Civil War Essay

694 Words2 Pages

“Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. The unhappy man who has been treated as a brute animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human species. The galling chains, that bind his body, do also fetter his intellectual faculties, and impair the social affections of his heart… To instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty… and to procure for their children an education calculated for their future situation in life; these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted.” - Benjamin Franklin. When Benjamin Franklin said this, he was speaking in 1789 promoting the abolition of slavery so long before the civil war. He was one of the many abolitionists that had been fighting for freedom years before the main events of the abolition movement during the abolition movement. Dred Scott was served wrongly by slave owning judges. The Abolition Movement and The Dred Scott decision are about people standing up for others being treated wrongly. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ - Abraham Lincoln on the Dred Scott Decision. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B Taney made the Dred Scott Decision on March 6th, 1860. They also declared the missouri compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. This all caused northerners and abolitionists to get angry at the south and the supreme court. This decision showed where the government stood on the issue of slavery and abolition and further fueled the flame of war between the north and south. Scott took his slave owner to court to sue for his fr... ... middle of paper ... ... “Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. The unhappy man who has been treated as a brute animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human species. The galling chains, that bind his body, do also fetter his intellectual faculties, and impair the social affections of his heart… To instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty… and to procure for their children an education calculated for their future situation in life; these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted.” - Benjamin Franklin. As you can see, the Abolition Movement and the Dred Scott Decision had a huge impact on the outcome and events of the civil war.

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