American History
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. Does our present get to dictate what is morally correct — and if it does then why do we get to make that judgement? And why do we make different judgements than cultures did in the past (how come we don’t believe in slavery any more? and don’t say because it is wrong. If it is wrong we are trying to discover what makes us make that choice?)
2.As you are thinking about Race in America and the Civil War, here is something to respond to — the common perception of John Brown is that he is an abolitionist hero who went out and actually fought the injustice of slavery, and died as a martyr to freedom (despite in actuality being a terrorist), but in conventional thinking he is a hero. Nat Turner on the other hand, again in “conventional thinking” does not fair so well. Turner led a slave uprising in Virginia in 1832 that led to the killing of nearly 60 men women and children from the slave owner class. The means of what Turner did is not really much different than what John Brown did, but Turner is not thought of as a hero (again by most people in what I am calling conventional thinking), so the question is how much of our perception is tainted by Race. Is Turner seen as a villain because he is black and Brown a hero because he is white?
3. Can anyone tell me when the larger slave/serf (serfs were communal rather than personal slaves) systems in Brazil and Russia were ended? When was the slave trade abolished? Now is there anything peculiarly similar about these dates and that of the American Civil War that might give you a global interpretation of the causes of the Civil War? And how come that info is never given in the standard interpretation on the causes of the Civil War?
