Slavery and the Mississippi Secession - Assignment Example

Essay Michael McCraw History 1063 Section 13 It seems auspicious that this and essay is at the same time the USA elected the first black president, 146 years after the emancipation proclamation. The secession of Mississippi occurred shortly after the 16th republican president, Abraham Lincoln was voted into office but before he was actually inaugurated. "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union." was written to further amplify the actual Mississippi Declaration of Secession issued in 1861. The authors included, Jefferson Davis, a former senator of the Union, veteran of war and later, the first president of the Confederate United States; another senator of Mississippi and a number of Mississippi Representatives of the House. Their declaration of secession was based on the belief that slaves were property and not humans. Using that as the basis, they argued that the Union was taking away their right to own said property and land; and taking the ability to succeed in commerce with the property owned. They felt the Union had interfered with their ownership by allowing escaped slaves to take fugitive in the Free states, by denying protection to the slave ships on the high seas, and removing the ability to acquire more land. In President Lincoln's inaugural address, he specifically addressed the slavery issue with this statement: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." In fact, the emancipation proclamation did not necessarily free all slaves but those who lived within the Union States. President Lincoln was much more interested in preserving the Union of the United States and felt the South had no right to just arbitrarily seceded: "Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it One party to a contract may violate it-break it, so to speak-but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it" There is particular irony between the reason statement: "It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst." and the further reason statement: "It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the North is excited and inflamed with prejudice." followed by the announcement: "Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it." (Readings # 109, p. 406) In the first statement, written as one of the reasons for the declaration of secession, they claim that the Union was promoting equality among the slaves, and promoting the slaves to violence if necessary. Within the same document the authors cite their own personal freedoms as reason to secede. But the majority of the document is about how the north (or the Union) is treating the south (or the Confederate States) as non-equal members telling them what they may or may not do. The document describes that the result of following the Union dictates would be utter social ruin and complete loss of property, valued at 4 billion dollars. Looking at the value only, one could understand their desire to remove themselves from the Union and by the same token, one could understand the desire of the north not to lose such value. Abraham Lincoln summed it up better in his Gettysburg address, which was written after the start of the Civil War: "All men are created equal." "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." November 19, 1863 "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union" Reading 109. Third Edition. Readings in U. S. History to 1877. Pearson Custom Publishing Lincoln, Abraham. (1861) "First Inaugural Address". Reading 116. Third Edition. Readings in U. S. History to 1877. Pearson Custom Publishing Lincoln, Abraham. (1863) "The Gettysburg Address". Reading 114. Third Edition. Readings in U. S. History to 1877. Pearson Custom Publishing Essay #2 Michael McCraw History 1063 Section 13 The congressional prohibition, Article I, section 9, effective in 1808 against the participation in the international slave trade drew little protest from the slave owners because by then they had quite a growing crop of slaves - and the ban only increased the value of selling slaves within the States. Slave owners in the Antebellum South found it more profitable to encourage fecundity in the slaves under the ban. The slave-owners viewed themselves as generous benefactors while the slaves reported whippings, unrelenting harsh labor, and the lack of any humane care. In fact, many slave owners felt no compunction at ripping families apart to sell the children or spouse when they needed the money or the slave was not performing to their 'standards'. Frederick Douglass, a former slave, who learned his "ABCs", wrote of the separation of family. For example, he was removed from his mother and given to a 'granny' at the age of 1, presumably so that his mother would get back to work and to blunt any affection that might occur between mother and child. Later he wrote of transferring to another member of the slave-owner's family at the age of seven. One of his first recollections was to witness a cruel whipping his aunt by his own master but he was careful to point out that he and other slaves more frequently experienced the harshness of slavery from the hands of overseers and others who worked for the master. He also wrote about of the murder of several slaves by different slaves owners that were not punished, in fact, some not even investigated. The slave owners deluded themselves as responsible owners by citing their caring treatment of their slave men and women, in their writings and journals although their behavior fell far short of what slaves considered compassionate. The evidence of that belief by the slave-owners and about the slave-owners perpetuated itself in the writings of Brownson and Fitzhugh. Orestes A. Brownson, the author of "The Laboring Classes" felt the slaves had a better life than the working class of the industrial age. He argued that slaves knew no better having been born to slavery, so the phrase "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind. With that in mind, he further maintains that the free laborer had it much worse with more responsibility, such as care of the family at home, and the home itself. "The laborer at wages has all the disadvantages of freedom and none of its blessings, while the slave, if denied the blessings, is freed from the disadvantages." (Brownson, p 354) His point of his article is that a certain employer of the wage laborer was taking advantage of the paid laborers, under paying them or not at all. His final point was that slaves were better off with a master taking care of them than the free laborer without a master or too many masters. My solution, using that logic, would be to send the wage laborers and their families to live on plantations - there they could receive food and shelter, as the author implied was all that they needed or wanted. This would also benefit the slave-owners since the ban on international slave trade limited them to internal resources and the impending slavery ban altogether would not be an issue with all the labor provided from the north. The second piece written by George Fitzhugh, 17 years later and just a few years before the emancipation proclamation was issued, had a different bent. He was concerned that the socialist were behind the freedom from slavery. Fitzhugh is somewhat concerned because he believes that the socialist want all wealth and capital evenly distributed among the classes regardless of their contribution to society. That if the socialist had their way - there would be no "skill, capital, and free competition." (Fitzhugh, p 388) Fitzhugh argues that slave-owners would do a better job of taking care of slaves because they had an investment to protect, whereas, employers paying the free labor - want to squeeze out a profit by underpaying and not taking care of the laborers. The free laborers would be in dire straits if they don't have a job because no 'master' is obligated to (hire or) take care of them - however, the slaves are always safe by token of their responsible masters. The slave-owners, and slaves for that matter, lived in such an insulated era and location that they were unable to compare or debate their point of views on slavery except with other insulated members of their local culture - and perhaps that is why it continued on so long. Fredrick Douglass also spoke of this in his lecture to the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. "The slave-holder is not satisfied to associate with men in the Church or in the State, unless he can thereby stain them with the blood of his slaves. To be a slave-holder, is to be a propagandist from necessity ; for slavery can only live by keeping down the under-growth morality which nature supplies." The author's of the two readings, 94 and 104, also fit that category - their comparisons of slavery to free labor exemplify the belief in the propaganda. The readings give an insight to the beliefs and understanding of slavery then. But setting the times aside, it is still hard to empathize or even understand them for their treatment of slavery. One advantage of the modern world is the ability to access many different views and education. The capability to quickly publicize, through the media worldwide, any type of human indignities should prevent a widespread of slavery ever again. The selections themselves are an excellent source for convincing the reader how wrong slavery really is against any person. Brownson, Orestes A. (1840) "The Laboring Classes" Reading 94. Third Edition. Readings in U. S. History to 1877. Person Custom Publishing Douglass, Fredrick. (1852) Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass - an American Slave. 6th Ed. London, UK, K Gershaw and Son. Douglass, Fredrick. (1855). The Anti-Slavery Movement. Rochester, NY. Lee, Mann and Company. Fitzhugh, George. (1857) "Cannibals All!" Reading 104. Third Edition. Readings in U. S. History to 1877. Person Custom Publishing Read More