive features shown by its statutes, judicial decisions, and illustrative facts./ By William Goodell.’, n.d.) The American slave code in theory and practice: its distinctive features shown by its statutes, judicial decisions, and illustrative facts./ By William Goodell.

Wood begins with a preface that speaks of an African American graveyard. Wood’s brings up the graveyard to make his reader’s acknowledge slavery was very real here in the United States, and the people who were enslaved were from all different background and were in fact intrinsic and unique

With freedom coming, some slaves were still loyal to their masters. Yet, the slave masters still consider slaves to be the bottom rail of society. The bottom rail was considered the “lowest level of America’s social and economic scale” (Davidson & Lytle, p. 179). The slaves were portrayed to be dumb or stupid because state governments discouraged slaves

• Here is the question for Module One Discussion: Using evidence from the textbook, your own knowledge, and from real life, answer this question: Was America founded on the idea of freedom and liberty OR was America founded upon slavery? The birthing of a nation is no small feat, when the complex natures of competing forces collide. The Spanish, French, Dutch and English laid claim to swaths of Northern America and pledged allegiance to their mother-lands at the peak of European global colonization in the fifteenth and sixteen centuries. This European mass immigration to the new world drug the unwilling Africans with them in their quest for money and power.

The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South takes a profound look into slavery in America from the beginning. The author, Kenneth Stampp, tells the story after doing a lot of research of how the entire South operated with slavery and in the individual states. The author uses many examples from actual plantations and uses a lot of statistics to tell the story of the south. The author’s examples in his work explains what slavery was like, why it existed and what it done to the American people.

Background: To understand the history of slavery in the United States the historical background needs examining. How did the slaves get from Africa the new country? Why were the people brought here? What purpose did slavery serve?

By appealing to the emotions of the reader, Frederick Douglass can build his argument of how awful slavery was and how the slave owners used Christianity to justify what they did. In the book, Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the author uses his language to bring meaning to what he is writing. He creates an emotional connection to the reader using pathos, and builds his argument using the credibility of others, using ethos. In his book he uses his words to prove his argument to the reader of how the slave owners would use Christianity to justify slavery and violence, and how slavery affected everyone who was

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

By providing both accounts of this unfortunate historic reality it is easy to show students the realities and emotions that many people endured during the slave trade, while also specifying the details of how and why families were separated. Images are also a great way for students to put a face to a name or picture to an event after reading primary sources that include rich information, names, dates, and events that might be hard to remember without an image to help reinforce the material. Students are provided with a richer interpretation of the historical events for those who read the graphic portion of the novel before the primary sources. It forces students to create their own analysis of what they believed happened, possibly between different sections of the graphic images or behind the scenes of what is not being portrayed in the images. They are then able to refer to the primary source section of the novel to learn the underlying information that is missing in the graphic

Introduction: During the 1800’s, Slavery was an immense problem in the United States. Slaves were people who were harshly forced to work against their will and were often deprived of their basic human rights. Forced marriages, child soldiers, and servants were all considered part of enslaved workers. As a consequence to the abolition people found guilty were severely punished by the law.

After having read both Frederick Douglass’s Narrative and Harriet Jacobs’s Incident 1. How were Douglass and Jacobs similar and different in their complaints against slavery? What accounts for these differences? In both the inspiring narratives of Narrative in the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Frederick Douglass’s and in Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs the respective authors demonstrate the horrors and disparity of slavery in there own ways.

In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass reveals his life as a slave and the valuable lessons he learned from his experience. Douglass wants the truth about slavery to be revealed and wants to eliminate the lies that portray slavery as beneficial. Douglass exposes the reality of slavery by criticizing the “romantic image” of slavery, showing the intellectual capabilities slaves had, and revealing the reasons why slaves were disloyal to each other. Douglass criticizes the southern, romantic image of slavery by exposing the harsh treatment and sadness that slaves endured. It was southerners who thought slavery as beneficial, because it benefited themselves and white society.