Abraham Lincoln and Primary Documents Quiz

February 10, 2021 by Essay Writer

1. One writer maintains that slaves in the South are the “happiest” and “freest” people in the world and workers in the North are not. How this is so?

2. For O’Sullivan, how would California benefit once separated from Mexico?

3. According to Angelina Grimke, what could women do to contribute to the abolition of slavery? Women played a vital role in the campaign to abolish slavery, although they themselves lacked even the right to vote. Their campaign techniques were employed to great effect in the struggle for suffrage.

In the early years, women influenced the campaign to abolish slavery, but they were not direct activists. This accorded with the prevalent view of women as a moral not a political force. As the campaign gained popularity, they could publish anti-slavery poems and stories.

4. Why does Lincoln in the “House Divided” speech believe the pro-slavery side was winning regarding the expansion of slavery in the territories? Why does Calhoun in opposing the Compromise of 1850 think the South was at a disadvantage? Because starting the new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the National territory by Congressional prohibition.

Four days later, commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all the National territory to slavery, and was the first point gained…… Although each side received benefits, the north seemed to gain the most. The North had absolute control over the government. The South

5. Garrison and Fitzhugh refer to Declaration of Independence in their excerpts. How do they use the Declaration? Garrison uses Jefferson’s declaration as a foundation that to prove his thought and to convince the society. his “Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention” is strongly convincing. He confirms “that all persons of color, ought to be admitted forthwith to the enjoyment f the same privileges, and the exercise of the same prerogatives, as others; and that the paths of preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be opened as widely to them as to persons of a white complexion.” No matter what are your skin color, and what gender you are in, all people should have the way to be educated, rich and happy. What he advocates is quite similar with Jefferson’s claim that all man have the right to “pursuit their happiness”.

George Fitzhugh’s ideas are totally against Garrison. He is a representative of thought that men are not born equal. Whites are strong, healthy, smart, and blacks are weak, sickly, and foolish. He stated that “Their natural inequalities beget inequalities of rights.” African American is stupid so they deserve to have no right. Furthermore, African Americans are lower than whites; they cannot survive in society without being “modified” so they need the white man for survival. However, I disagree with Fitzhugh. I think the reason why black people is “foolish”, and cannot competitive with white people is they are not allowed to get access to knowledge.

White people control their lives and brainwash their minds; therefore, they only have a narrow view that they deserve to be slaves, and they ought to do free labor work for whites. They are “foolish” because they are uneducated, and because how whites treat them. If African Americans were educated, then they would be a threat to white people. They are kept “foolish” so it is easy to control them.

6. What were the strategies of Garrison and Douglass in opposing slavery?

7. Compare Lincoln’s First and Second Inaugural addresses. What do you think was his purpose in each? Lincoln’s main purpose in his First Inaugural Address was to allay the anxieties of the southern states that their property, peace, and personal security were endangered because a Republican administration was taking office. The purpose of Lincoln’s second inaugural address was to state that slavery was the key component that led to the civil war and he stated that it was possible that slavery had offended God and he retaliated by causing conflict which started the war.

He said that since there was now peace, they should take advantage of that and begin a time of reconciliation where there was malice towards no one and charity for everyone……..Lincoln contradicts himself, giving false hope to southerners hoping to hold onto slavery. He says in his first Inaugural address that he has no ‘plans to interfere (directly or indirectly) with the institution of slavery’, also saying he “had no right to do so”. He still holds onto the idea of secession and how we are a “perpetual union” and by no means should we be divided.

Lincoln leaves the idea of taking actions towards slavery in his first address mainly to win some supporters in the middle states, paying off with West Virginia’s loyalty to the union. Towards the end of the Civil War, Lincoln make a transformation as he turns bolder (evident in his second inaugural address), disowning slavery and all of its practices, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. This new view of Lincoln sent a loathsome spirit throughout the South, especially for Lincoln.

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