Slavery

Students will research and write an original paper four to five pages in length in the following format – double spaced, 12 point font, 1.25 inch margins.

Sources for your paper:

Students may use secondary sources (books and journal articles) but you must also use at least three primary sources from the class website, or another approved source.

Citations:
Students must use proper citations as per The Chicago Manual of Style or A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, by Kate L. Turabian. The paper must include a Works Cited page.

Themes for your paper:

You may consider one of the following ideas for your paper or choose one of your own, with the professor’s approval.

From the beginning of British settlement in 1607, America was conceived as a place where people could find or regain their liberty. Liberty may be conceived as political, economic or religious. In your opinion did people find liberty in America, did they lose liberty, or did they find something in between?

Political liberty – You might consider political liberty for the nation as a whole, from American independence to the Civil War, or perhaps political liberty on an individual basis in terms of participation in the political process. What events were most important to making participation in American political life the very basis of liberty from the colonial era to the Civil War?

Economic liberty – Consider Thomas Jefferson’s concept of America as a nation of independent farmers whose political liberty was based upon their self-sufficiency. Did Jefferson’s vision for America become reality or did something else develop?

Slavery – Slavery was both an economic and a social institution in America before the Civil War. Although slavery denied the most basic liberty to many, slave owners considered the right to own slaves an important part of their own liberty. How did slavery either support of refute the concept of liberty in America? How did Americans reconcile this contradiction? You may consider the first use of slavery in Virginia in 1619 up to the Civil War.

Religious Liberty – The Puritans in Massachusetts, led by John Winthrop, and the Quakers led by William Penn had different concepts of religious liberty. Explain how each conceived of religious liberty and what it meant for the development of their respective colonies, and how it affected America’s concept of religious liberty. Or, explore how government has protected or limited religious liberty in America, using state and federal constitutions such as the Pennsylvania Constitution, Virginia Constitution and the United States Constitution.