The Never Addressed Elephant

We have all heard the saying ‘the elephant in the room’. This is a metaphorical saying for an obvious truth that is being either ignored or unaddressed. In the 19th century the debate over slavery was most definitely the ‘elephant in the room’ for American politics. In class we learned about important people and events during this time such as John Brown, the Compromise of 1850, and Bleeding Kansas. As we learned about these events we created a timeline. Events and or people that dealt with the idea of anti slavery went about the timeline and those of pro slavery went below. This timeline can help show how the topic of slavery was under addressed.

group timeline

 

 

Description of events

During the 19th century a big controversy of slavery arose. The North was against slavery and the South was pro slavery. With new land coming to be apart of the United States the two sides fought each other for the new land to be either pro slavery or free. In the beginning, due to the Missouri Compromise, there were 11 free states and 11 slave states, keep each side of the North and the South content. But, in 1850 California requests to join the union as a free state. Many were concerned because that would destroy the even balance between free and slave states and southerns were concerned that Free states would have more representatives in the Senate. To settle this, Henry Clay proposes a 5 Part Compromise, known of Compromise of 1850. These 5 parts dealt with the topic of slavery so that each side would be satisfied. One such of these parts was the Compromise in Washington D.C., were slave trade was abolished but owning slaves was not. The compromise of the territories stated that the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized with no mention of slavery. As you can see the topic of slavery was sort of awkward for politicians; no one wanted to deal with it or pick a side overall but just compromised all together to keep the North and the South quiet.

 

Another event was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This Act was meant to to convince people to settle in the unorganized territories. The Kansas- Nebraska Act stated that the statehood would be determined by popular sovereignty. This Act then leads to what is known as “Bleeding Kansas”. This opportunity to populate territories was too good for the North and the South to pass so there was a rush of settlers to go there to state their dominance. Unfortunately, once settlers starting coming there was a violent outbreak. Many died fighting for their belief of either pro or anti slavery. This was yet another poorly handled event. The politicians let the statehood up to the people so they did not have to deal with it and in turn it ended in bloody battles.

 

Finally, in the midst of these battles and haphazard decisions, Abraham Lincoln became president. Lincoln had a set plan for the whole country, unlike any other politician before, and that was to abolish slavery. Lincoln was a very passionate man who believed strongly in the value of human rights. He believed that the majority should not have the power to deny the minority (slaves) their rights and lead the country through the civil war. Unlike before, Lincoln firmly addresses the issue of slavery and tried to change it for good and not just let the people fight amongst themselves to decide.

As you can see the topic of slavery did not get the attention it deserved in the 19th century. It was quite the ‘Elephant in the Room’; no one wanted to deal with the cold hard facts. Through all of the compromises and acts no one paid attention to the fact of what slavery was and how it was wrong. Instead, it dealt with making things equal so both and North and the South could be happy. This also included letting the people fight amongst themselves to become either a free or slave state. Not until Lincoln became president was there a firm universal stand for the country. Even though that stand was not accepted but all at first, history slowly changed itself into the free country we are today.

With the Good Comes the Bad

Slave; a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. Slaves and the system of slavery have been a part of society ever since the early 1600s. Slavery most always has to deal with race. In the Americans situation Africans, who were captured and brought from Africa, were the main source of slave labor. In the 19th century the economic system of slavery became entrenched. Entrenched means firmly established or unlikely to change. With the new way of life coming about in America the use of slaves became to be very dependent on the country’s wealth and seemed unlikely to change. Not only did slavery affect the economics of America but it negatively impacted the African race as a whole.

In the 19th century there was a dramatic growth in cotton production. What once used to be 1.5 million pounds a year, in 1790, turned into 2.28 billion pounds per year by 1860. The reason behind this remarkable growth is due to the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793.The cotton gin was a machine that sorted the seeds from the fibers, which had to be done anyway but this machine only took a fraction of the time it would take to do it by original methods. With a faster way of sorting the cotton, the cotton industry boomed. As the cotton industry grew larger and began to spread across the southern region of America in the 19th century, so id the system of slavery. More slaves were needed to keep up with the growing demand of cotton. The cotton business was so strong that cotton sales in 1860 made up 57% of the nations export revenue. Because there was such great success with cotton, and the production of cotton was based on the need slaves, slavery seemed to be firmly established at this time.

