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"The Road to Emancipation"

• Savannah Grove Baptist Church • Season 1 • Episode 6

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The contradictions of American freedom stand starkly revealed in this fascinating exploration of how slavery's opponents fought relentlessly against the institution through rebellion, escape, and the written word. When the founding fathers chose to maintain Black enslavement after winning independence from Britain, they created a moral hypocrisy that would haunt the nation for decades to come.

Three remarkable uprisings stand as testament to the courage of those who refused bondage. The Mende people aboard the Amistad in 1839 executed the first recorded takeover of a slave ship, eventually winning their freedom through a landmark Supreme Court case argued by former president John Quincy Adams. Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad operations from 1849-1860 demonstrated extraordinary strategic genius, guiding over 200 enslaved people to freedom without losing a single soul—even after the Fugitive Slave Act enlisted federal resources against escapees. And white abolitionist minister John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry represented a dramatic, if unsuccessful, armed confrontation with slavery that would cost him his life but ignite national conscience.

Equally powerful were the publications that systematically dismantled slavery's moral legitimacy. David Walker's fiery "Appeal" (1830) provided a comprehensive historical condemnation of racism. William Lloyd Garrison's "The Liberator" (1831) demanded immediate rather than gradual emancipation. Frederick Douglass's autobiography (1845) offered the first widely-read firsthand account of slavery's horrors by a former slave. And Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) became the century's bestselling book after the Bible, arguing that Christian love was fundamentally incompatible with human bondage.

Together, these acts of resistance forced America to confront its fundamental hypocrisy. By the 1860 presidential election, the nation could no longer avoid addressing slavery, leading to Southern secession and ultimately the Civil War that would bring about emancipation. This is the story of how rebellion—physical and intellectual—became the catalyst for freedom.

Speaker 1:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Moved from the theological transformation among slaves in American history and how it fueled the move to emancipation to look at some of the historical events and major uprisings that made that come about. We began post-revolution, when the founding fathers made the decision number one to keep black people in slavery rather than free them after they'd gotten their independence from Britain, and to continue the political exclusion of women of all races. What did that create, though, from an international standpoint? Just like today, back then, in the late 18th century, america became the source of international scrutiny, and in light of that international scrutiny, for fighting for freedom and yet keeping people, and black people, in bondage, we saw many countries begin to weigh in, particularly Britain, since, of course, the British the group that America obtained their independence from. And so, after the declaration, of course, after the Constitution, the Second Colonial Convention, the signing the Federalist Papers and, of course, the electing of George Washington as president, moving forward with America's political system and its commitment to still maintain black people in bondage, we start seeing the contradictions of American constitutionalism in its notions of freedom. We saw it from a theological standpoint, with Bishop Berkeley trying to maintain the Slavocracy with an inward freedom, hermeneutic and not an outward freedom interpretation, and now we see it more politically and more societally.

Speaker 1:

The contradictions were threefold. First of all, how can you be a free country on paper and you continue to hold slaves? Of course this contradiction is pretty obvious that one cannot bask in the glow of accomplishing one's freedom from a tyrant and an oppressor and those are two mildly used words by colonists to describe the British and yet at the same time not see that you are a tyrant and an oppressor to African slaves as well. The second contradiction is that you now have a constitution in place that guarantees its citizens due process, but not for slaves and not for women, mainly for white men. And of course, the beginning of white male privilege begins in an uninterrupted way. In the history of America we have the colonial life, in which they were free, but not fully free. Now we have the United States of America, where white men are fully free and, of course, do not extend those same constitutional freedoms to its slaves and to its women. And of course, the third contradiction is that America wins its freedom from Britain with slaves who fought to help them get their freedom, with the promise that they would be free if they were able to, the colonists were able to defeat Britain and at the same time, and at the same time, reneged on that promise after the war and kept Africans as slaves. And so and so the slaves helped the colonists get their freedom from Britain and at the same time, even though they're promised freedom, the colonists now Americans renege on that promise, puts them back in slavery, which was, which will go essentially unchanged for close to eight decades.

