Freedom

Freedom

Focus:

• Introduce the (varied) ideas of FREEDOM and their importance to American History.
• Understand the social, political, and economic consequences of Reconstruction

What have American leaders said about FREEDOM?

Where is the best place to START an AMERICAN conversation about FREEDOM

What do we know about FREEDOM???

1. George Washington

2. Thomas Jefferson

3. Abraham Lincoln

4. Ulysses S. Grant

5. Woodrow Wilson

6. Franklin Roosevelt

7. John F. Kennedy

8. Lydon B. Johnson

9. Ronald Reagan

10. Barrack Obama

What other words or terms get thrown or lumped into our ideas/conversations about FREEDOM?

Can you think of YOUR OWN freedom quote?

I owned about 70 slaves and worked side by side with them but they were still very much slaves. I knew slavery was wrong hoped it would go away, gave my slaves to my family in my will

I freed my slaves in my will (well... most of them)

So what was standing in the way?

Struggle for Sovereignty

What groups have (historically) been disenfranchised?

Patrick Henry

Even though I spent my adult life writing about freedom I had over 100 of my own slaves which I used not only to work my fields but to start my own nail business and to build my unnecessarily large mansion.

White colonists believed they were "enslaved" by the rule of the British Empire

What would make them think such a thing?

• It goes deeper than economics
• Had existed in EVERY colony before the Revolution
• Pretty much everyone who was anyone owned slaves
• Some argued that slavery of blacks made it possible for white to be more free (economic and political liberty)
• Protection of "property"

How have each of these groups ADDED to the discussion about FREEDOM in America?

67

Seven Year War: 1756-1763

Solidifies ENGLISH control over the 13 colonies and grants land to Indians beyond the Appalachian Mountains (like... in Ohio)

1760: George III takes the throne

1764: Sugar Act

1765: Stamp Act

1767: Townshend Acts

1770: Boston Massacre

1773: Tea Act/Boston Tea Party

1774: Intolerable Acts, Continental Congress #1, Thomas Jefferson decides he is a writer

1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord

1776: Thomas Paine write Common Sense

1783: Treaty of Paris

0

1

How can these two very different views on "freedom" coexist in America?

317

100

130-170

2 (7)

Slavery

Thus begins over 60 years of struggle, compromise and debate....

The American Revolution unleashed a whole new demographic:

THE MASSES

Bacon's Rebellion

Slavery wasn't just a white elephant in the room people KNEW it was and was going to continue to be a problem:

• Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were adamantly against the continuation of slavery
• George Washington had arrangements to free his slaves (well most of them) in his will
• Yet 55 delegates WERE (and would continue to be) slave holders
• Many of the new state constitutions outlawed slavery
• Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlawed slavery in the new Northwest Territories

What do we know about slavery?

* as a concept?

* in the Ancient World?

* Colonial Slavery?

* as an American Institution?

Slavery develops MUCH differently in South America and in the Caribbean.... Why?

1482: First slaves traded for gold (Portuguese)

1526: first slaves step foot in Caribbean/Brazil

1619: First slaves (20 of them) arrive in Virginia

1660: Virginia passes first slave laws

1705: Official "Slave Code" adopted in the Southern colonies

1730: Black majority in South Carolina

1751: Georgia becomes "independent" and slave holding

Slavery in Latin American develops MUCH differently:

• higher male to female ratio
• MUCH higher slave to owner ratio
• greater access to freedom
• more protection (ish) under the law
• Greater Independence
• MORE likely to retain African cultural elements
• More loosely defined racial lines

Slave culture in the American South:

Equal male to female ratio

high birth rate

little access to freedom (even if you were "free")

No protection under the law

much greater face to face contact with owners

Much more likely to be part of a family unit

Little attachment to African cultural elements

2 race system

SO what HAPPENED in those 60 Years from the start of the country to Civil War in 1861

1676: white indentured, poor farmers AND slaves JOINED to overthrow the governor of of Virginia

Educated leaders such as Adams, Henry, and Paine use it during Revolution but now....

To the Interwebs Martha!

Federalist 10

THE Constitution

In what ways did the Constitution solve both "problems" for the new nation (the masses and the slaves)?

What does the Constitution say?

What does Federalist 10 say?

• Age and citizenship to control access to government
• Power distributed among three branches
• States will regulate elections and voting processes
• Congress will have a LOT of power:
• two houses: Senate and the HoR Senate is smaller equal rep, HoR based on population
• Senate served 6 year terms 2 year for HoR
• Constitution does not mention the word slave or slavery
• No person held to service or labor that tries to escape shall be delivered
• Slaves will be counted as 3/5 person for purpose of represation
• eventual end to slave trade

• Factions are bad - need a federal (central) government to control them
• Cannot change the causes that a group of people believe in you can only impact the outcome
• Purpose of Constitution is to BIND all 13 state together
• Two houses (a senate and a HoR)
• The more factions you have the less likely any of them will be heard

soooo... did the founding fathers do the right thing?