”The Scott Dred Decision” was the result of Scott Dread attempt to become a free man. He was a slave that was brought to Kansas from Missouri by his owner. Scott Dred claimed that, because a former owner had brought him to a free state for a several years, he was entitled his freedom. This was perhaps the most significant ruling in U.S judicial history. The court rejected Scott’s appeal, referring it to that African American doesn’t have any rights under the Constitution.
At the age of 13, young Jackson joined the Continental Army, where he was eventually taken captive. “Jackson was eventually captured and imprisoned. During his captivity, a British officer wounded him and he contracted smallpox. His father had died before he was born, and his two brothers and mother perished during the war.” (Marquis) After the war, he suffered many hardships and the loss of his family members so Andrew Jackson started taking an interest in law. By the time Jackson was 18, he had already begun his legal practices in North Carolina.
During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears." The Choctaws and Chickasaws began their removal to the west without force by the Government. In 1836, Creeks who clung to their homes and refused the “voluntary” removal ran the risk of having their land taken and were then removed with force. The majority of the Seminole tribe in Florida were eventually forced out, but only after a seven year war between 1835 and 1842 cost the Government over $20 million.
The novel was additionally inspired by his cousin Sook's dropsy medicine, which she made yearly until the age of 62, and whose recipe she took with her to the grave, despite Jenny's wanting first to patent, and then to sell the recipe to a manufacturer. The Grass Harp was entirely written while Capote vacationed in Taormina, Sicily. The last section was airmailed to the publisher’s, just days after he finished his writing, but it was not published for four months because the Random House editors did not care for the ending of the novel. Bob Linscott, a Random House editor, thought the ending was weak, because once the characters were up in the tree house, Capote, didn't know what to do with them. He asked Capote to rewrite the ending, and he made some changes, but did not concede to completely rewriting the ending.
However Hester’s situation differed from others. Chillingworth sent Hester to America while he stayed in Europe to settle his affairs. Two years passed by and Hester had no idea if he was dead or alive or if he would join her in America. While Chillingworth talks to a stranger, trying to gather information about Hester, the man tells him “…as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea; - they have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her” (Hawthorne 58). Some may say Hester should have been smarter and less impulsive, she could have found the way to get information about her husband by contacting the right people.
His father, Joshua Dunbar, was a former slave who escaped to Canada and later served in the volunteer Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry during the American Civil War. His mother, the former Mrs. Matilda Murphy, was an ex-house slave from Lexington, Kentucky. Neither parent was formally educated, but both were self taught readers by the time Dunbar was born (Wiggins 11). Life during the Reconstruction Era was difficult for many African Americans, especially in the south. In the Alabama Review, Bertis English, Assistant Professor of History at Alabama State University, writes that, “numerous whites vented their frustrations by harassing, intimidating, or physically assaulting blacks” and that they “made it difficult for African Americans to buy land and homes, secure employment, or gather socially.” (4).
It takes a lot of strength to leave loved ones not knowing if you will ever see them again. Samuel Cabble was a twenty-one year old private in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry who left his wife in slavery to fight for their freedom. A letter written by Samuel Cabble to his wife said “i look forward to a brighter day When i shall have the opertunity of seeing you in the full enjoyment of fredom i would like to no if you are still in slavery if you are it will not be long before we shall have crushed the system that now opreses you for in the course of three months you shall have your liberty.” This excerpt shows that Samuel was fighting with all he had to return to his wife and save her from slavery. He felt that it was his duty to protect his wife at all costs and this meant going to war at twenty one after leaving slavery. This is the perfect example of surviving on inner strength because Samuel returned to his wife after the war and together they moved to Denver.
The Turner Rebellion was unavoidable due to the circumstances of the time. The black insurrection was inevitable due to preceding rebellions and slave discontent. “Ever since the 1790s, slave discontent had seemed on the rise in both the Old Dominion and many other parts of the South” (15). Such slave discontent took the form of several rebellions that contributed towards a climate of insurgency in Virginia. For example, there was a full scale slave rebellion in the 1790s on the island of Santo Domingo where “fighting was unspeakably savage, with whites and blacks slaughtering one another in a carnage of racial violence that ultimately cost some sixty thousand lives” (15).
Brown was born in 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut to an extremely religious and abolitionist family where he first began forming his anti-slavery views. For most of his life, Brown and his large family, he fathered twenty children, moved around the country settling in various states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York where he held several odd jobs but never became financially successful. However, his lack of funds did not impact his support for the abolitionist movement. He helped finance anti-slavery publications, gave land to fugitive slaves, participated in the Underground Railroad made famous by abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman and even took in black youth to raise as their own. In 1851, he also helped establish the League of Gileadites, an organization that worked to protect escaped slaves from slave catchers.
The blacks were treated in an inhumane style, receiving violent beating and extreme manual labour for many hours of the day, minimum amounts of food and poor living conditions. In 1861, the war against Slavery in America began. After 4 years of fighting between the Northern and Southern States of America that left of 600,000 dead, the Northern states had defeated the Southern states that had been fighting for slavery and their own secession. After becoming victorious, the Northern states and the President declared slavery to be abolished in America. However, even after its abolishment, blacks were still kept in slavery and were treated poorly and unequal to other, white Americans.