Speaker 1:

But as we move into the 19th century, as I said in the previous segment, we begin to see major uprisings. We talked in the last segment about the uprisings, the insurrections actually from Prasavizi and Turner, in Richmond, charleston and South Hampton, virginia respectively. But I also want to bring to our attention three other uprisings that really encapsulated the dogged determination that people of African descent, and in this case one white man, had in fueling anti-slavery sentiment over and against pro-slavery antagonists. As we move into the 18th century also, we're going to see in Washington DC more political antagonists from both sides of the aisle, and our major parties continue to spar over what will be the status of the states that are going to be created as America moves west from its colonies, whether they're going to be slave states or whether they're going to be free states, and this is going to fuel the fire of pro-slavery until we get to the slavery, until we get to the Civil War. And so, looking at Prasavisi and Turner and their uprisings, we see three men who have been called to the ministry to make the case that God's favor is on the revolutionaries who decide to fight against their oppressor. And of course they maintain that the colonists were right to fight to get their independence from Britain and that in light of that, they are equally right for fighting against now white American men, mainly from a sociopolitical standpoint, to obtain their freedom from them as well.

Speaker 1:

Three other uprisings the first one in 1839, the Amistad mutiny. Many of you saw the movie Amistad, very, very well done. Several years ago in 1839, the Amistad mutiny happened with a ship carrying the Mende people from Sierra Leone leaving Spanish Cuba en route to America, and it's actually overtaken by the Mende people. The historic background to this is that supposedly Importations of slaves had stopped in 1808 and really in 1750, but in 1808 in earnest. And this is 31 years later, three decades up from 1808. And we see, particularly in the dead of night, so that they won't get caught importation still bringing slaves in from Africa, even 210 years up from its inception and of course in earnest it was supposed to end importations. That is in 1750, and so almost a century after it was supposed to have ended, we still see shipments of slaves coming into America. The ship in this case, though, is overtaken by the Mende people, and of course, most historians mark it as the first recorded takeover of a slave ship.

Speaker 1:

In previous deportations, slaves were able to get loose from their chains and jump into the Atlantic in order to keep from coming to America and becoming slaves, but the Mende people, sierra Leone, overtake the Amistad, and it is the first recorded takeover of a slave ship in American history. And more particularly, of course, as importations now are supposed to be illegal, america's own legality gets them in trouble relative to the ruling on these slaves coming in from Sierra Leone and more particularly from Spanish. Cuba extended hearing that the 35 survivors of the Mende people from Sierra Leone had been illegally abducted from Africa. Because importations are now outlawed and the Supreme Court, believe it or not in 1841, really had no choice because it was the law now ordered their return to Sierra Leone forthwith or immediately. It is one of the first instances in which people of African descent got a favorable ruling from a group of white men on a major political decision and in this case economic decision in the courts. And so it was celebrated as a major milestone in American history that, even though slavery is still going on legally, that the Supreme Court made the right decision relative to the Mende people to Sierra Leone forthwith.

Speaker 1:

Their major argument was made by attorney and actually former president John Quincy Adams, who had owned slaves himself but of course had sold the slaves and did a 180 relative to slavery and of course was their most outspoken proponent and their biggest advocate in the courtroom itself, as he did an outstanding job in defending the Mende people in Sierra Leone in their case before the Supreme Court, arguing that their humanity is created by God, just as a white man's humanity, and that in seeing humanity in them, it represents the biggest challenge of European men, and particularly white American men, in terms of how they view not only people of African descent but in light of that, how they view the Slavocracy itself and whether it is congruent with God's will. John Quincy Adams of course argues that it's incongruent with God's will and does an outstanding job in his closing argument. Not only did the Supreme Court rule in favor of the Mende people on the Amistad, but they actually use American tax dollars to finance the trip back to Sierra Leone back to Sierra Leone. And the American government again a precedence here and not only ruling that the slaves were illegally abducted, that the Mende were illegally abducted from Africa, but also to finance their trip back to Sierra Leone. And so that mutiny was not only good for America legally and for slaves, but it also went to show just how far African people were now willing to go in 1839 to secure their freedom and not be readily taken into bondage without a major fight, even a bitter fight to the death. And it's that major fighting, that bitterness relative to bondage, that really began to convince a lot of pro-slavery antagonists to become anti-slavery in their outlook. And they connected that rebellious spirit, that bellicose spirit from black people, not as them being naturally or innately criminal, but more importantly they interpreted as them being children of God who could not stand bondage because they were created in freedom.

