2 quick ??'s for people who know US History

Discussion in 'General' started by jomoyo069, Aug 14, 2008.

  1. #1 jomoyo069, Aug 14, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2008
    im gonna be honest. if i answer these questions i get some extra credit that i need in history class.. here are the ?'s:

    1) Is there any point prior to 1861 where you think slavery could have been abandoned and wasn't? If so, why and if not, why not?

    2) If slavery had been done away with by 1800, would the country today be any different?

    -- for the poeple that want to reply negatively and tell me to do the shit on my own please dont even post anything..

    anyone that wants to help me out please do.. i will be looking for the answers as well..

    i dont mind giving people +rep for helping me out
     
  2. They probably could have ended it in 1790 when they wrote up the Constitution
     
  3. I'm assuming that this is for a paper or an essay.... Isn't it better to develop your own opinions and use your own thought process to get to a conclusion?

    At least I always thought it was....

    I am a History major, but I want you to figure this out on your own... more rewarding for you.
     
  4. its not a paper or essay.. just a quick paragraph is all im trying to find
     
  5. My roomate and I were actually just asking ourselves this to found out what a good answer for those two questions are. I had my opinions, and albiet he agreed that it was more than likely true, he still says, "Man, you sound an asshole."

    Now, I won't tell you anything because I'd really like for you to go ahead and discover all that wonderful chocolaty goodness that is called "knowledge", but I'd like to make one point:

    Think about Economics. That is all.
     
  6. alrite hopefully if i tell you guys wat i think than you will chime in on wat you guys think that sound fair?
     
  7. this is for #1..
    thomas jefferson who wrote the declaration was against denounced slavery and thought it was wrong.. he openly denounced slavery in his draft of the constitution which was rewritten and 'mangled' as Jefferson put it, due to the southern aristocrats who owned slaves.. he was the one that wrote "all men are created equal"..

    jefferson even owned slaves though.. he as well as others didnt see a way to end slavery after it had already been established.

    The best Jefferson could come up with was a plan to take slave children from their parents and put them in schools to be educated and taught a trade at public expense. Upon becoming adults, they would be transported to a colony somewhere and given tools and work animals to start a new life as a "free and independent people."

    i would say that if that plan was implemented slavery couldve been averted.. it sounds like a weakass point though.. thats why im lookin for some help..

    ill do the research, i just need somewhere to go from
     
  8. for 2) If slavery had been done away with by 1800, would the country today be any different?

    i would say no because slavery was already on the way out due to the rise of industrialization in the US. the US didnt need as many slaves anymore when the machines started being used instead of human labor
    __________________
     
  9. or for 2
    if slavery had been done away with earlier, civil rights movements could have started earlier as well. Therefore, we would now be farther along with the civil rights issue. maybe we would actually live in a country that wasnt as racist as it is.. but shit we have a black dude that might be president so i guess its not that racist
     
  10. Shit, if slavery were still legal I would totally have a slave. Seriously. I would treat them well though.

    Imagine not cooking your dinner....or washing your clothes... or doing dishes....or mowing the lawn. All for free. All you have to do is give them room and board.

    Oh yeah.
     
  11. alrite that doesnt help at all.. thanks for your input though
     
  12. #12 JudasCanna, Aug 14, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2008
    At the time the constitution was written, as a whole, our states weren't ready to get rid of slavery. Though quite a few people wanted it gone, there were to many people with power who had slaves of their own. They weren't giving up their free help.

    After that, as our new country progressed, people in power may not have appoved of slavery, but everything was being done with slave labor so to speak out meant persicussion.

    Honestly, it could have been ended at any time if things were about idiology. If thinking and doing the right thing actually played a role in how things worked it would have never started to begin with.

    The fact is, everything is about power. Power comes in many forms. People don't give up their power that easily, even if they know what they are doing is wrong.


    The idea that things may or may not have been different doesn't change the fact that those people were taken from their homes and put into slave labor by "whites". So even if it ended then....the amount of time if took for things to get where they are today wouldn't have been changed by much.

    If was a belief of just about an entire generation that whites were better than blacks. Changing the laws doesn't change the publics opinion.
     
  13. your exactly right man.. slavery could have been abandoned at any time but it wouldnt be because the rich just want to get richer.. if slavery helps them get rich they will keep the slaves.. the rich have the power to do as they want so they will have enough power to make the government, which they run, to let them keep their slaves..

    a war was needed in order to force them to give up their slaves
     
  14. 1) No. slavery was too big a part of the southern economy at that time. that's why it took a war to abolish it.

    2) I think there wouldn't be as much racisim, there would be a hell of a lot more people in the country, the civil war would never have happened, the civil rights movement would have taken place earlier or not at all, and west virginia would just be a part of virginia.

    hope that helps.
     
  15. im just gonna bump this up b4 i go to sleep
     
  16. It could have ended in 1807 with the Transatlantic Slave Trade which stopped the trade of slaves between most countries.
     

  17. 1. The northern states,
    British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Danes, and others all ended slavery peacefully, using different methods all besides war. Slave rebellions, abolitionist campaigning to gain public support for abolition, election of antislavery politicians, encouragement and assistance of runaway slaves, raising private funds to purchase the freedom of slaves, and the use of taxpayer funds to buy the freedom of slaves. Presidents before Abe Lincoln could have possibly traveled to Europe and discussed with their governments ways to end slavery, or just used similar ideas. And of course Lincoln could do this rather than start the deadliest war of American history in the first weeks of his presidency.

    2. The civil rights movement probably would have started earlier, possibly not as much historical hostility between the northern and southern states. 620,000 American soldiers would not have died in the civil war.
     
  18. #20 Palmer Eldritch, Aug 14, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2008
    An interesting footnote to U.S. law, slavery was almost constitutionally protected in 1861. The Corwin Amendment was approved by congress, but not ratified by all the states, would have restricted the federal government from interfering with state institutions relating to bonded labor. This amendment, had it passed, have been 13th amendment. Several states did in fact ratify it, the amendment is technically still pending and would need 35 more states to pass I believe. Its amazing what can happen in four years.

    oh and to give a little direction for the first question, look up John Quincy Adams and 1839.
     

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