They were able to free themselves from their chains and take hold of the ship that was supposed to bring them to the New World. ... It is important to note that the time that Cinque and his men arrived in America was years after the American Revolution, which was fought by the Americans against the British. The main goal of this revolution was to gain freedom, to have a free state. ... People like the 8th president of the United states, Martin Van Bueren, it was to his convenience that he would allow slavery to be tolerated, for even U.S Secretary of State John Forsyth was threatening him...

• Word Count: 1023
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, he voices his opinions on slavery. ... He leaves notes for Harriet, which are violating and deceiving. ... Continuing with Harriet's story, she requests to marry a free black man. ...

• Word Count: 1085
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Another episode that certainly affected Douglass struggle to be free was his Fight with the slave-breaker Edward Covey. Chesnutt notes that "Douglass was not the ideal slave garnered by the meek and lowly spirit of Uncle Tom" and his insubordinate attitude toward Thomas Auld got him into Covey's hands. ... Some of these are new archival materials, but the editor here was able to locate most of them and make use of the material found in the end notes following each chapter. ...

• Word Count: 913
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

For some, it was a war to free the slaves "for others, it was a matter of patriotism under the fist of tyranny. ... But the idea of freeing blacks is not breached in that discussion-- in fact, prior to his admission, Sherman denounces the view that his brother, John, would ever sympathize with abolitionists in his political campaign. ... The truth of the issue stands that before the war, no one except radical abolitionists wanted to free the slaves. ... "There were a good many citizens," Sherman notes, "who contended that, if civil authorities were properly sustained . . . they could...

• Word Count: 1193
• Approx Pages: 5

Stevens also advocated his Reconstruction plan in his speech, which he believed that the former lands of plantation owners should be divided and sold to the newly freed-men in order to achieve the real purpose of Reconstruction. Even though the Republican Party was only a decade old, they benefited from the Civil War as veterans; they sought to have a strong support from the North and the newly-freed men from South. ... Georges Clemenceau, a French journalist who covered the Reconstruction, wrote about the legislative branch in his notes, "Contrary to all that has happened, is happening, and...

• Word Count: 1062
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate