Amistad
The touchiest subject that a person could bring up in the early 19th century was slavery. Many in the north were wholly against it while many in the south could not live properly without it. The Amistad case intensifies the already bitter feelings between these two parts of the country, and it shows how sectionalist our country had become. On one hand there were the northerners who couldn't believe that these people were being held for freeing themselves, and on the other hand there were the southerners who said that the Negro's were animals and should be sent back to Cuba to be hung. There were not only two different attitudes on what should happen to the Africans, but each group also had different opinions on how to handle the story. "The northern press made much of the story, while the southern press avoided it because they didn't want to give the slave populations any ideas." (8) When the Amistad landed in 1839, most people opposed slavery in the north, but many of them weren't abolitionists, and others didn't want to think about the subject at all. The wanted to just save the union, because if that had dispersed, all of the founding fathers work would have gone for none. "The Abolitionists seized upon the Amistad c
All of these events and people involved, show what the question of slavery meant to all of them. The Amistad case was a huge event in the 19th century. The verdict not nearly as important as the implications of whom was involved, and how it was taken care of. This case was about the mistreatment of a people who had no right to be looked down upon. This case was about the people who fought for it, and the passions that they shared, and the one passion they didn't. The men involved in the Amistad case represented to sides to a case, and two philosophy's of a country separating at a rate too fast for anyone to stop. "We are not always scourging - by the way, Tappan was one of the most hated men in the south, and he was the first to help the Africans case. The Africans were in the supposedly free north, but there were still many in the north that did not support their cause. "The New York Express which sided with Ruiz and Montes, wrote, "Cinque is a Congo. Their general character is lazy, mischievous, and apt to run away..."" (39) You wouldn't expect someone In the north to support two Spanish slave traders, but the thought of losing the Union hurt the abolitionists cause. Also, after the verdict, some people in Farmington, Vermont, started to get sick of the Africans. One of them was pushed into a ditch after buying an oil lamp by some of the citizens of Farmington, and many people blamed what had happened on the Africans. After that even Tappan felt that they had to be sent home soon. They were a sideshow to many curious people, but a burden to many. Tuesday in common is our flogging day. To stir the drones and make the young ones skip. Enough to let the wretched creatures live.
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Quincy Adams, Republican Party, Madden Madden, Africans Tappan, Ingersoll United, President Jackson, Cinque Congo, Amistad Congress, Farmington Vermont, north support, quincy adams, help africans, john quincy, slavery north, africans attorney, 19th century, john quincy adams, support cause, hate mail,
Approximate Word count = 1261
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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