On the other side of this great economic boom was the negative impact it had on the African slaves. Africans had their dignity stripped from them and were treated more like animals, where the value of a human was not as important as how much work got done. The African race was looked down upon which affected the race as a whole. To learn more about this, in class we watched Prince Among Slaves, a movie based off the true story of an African prince, Abdul-Rahman, who was captured in war and was brought to America to be enslaved. Slavery greatly affected  Abdul-Rahman’s dignity. Being born a prince he expected his life to be lavish and to greatly rule his people of Futa Jallon, but that reality was quickly changed. Rahmans master, Tomas Foster, did not listen to what Rahman had to say and even cut off Rahmans' hair to show authority. Rahman was devastated, he had his identity ripped from him and after that came to terms with himself that he would never return to be a prince and was set for a life of obeying a white man’s wishes.

Abdul-Rahman
source- https://islaminhistory.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/prince-of-slaves/

 

 

While Abdul-Rahman had a more elaborate story, the same feelings went for the other slaves who individual lives did not matter to society anymore. American society during this time claimed that people deserve liberty and freedom yet they ignore the fact that slaves are humans too, and still condone slavery.

As you can see slavery was a big part of the 19th century. Without it the growth of cotton and the American economy would not have been so successful. But, with the growth of cotton came the growth of slaves and overlooking human life. All Africans in America, free or enslaved were affected by slavery. No one wants to see their family and race forced into labor and owned by another person. The dignity of these enslaved people during this time was most definitely wounded.

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Woman's Fight for Women's Rights

For centuries women have been treated like they were beneath men. From the start of civilization, in society, men have had more authority than women. In the mid-19th century this was no different. Women were overlooked in society and were treated more like property than an actual human being. Once a women got married she was her husband's property. In Laws and Practices in The Rights of Women it states the laws and conditions affecting the women of the United States at this time. For example, it states that “ women were not allowed to own property in any state in the United States”,and “women may not vote in any state in the union”.  Other societal norms at this time included that it was improper for a women to speak in public, and men could beat their wife “in order to keep his wife from nagging”, and many other things that we would find unacceptable in today's society. It was believed that the woman's only job was to take care of the home, kids, and her husband, and that they were unfit for anything like politics or starting debates. If a women did have a job it would most likely be a school teacher, but even then they were only paid 30-50% of what men are paid for doing the same job.


Over time women were sick of being treated this way and were ready to fight for their rights; thus creating the Seneca Falls Convention in the fight for women's rights. Out of the Seneca Falls Convention came the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, a document that stated resolutions to the Practices in The Rights of Women. The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was a very controversial piece, it was the first time women had out-lashed against society, and the declaration got a lot of attention. Reactions to this declaration were both positive and negative. One article in the newspaper the Oneida Whig had a negative and sarcastic response. They responded with statements such as, “If our ladies will insist on voting and legislating, where, gentlemen, will be our dinners and our elbows?” The Oneida Whig is poking fun at the Declaration saying that if women become more involved with society, then who will make their dinner? Not all newspapers reactions were negative, the National Reform had many positive comments on the subject and cheered on the women for making their wants known to the public. The National Reform said that “Their standard is now unfurled by their own hands. The convention of Seneca Falls has appealed to the country.” Society reacted very much like these newspaper articles, some were for and some were against this women’s rights movement. 

Today, in the 21st century, society still reacts differently to men and women but on a less noticeable scale. Women today have the same amount of rights that men have, they can own property, speak in public, and have very important jobs. Women are no longer viewed as solely the care giver and are generally widely respected. Although womens rights have grown immensely, society still judges and subconsciously labels women at times. A Pantene commercial shows this discrimination in how women are viewed differently than men in the same situations.

