Wendell Phillips Research Paper
Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator. - Wendell Phillips (brainyquote.com ) This is a quote from a speech of one of the great American abolitionists, Wendell Phillips. To make forward progress and do critical thinking it is important to separate your opinions and emotions and really look at the facts. Wendell encouraged people to see these facts and to take them to heart.Wendell Phillips had much sympathy for the minorities in America both before and after the Civil War. He became a very persuasive public speaker and used his gift to help abolitionist causes throughout his lifetime. He worked to abolish institutions such
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He believed that women should have the right to vote. Not only did women want to vote, they wanted equal rights and independence. They did not want to be treated as lesser beings. Wendell was ready to help. A male audience would not give much credit to the thoughts of a woman. Wendell spoke with them. The audience would at least listen. He also backed up Lucretia Mott who was looked down upon because she was a woman speaking in public over the issues of slavery and women’s rights. In 1851 he gave a speech at the Women’s Rights Convention, Massachusetts entitled “Shall Women Have the Right to Vote?” In it he states, “What we ask is simply this, what all other classes have asked before: Leave it to woman to choose for herself her profession, her education, and her sphere.” (NPS.com) Women were not completely helpless, of course, to make a real impact they would have to win the battle for themselves. How much independence can a lady have if she has to have a man win it for her? Wendell was a good speaker and he continued to fight for the cause until his death at age 72. (womensuffragegh.wordpress.com) He gave up good public standing by standing up for what was right, but not yet …show more content…
Phillips felt that racial injustice and prejudice was the source of most of society's problems. He worked to gain equal rights for the Native Americans saying that the 15th Amendment should also apply to them and not only the freed slaves. “ the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's ‘race, color, or previous condition of servitude’" (Dictionary.com). Wendell proposed that Andrew Jackson give Native Americans cabinet positions to secure their civil rights. He also worked with Helen Hunt Jackson to create the Massachusetts Indian Commission. (TheLatinLibrary/civilwarnotes.com) He also condemned the construction of the Transcontinental Railway because it would harm plains indians. (universalemancipation.wordpress.com) Americans would destroy the environment that the Indians needed to survive on. They killed buffalo and elk which was their food source and chopped down trees to make settlements and plowed up the ground for farming and gold mining. The transcontinental railroad and the idea of Manifest Destiny drove white settlers West. THey took the land and all the resources and the railroad made it easier to
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
Behind the scenes of Manifest Destiny, what really transformed the country was the ability to move products across great distances and the Erie Canal was a huge turning point for economic growth in America. Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering breakthrough of the nineteenth century: Its four waterways would connect manufacturing and eastern ports with the rest of the country. Farmers could now ship their goods, they could move out, come down the Hudson River and this way of commuting became a part of a global economy. This Moment would bring about the thought of expansion which will become the fuse to enormous economic growth that will ultimately in the next century, become the belief of manifest destiny. The nation that both reflected the pride which reflected American nationalism, and the idealistic image of social perfection through God and the Church caused the nation to separate.
These advocates expected the Native Americans to leave their lands voluntarily. With the promise for land west of the Mississippi there would be no limits to the tribe’s choice of government, assistance, relocation and protection. Jefferson believed that the Indians’ failures were theirs to own and they needed to depend on themselves alone to become numerous and great people. He encouraged them to take the new land and cultivate it, build a home, and leave it to his children. He was failing to tell them that they really didn’t have much of a choice. Boudinot determined that many of the Cherokee people would leave their land if the true state of their condition was made known to them. They were left with only two real alternatives, one to live under the white man’s law or to be forcibly removed to another country. However some American’s worried about the future of the Native Americans. John Ross’s letter to president Jackson believed it was the white man’s duty to relieve the Indians from their suffering. This could only be accomplished by allowing the Native Americans to obtain their land in Georgia under the rights and privileges as free men. Nevertheless no great lands good for farming would be given to the Native Americans and Jackson would sign the Indian removal act. This act would allow the government to exchange fertile land for land in the west, where they would forcibly relocate the Indian
President Jackson singlehandedly led the destruction of the Native Americans with his aggressive actions and hostile decisions. President Jackson shirked his responsibility to protect the Native Americans of the United States by ignoring the Supreme Court’s decision, promoting legislation to bring about the separation of Native Americans and whites, and his decision to involve the United States Armed Forces against Indian Tribes. If it was not for President Jackson’s actions, the future of the Native Americans would have been different, or at least the American settlers wanted Indian land for many reasons. These reasons include geography and terrain, location, resources, and old grudges. First, the geography was perfect for farmers with fertile land.
Frederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the inhumane effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. His use of vivid language depicts violence against slaves, his personal insights into the dynamics between slaves and slaveholders, and his naming of specific persons and places made his book an indictment against a society that continued to accept slavery as a social and economic institution. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1853 she published Letter from a Fugitive Slave, now recognized as one of the most comprehensive antebellum slave narratives written by an African-American woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves.
During the Abraham Lincoln’s short time as president, he managed not only to save a nation deeply divided and at war with itself, but to solidify the United States of America as a nation dedicated to the progress of civil rights. Years after his death, he was awarded the title of ‘The Great Emancipator.’ In this paper, I will examine many different aspects of Lincoln’s presidency in order to come to a conclusion: whether this title bestowed unto Lincoln was deserved, or not. In order to fully understand Lincoln, it is necessary to understand the motives that drove this man to action. While some of his intentions may not have been for the welfare of slaves, but for the preservation of the Union, the actions still stand. Abraham Lincoln, though motivated by his devotion to his nation, made the first blows against the institution of slavery and rightfully earned his title of ‘The Great Emancipator.’
In his speech, Frederick Douglass made it clear that he believed that the continued toleration and support of slavery from both a religious and legal standpoint was utterly absurd when considering the ideals and principles advocated by America’s forefathers. He began by praising the American framers of the Constitution, an...
Before 1920 women did not have the right to vote. They were known as “second class citizens”. Women were to stay home to help and organize the family’s necessities. Having any other higher power was said to be way out of their limitations. Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be head of the household and everything else in between.
Abraham Lincoln and Slavery Many Americans believe that Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator,” the sole individual who ended slavery, and the man who epitomizes freedom. In his brief presidential term, Lincoln dealt with an unstable nation, with the South seceding from the country and in brink of leaving permanently.
Abolutionist, Fredrick Douglass once stated, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”().
It may appear that in today’s America, slavery is looked down upon, and we’ve developed a long way from the past. However, before and during the Abolitionists Movement there were strong arguments for both sides of the subject. ("Arguments and Justifications: The Abolition of Slavery Project.") The gradual dominance in anti-slavery would not have been possible if people had not risked their lives and social standings to fight for the racial, social, legal, and political liberation for slaves. William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters are all prime examples of people who challenged pro-slavery, and protested the idea that one race was superior to another. Although abolitionists fought for their beliefs during this movement in the 1830s up to the year 1870 for the immediate emancipation of slaves, the ending of racial prejudice and segregation would not be possible if not by the influence of those courageous people, and should continue to be reinforced in today’s society. ("Civil Rights Movement.")
Also known as the Second Great Awakening, the Abolitionist Movement swept through the colonies in the early 1830’s. This was a movement to abolish slavery and to give blacks their freedom as citizens. Many men and women, free and enslaved, fought for this cause and many were imprisoned or even killed for speaking out. If it were not for these brave people, slavery would still exist today. The Abolitionist Movement paved the way in eradicating slavery by pursuing moral and political avenues, providing the foundation for the Underground Railroad, and creating a voice for African Americans.
As a child in elementary and high school, I was taught that President Abraham Lincoln was the reason that African slaves were freed from slavery. My teachers did not provide much more information than that. For an African American student, I should have received further historical information than that about my ancestors. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity or desire to research slavery on my own until college. And with my eagerness and thirst for more answers concerning my African American history, I set out to console my spirit, knowledge, and self-awareness of my ancestors’ history. I received the answers that my brain, mind, and soul need. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, courageous African American slaves were the real heroes and motivation of the movement.
At the time Andrew Jackson was president, there was a fast growing population and a desire for more land. Because of this, expansion was inevitable. To the west, many native Indian tribes were settled. Andrew Jackson spent a good deal of his presidency dealing with the removal of the Indians in western land. Throughout the 1800’s, westward expansion harmed the natives, was an invasion of their land, which led to war and tension between the natives and America, specifically the Cherokee Nation.
The first point he made was how the Westward expansion affected the Plains Indians. The Plains Indian tribes consisted mostly of the Kiowa, Kiowa Apaches, Comanche, Sioux, and Cheyenne. As the white settlers made their way across the country taking land, the Indians pushed back by raiding settlements and killing the occasional settler. More and more white settlers were pouring into the West in search of gold and silver. As the settlers came into the territories, large herds of buffalo were killed, much of the time just for the sport of it. This had an adverse affect on the Indians since they relied on buffalo not only for food, but also for hides and blankets as well as to make teepees. Another factor was the pony herds; the U.S. Army frequently seized herds and a herd of upwards of one thousand was killed just so the Indians would not be able to use them. The soldiers that were on patrol in the West kept pushing the Indians, driving them away from their hunting and fishing grounds.