Speaker 1:

The second major uprising Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman lived from 1822 to 1913. The Underground Railroad takes place 11 year period from 1849 to 1860. Harriet is a slave that escapes the freedom on September 17th 1849. She's approximately 27, 28 years old and of course escapes to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, of course in the 1840s, early 50s would have the largest community of free African Americans former slaves and of course had houses and bureaus set up by former slaves who were now free to help runaways transition to life as free people in Philadelphia. And of course that's where Harriet took most of her slaves to Philadelphia because she was familiar with the layout and the landscape.

Speaker 1:

She's most famous for leading over 200 slaves to freedom over 15 trips along the Underground Railroad from 1849 to 1860. Made more remarkable with the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 that even enlisted the federal government to capture runaway slaves and returned them to their master. It was a last ditch effort on the part of Southern politicians in Washington to try and maintain slavery. And even with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, harriet made 15 trips along the Underground Railroad and never lost a slave in any of the 15 trips. Of course she said later in her life I freed over 200 slaves, freed them in 15 trips. I could have freed more than those 200. Problem is they didn't know that there were slaves, and so her famous quip in the reconstruction period about the Underground Railroad.

Speaker 1:

It's also important to note that the Underground Railroad was not just Harriet Tubman's baby. It was a multi-racial working of both blacks and whites. Whites that were sympathetic to the antislavery cause, helping to create different routes which made it difficult for slaveholders to capture runaways and bring them back to the plantation. They had routes leading from Florida up the Atlantic seaboard up to Philadelphia, and they had routes leading from rural South Carolina, georgia, north Carolina, up to, of course, philadelphia. They had routes running from the Mississippi area, missouri area, up to Chicago and, of course, up to Wisconsin what would become the Wisconsin with Wisconsin territory, what would become the Wisconsin state of Wisconsin later? And of course they even had a passage from Western New York over into Toronto, canada, from Detroit over into Toronto, canada as well. So it was a very, very complex system, the Underground Railroad, which took decades to create. Some historians said they started building the railroad and the routes as early as 1820, as it begins in earnest in the mid 1840s and into 1850.

Speaker 1:

And so it wasn't just her baby that. It was a coalition of like minded people who decided that slavery was the biggest sin and worked to end it. Harriet also goes on to work for the Union Army in the Civil War as a general in Beaufort, south Carolina, in 1862. And of course becomes one of the major activists in the women's rights movement until her death in 1913. As this begins in earnest in the early 1900s and of course in 1920, we see women being extended the right to vote for the first time in American history. And so seven years up from her death, watching from above, I'm sure she sees women being given the right to vote and sure was smiling from heaven as a result of it.

Speaker 1:

And of course the third major uprising happened in 1859. And of course this is John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, virginia. In this sense John Brown was a white minister, an abolitionist, who worked with black ministers for the abolitionist cause, for the anti-slavery cause. Both black and white people thought that Brown was kind of eccentric. He had an eccentric personality. In fact he had 21 children and had a very eccentric personality and some people were leery. Both black and white were leery of John Brown. But very, very well known. He was critical of the religious approach, approach of white ministers who preached a pro-slavery doctrine. He said that moral suasion sermons do nothing to inspire change. The only thing my people understand, meaning white people is violence. And so he was committed to, like the insurrectionists, he was committed to violent uprising and violent overthrow of the government as we came to know it and understand it. And so John Brown is this white anti-slavery minister.

Speaker 1:

Anti-slavery minister Brown actually led three previous rebellions against pro-slavery proponents in Kansas in 1856, three years earlier. And of course the fight, as I said earlier, was over whether Kansas and other Midwestern states would be slave states or would, whether they would be free states In fact, that's what the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was about as well would be free states. In fact, that's what the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was about as well. It was supposed to be connected to the Compromise of 1850, where those states were understood to be free states and not slave states. And of course it is this debate, this dogged debate, that's going to lead us into, unfortunately, a civil war. And so, because he almost lost his life twice in those previous rebellions in Kansas, brown said, and I quote "'God sees it that my death is imminent'".