 

Over the years to course of womens rights have greatly changed to become what women have today. Although the rights of men and women have equalized, society can still label women differently than men.  

Understanding The Ill

 

Dorothea Dix was a nurse  who saw the horrifying conditions that the mentally ill lived when they were placed in prisons and almshouses and wanted to change it. In the prisons the mentally ill had “… unsuitable connections with criminals…adverse to the own physical and moral development…outrage upon humanity.” (pg 1-2) She fought for the rights of all mentally ill when she worked for prison reform and spoke to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1843. Her reasoning for that speech was to give the legislatures a clear explanation of the troubles of the mentally ill in prisons. She hoped the Legislature would change the law about sending the ill to prisons with criminals. The source is a primary document Dated January 1843 and gives the street that the speech was given on , Mount Vernon Street in Boston Massachusetts. The document gives pages of examples of mistreatment of the mentally ill, then called idiots and insane. It describes them being chained, beaten, sleeping in stalls and even wandering the streets alone. She told the audience that they would hear words and stories that would make them uncomfortable and were difficult for her to say, but they were true, graphic and necessary. Dix thought mentally ill should not be treated as criminals. She believed they needed medical care, jobs and people to care for them and about them.

The document does tell us both sides of the issue. She mentions that it is not the fault of those working in prisons or almshouses that these people are poorly cared for ,but the state and the staff and legislatures inexperience with mental health. She even realizes that most of the Legislature had no idea of what goes on in the prisons. She understands there are few “asylums” for the mentally ill to live in, but she would blame the Legislature for not doing anything from the time that she spoke to them . “You have the ability to use your position as lawmaker to change this problem…Your action upon this subject will affect the present and future condition of hundereds and of thousands.” (p31)

Dorthea Dix, Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts 1843, in the archive.org, accessed January 11, 2015, http://www.archive.org/stream/memorialtolegisl00dixd#page/n4/mode/1up.

 

 

 

Jackson for The People?

Is Andrew Jackson's long- standing reputations as "the people's president" deserved? That was the essential question of the day. To answer this question the class split up into 3 groups and assigned a topic to research. Each topic dealt with Andrew Jackson and the things that he did. The topics were the Indian Removal Act, the Spoils System, and the Bank War. By researching what each topic was, what Jackson did, and how it affected the people we could find out if Jackson really was "the people's president" or not. Each group created a Google slide show and presented their findings to the class. The answer to the essential question depends on which one of the three topics you are referri8ng to. For the Indian Removal Act, Andrew Jackson was "the people's president" for Americans, but was not considerate for other people, such as the Indians. Jackson wanted to move the Indians west so that there was more land for the white people and ensured the Indians that moving west was a good idea for them because other Indian tribes have died out living near white people. The Indians however did not want to leave their native land but Jackson eventually forced them out and law and many died on the march to their new land. For the topic of Spoils Andrew Jackson was certainly not "the people’s president". When he was elected president he instated the spoils system in which he removed people from their current government jobs and instead gave them to people who have helped him get elected. This was disastrous because it took 919 people out of their jobs and replaced them with unqualified people. This did not only affect the 919 people that lost their jobs but the rest of society who had to suffer as well. Jackson's main goal was to protect the people during the Bank War but in the end it only created problems. Jackson wanted to protect the average business man by not letting rich people get too ahead in their businesses, but that only created a divided between the rich and poor. My groups topic was The Indian Removal Act and our project is shown below. 

Rise of Democracy

Today in class we did something different and made a poster to display the unit and the essential questions. The essential questions were; How should we define democracy? How democratic was the United States in the early 1800s? To show the answers to these questions we used various documents and wrote summaries. In the early 1800's democracy was just beginning to become popular. Democracy is a form of government where the people can vote for the elected representative of their choice. Although, during the 1800's the "people" who could vote only included white male land owners. Below is attachments of my groups final poster.