Slavery

What if our founders hadn’t been slave holders?

A Constitution free of slavery A great many American historians, it seems to me, have accepted that the many compromises made to create an acceptable constitution were, however distasteful, necessary. Most unfortunate among these, so the narrative goes, were the bargains struck over the issue of slavery. While unproductive to consider even the possibility of nine …

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Bringing rigor to the Underground Railroad story

The noble failure Like most Americans my age, at least those who liked American History from early in their childhood, certain understanding were simply presumed straightforward. Among these acceptances was the purpose of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. I didn’t like what I knew of the law, but I understood that the slave states insisted …

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Blood on the threads

Blood on the threads Yesterday, initial reports from Bangladesh tell of how, so far, 256 souls perished in a garment factory collapse. The death toll will no doubt rise as more bodies are uncovered. As history is truly prologue, there is little chance that any substantive change will result from this most recent loss. Free …

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Engaging History Lesson: The Emancipation Proclamation

  President Abraham Lincoln first shared with his entire cabinet a draft of what would become the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862. His plan received a mixed reception among his advisers given the dire times in which the administration faced. When teaching about the Emancipation Proclamation, the dynamics surrounding the processes leading up to …

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