Speaker 1:

And so Brown, strategically, in 1859, turns his attention to the South and the federal arsenal, or armory, as we call it, in a day where of course they stockpile weapons at Harpers Ferry Virginia, strategically, because the Harpers Ferry Arsenal Army was one of the largest arsenals in the United States of America, in the United States of America. And so John Brown strategically pinpoints the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, virginia, with which to break in and steal weapons and to arm both black and white men committed to anti-slavery to engage in violent uprising. And so on October 16th through the 18th, this three-day uprising in 1859, brown leads a raid with other slaves, but actually few slaves joined the raid. It consisted mainly of white men and free black men. Very few slaves joined the raid because they thought that Brown was just too good to be true. They thought that Brown was trying to set them up and get them killed. And of course they had good reason to think that, because they had been set up by people before, so many white people coming to them under the guise that they were anti-slavery and not pro-slavery anti-slavery and not pro-slavery and of course set them up for harsh punishment from the slave master once they tried to run away and ran them right into the slave holder and his posse. And so slaves in Virginia were actually leery of Brown and was not quick to jump into this seemingly too good to be true raid on Harpers Ferry, virginia, with the intent of arming slaves for insurrection. And so he was hoping, of course, by stealing these in 1850, 1618 to 59, by stealing these weapons, that he was hoping to start a liberation movement in Virginia and in North Carolina, in both states, because of course those to him were key states, virginia and North Carolina, in terms of turning this tide of slavery. And so he strategically picked Virginia and of course, north Carolina, and so the intent was to seize the armory so that you could arm slaves for insurrection. He actually ends up killing seven army men and injuring 18 union men, unfortunately, but he killed seven and he injures 18. But he killed seven and he injures 18. But you, but within 36 hours most of Brown's men not killed were already were captured by farmers, militiamen and of course the Marines were called in to put down the insurrection. And so it lasted about 36 hours and by October, the 18th 1859, the insurrection had been put down.

Speaker 1:

Now this was different for Brown, namely because he had been successful in the previous insurrections, in 1856. And now he has been caught in this one. He had the inkling that he would be caught. As he said, my death is imminent, as God sees it. And he knew that cracking Harper's Fair would be much tougher than cracking the arsenals and the armories in Kansas. And so, true to his sentiment, he was captured.

Speaker 1:

When he was captured, he was charged number one with treason against the state of Virginia, which is, of course, a crime punishable by death. Unfortunately for him, he was charged with murdering five men. He actually killed seven, but he was charged with killing five and more particularly, as you might suspect, thirdly, he was charged with inciting a slave insurrection. And so, in light of inciting the insurrection, treason against Virginia and murdering five men, john Brown was found guilty on all three counts and was sentenced to hanging, which, of course, was the form of capital punishment in America at that time. In fact, it was the first form of capital punishment and Brown is going to be found guilty on all three counts and executed by hanging on December, the 2nd 1859.

Speaker 1:

But these three insurrections proved invaluable to striking a chord in the pro-slavery community about slavery's physical impact on black people and its moral impact on America and its image throughout the world. You had people willing to take on America and risk all, including, as you see with John Brown here, even death. And we saw also with Harriet Tubman with the Underground Railroad, even though she was not caught and hanged she would have been if she had gotten caught People even willing to risk the life that they do have, because they have now, in their minds, dealing from a divine standpoint, had given over their lives to God for the cause of black liberation, and so this would be used by other countries to criticize America that you call yourself a free country and you have all of these insurrectionist activity, you have these uprisings going on, you even trying to bring in more slaves from Sierra Leone, and yet you talk about these constitutional freedoms that everyone on your soil has, and yet you are engaged, in light of that, in the height of hypocrisy, and you really need to address this issue and you need to address it immediately. In addition to these uprisings, I want to call your attention to the publication of four major works three books and one periodical that went a long way in hammering the moral legitimacy of slavery, and that slavery should end not only on moral grounds, but it should also end on theological grounds.

Speaker 1:

As I mentioned to you in the previous segment we began in 1830, david Walker's appeal to the colored citizens of America, one of the most important literary tracks written in the last 500 years period, let alone as it addressed American racism. A complete sweep of not only contemporary history but of ancient history as well, using those examples and comparing them to America and the way white people treat black people in America. Looking at it from the standpoint of history, looking at it from the standpoint of black bodies even a chapter in there looking at it from, of course, the wretchedness, as he calls it, of humanity in light of Jesus Christ, and so he even devotes a chapter to Jesus himself and how Jesus has been used to justify white supremacy, in contradistinction to the God of liberation that we read about in the Bible. It's a dogmatic work, it's a fest riff. It's a work that I recommend to everyone. It is a manifesto of the highest order, and so if you have a weak stomach, don't read it, but if you do have a strong stomach, please read it. He is relentless in his condemnation of racism, white people, and, of course, in his intellectual sweep of its comparison to other great kingdoms as well, but those that rule in injustice and ultimately led to their decline and demise.

Speaker 1:

William Lloyd Garrison, a white man writing in Boston, an anti-slavery proponent, starts in a periodical called the Liberator, and he would make a contribution in each of these publications when it came out once a month. But he also would issue a call to those who could write, namely his white friends but even black people who could write, to submit an article in defense of the anti-slavery argument and to argue why slavery, from a moral standpoint, should be ended. And so in this liberator organ that he starts, or the liberator in 1831, william Lord Garrison calls for the immediate, not the gradual, emancipation of slaves. And of course this is still 29 years up from the Civil War. And so Garrison is really throwing down the gauntlet of liberation here by referring to his organ as the liberator and, of course, getting multiple contributions from his friends submitting articles attacking the moral and theological legitimacy of slavery.

Speaker 1:

Frederick Douglass and his publication Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglass writes this book and it's unique in the annals of American history, namely because it is the first book written by a slave now an ex-slave about the horrors of slavery he was now an ex-slave about the horrors of slavery. Keep in mind that up until this point, slaves were demanded by slaveholders to lie whenever northerners came down seeing if slavery was as horrific as they heard it was in the north. And slave masters threatened slaves that if you don't tell these people when they come down and ask you about slavery, if you don't tell them that slavery is a good institution, a divine institution, and you love being enslaved, that you're going to meet with his punishment when they leave. And so slaves really had to wear masks, as they say proverbially, and really had to lie to northerners who came down inquiring about slavery.

Speaker 1:

But Douglass was able to escape the slavery, write this book. He was taught how to read and write by his slave master's wife, who just took a liking to him until his slave master found out. But even then Douglass took a little bit of his money as he got a little salary from his slave work and paid white kids to teach him some of the further rudiments of writing and sentence construction, beyond what his slave master's wife taught him, and it led to the publication of this book, not only this one, but my bondage, my freedom as well. And of course, in 1852, on July 5th, what to the slave is the 4th of July, as he makes the distinction between the 4th of July and Independence Day as white people settle it, as white Americans celebrate it over and against black people who are still slaves and don't have a July 4th to call Independence Day, because it's white people's independence and not black people's. Also a great read if you get an opportunity.

Speaker 1:

But this book was the first of its kind because it's written by an ex-slave about slavery, and he does not mince words, not only in terms of his condemnation of slavery, but also in terms of his experiences of slavery, one of which, of course, he was a rebellious slave, particularly as he started to learn to read, and he would say when he became an adult, that knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave. And he became even more rebellious. And what would happen in slavery is that if you were a rebellious slave, your slave master would pack you up and send you to something called a slave breaker nearby plantation, and the slave breakers job was to make you more docile and to have you engaged in merciless work and merciless whippings in order to get you to be more docile, more pious and readily accepting of your enslavement. And, of course, douglas was sent to this slave breaker and he actually ended up getting into a fist fight with this slave breaker, with this slave breaker, and of course he called this slave master and told his slave master to come get him. The slave breaker did, because in that fight Douglas beat him pretty well, which shows you his rebellious nature. And of course, as he's brought back to the plantation of his original slave master he's whipped mercilessly. But it would be one of the one of the one of the last times he is as he escapes to freedom and writes this book in 1845 at 27 years of age. And so it sent a shockwave to those who could read through the nation that these types of atrocities were still going on in plantation life. And in Douglass case he was in Maryland, considered a moderate state racially in reference to slavery, but Douglass showed that Maryland was one of the harshest states, particularly in his experience in the Slavocracy itself.

Speaker 1:

And of course, the other publication, the fourth one, harriet Beecher, stowell's Uncle Tom Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin, written in 1852. This was the the widest selling work in America in the 19th century, believe it or not, other than the Bible, second only to the Bible in sales is read widely. And of course Stowe argues in this book, uncle Tom's Cabin, that that that's told through the life of Uncle Tom, that in essence, Christian love can overcome and should overcome slavery. That if we understand Christian love at its highest essence, then it will compel us to love our fellow human being and not enslave our fellow human being. And, of course, harriet Beecher, her maiden name. She grew up in Connecticut. She was actually a schoolteacher and she grew up in an abolitionist home. Her father and mother worked in abolitionist causes and instilled that in their daughter as well. And she decides to write this book in 1852, condemning slavery and, of course, putting it in novel form through the life of Uncle Tom.

Speaker 1:

Unfortunately, of course, from this book we get the pejorative term Uncle Tom as someone who is pious and readily accepting of their oppression and someone who sees slavery as a moral virtue. But this was not the Uncle Tom she was describing in her book at all, and so unfortunately, that pejorative connotation got attached with this book. But the book was really about Christian love. It was about how to love other people, people who look like you and people who don't look like you, and that if we are committed to Christian faith, that that should not make a difference in how we treat people. And of course it strikes at the core of America's Christian values, particularly from a biblical standpoint, because it refers us back morally to the golden rule Treat others the way in which you would like to be treated. And so it's a simple argument, but a powerful argument with this book, as she chronicles the life of Uncle Tom and his life, his pedestrian life in his cabin and his daily life as he sought to extend Christian love to everyone in in in which he came into contact.

Speaker 1:

And so these four major publications Walker's Appeal, garrison's the Liberator, douglass's narrative and, of course, harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom cabin really went a long way in breaking the back. Cavan really went a long way in breaking the back, morally, of slavery. The pen can be mightier than the sword, and these four authors here prove that the pen can be mightier than the sword and, in light of that, went a long way in ending slavery as we knew it in terms of its widespread appeal and its widespread approval. In many ways the tide was beginning to change in America, and particularly with the interest that northern whites like William Lard Garrison and Harriet Beecher Stowe took in the institution of slavery, it only helped create a greater coalition of anti-slavery antagonists who, whenever they got the opportunity, began to not only speak out but to write publicly about slavery's end that it's antithetical to God's will and that it's really antithetical to America's values, at least constitutionally and at least relative to its declaration of independence, that we have created a country. In essence, that is the diametric opposite of what we had in mind, or what the founding fathers had in mind when they created the country uh, created the country even though they were children of their time, that in many ways we had become even worse than England in oppressing white colonists up to the Revolutionary War. And so, with that argument, slavery began to be looked upon as anti-American, as anti-American and, of course, as a result of these uprisings and because of these publications.

Speaker 1:

It was important for two reasons, these publications and uprisings. Number one America's pushed to the brink and had to decisively address its slave status once and for all, as, as Garrison in the Liberator maintained, he called for the immediate end, not the gradual end, of slavery. And it's in that spirit of immediacy now, not just that it needs to go away 10, 20, 30 years from now, but the immediacy of it pushed America to the brink morally and it had to decisively address its standing as a country that fought for freedom and, of course, is now five or six decades into the United States of America and is still holding slaves. The second result from these uprisings and these publications, this malady in American life, this unwholesome situation in context in American life, politically had to be addressed, that there had to be some type of legislation created to formally end slavery and that it could not wait any longer, that America was getting to a point where the international community and the domestic uprisings and publications were beginning to close in on Washington DC and a decision had to be made definitively and had to be made definitively, not in support of continuing slavery, but a decision had to be made definitively in the way of ending slavery and had to be addressed for right, and that means that it had to be addressed.

Speaker 1:

In the 1860 presidential election, whoever won the 1860 presidential election had to make an unprecedented statement on slavery and had to make that statement in such a way that he backed it up with legislation that would correspond with that statement and move America forward not only in terms of ending slavery but move America forward futuristically, with the other states now being founded beyond the 13 original colonies, that that these states as they are founded couldn't be slave states, that these states being founded had to be couldn't be slave states, that they had to be free states.

Speaker 1:

And as a result of that, we're going to see southern states then begin to secede from the union. As Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States and anticipating some type of anti-slavery legislation, you're going to see southern states succeed from the secede from the union, beginning with our own, south Carolina, on December 20th 1860, just a few weeks after Abraham Lincoln is elected president. It is the first state to secede from the union, the last state to come back. And of course we see the founding in 1861 of the Confederate States of America and they're going to become white political separatists who demarcate themselves morally, theologically, historically, anthropologically from the United States of America on the issue of slavery and it's going to lead us, unfortunately, into civil war. It is to the 1860 presidential election, the Civil War and its aftermath, and the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments that we will turn our attention to in the next segment. Thank you for listening. Good night to all and have a great evening.