It is hard to pinpoint the exact beginnings of slavery in the United States. It is known, for example, that the Native Indians practised some forms of slavery in small minorities. However the Atlantic Slave Trade, begun in the late 1500s

What is Slavery? Slavery, simply defined means 'the state of a person who is a chattel of another'. But slavery is much more than this. It is the basic denial of human rights, the oppression of one person due to another, an 'inhumane form of legalised inequality'. In America, Africans had suffered this inhumanity for centuries, under the coercion of white Americans. They were forced to work on the Southern plantations, harvesting crops such as cotton, for little or no pay, without any basic rights. Families were torn apart, slaves were regularly beaten and killed; but regardless of this cruelty, slaves still managed to harvest a life for themselves, constructing their own culture - music, religion, songs. It was not until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 that slavery was finally on its way to extinction in America. It is hard to pinpoint the exact beginnings of slavery in the United States. It is known, for example, that the Native Indians practised some forms of slavery in small minorities. However the Atlantic Slave Trade, begun in the late 1500s in England, was responsible for the large-scale importing of slaves into America; slaves who for generations to come would be integral to the economy of the South and who would divide and segregate the country. The Atlantic Slave Trade worked on a basic principle, collecting and enslaving people from Africa and forcing them

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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"How Did The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 lead to the Secession of the Confederate States?"

"How Did The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 lead to the Secession of the Confederate States?" In the American Constitution, every four years, the electorate of the United States chooses a new Chief Executive. In 1860, the regular election of the President tore a tense nation in two. A regional candidate swept the election, causing Southern states effective disfranchisement. The heritage of 1776 and 1789 propelled the nation on a different course, as secessionists and Unionists turned to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in order to defend their position. The secessionists argued that the concept of voluntary rule in the Constitution allowed states to opt out of the compact, while Unionists saw the Constitution as an instrument to form a "more perfect Union," a union that predated the Constitution. According to Lincoln, the Civil War was a fight for constitutional government, for if law and order were disobeyed anarchy would result. Therefore, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 can be perceived as a 'turning point' and catalyst for the American Civil War. This is because to state that only the election of Abraham Lincoln led to secession would be incorrect and too simplistic. Bruce Collins in the "Origins of America's Civil War" argues that the war was too complex for there to be only one factor. Instead, the South (which was known as the

  • Word count: 2877
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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JFK assassination - different theories and the evidence.

JFK Essay The warren report was inaccurate in its findings that that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman and killer of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States. Stunned into silence, time ceased, history awakened, a malevolent cruel execution was evoked on November 22, 1963 upon John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. His motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza where it unleashed an eminence of vulnerability, threat and pandemonium, a turbulence of desperation contaminated the nation and all of mankind. This charismatic leader dedicated his life to politics and to the concepts of reasoned argument and placid political modification, this personality was identified internationally, the media divulged into the tragedy across all networks and audio stations throughout the world, as the dismay engulfed within humankind. The turmoil of Kennedy's assassination promoted an abundance of questions and inquires with who committed the inhumane crime? Why were there so many inaccurate findings with the lone gunman theory? Where and how many shots were ejected? Why didn't the secret service men analyse the location for any abnormalities or deviations? The Warren Commission was formulated on November 29, 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson 36th President of the United States appointed a panel of inquiry, chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren to

  • Word count: 2857
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Roosevelt(TM)s aims of relief, recovery and reform 1933-1945

How effective was the Roosevelt Administration in bringing relief and recovery to the USA in the period 1933 and 1945? During Roosevelt's Presidency his main aims was to bring relief, recovery and reform to America. Roosevelt done this by setting up a number of Alphabet Agencies to tackle the problems America had faced during the Depression from 1933-35, these were unemployment, industry, and farming etc. In this essay I aim to explore how effective Roosevelt was in bringing relief and recovery to America during the period 1933 and 1945. Roosevelt's aims of relief, recovery and reform can all be used to access the New Deal. However they are not completely separate; the measures can overlap in many different areas this can be explained by the 'priming the pump effect' this is where agencies were giving workers jobs which meant wages, which meant money to spend, by spending this money the demand for goods from factories would increase which, in turn would create more jobs. This one example of where relief and recovery overlap. Roosevelt's biggest concern was the collapse of the American banking system; he had to ensure that the banks were secure and that the people of America had confidence in the banking system to enable relief and recovery to begin; if the banking system is unreliable then people will not put their money into the banks so therefore America will not be

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Examine the life styles and views that slaves possessed during slavery and what life was like for them after gaining their freedom.

Throughout the history of world there have been many documented cases of oppression and violence that one country or one race has forces upon another. Although the notion of slavery is thought to be gone from today's world, there are still numerous countries that force individuals to work against their will for little or no rewards. A massive area to studying and view slavery took place in the United States from the early seventieth century up to the American civil war, which ended slavery, in the middle nineteenth century. The driving force behind slavery was the demand for cheap labour, and the slave owners and slave traders were determined to obtain it. The exploitation of their slaves, which were to be from Africa, was a huge business throughout North America. The business that was so profitable for the slave owners and slave traders played havoc for the slaves from Africa as families were divided and relationships were broken. After slavery was abolished it was not easily forgotten and the discrimination of the black population would stop in some areas of the United States. The hate and anger from oppressing white minority would continue and would expand into different areas and social groups well to present day. With information taken from Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and a narrative Memories of Childhood's Slavery Days written by Annie

  • Word count: 2794
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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To What extent had the New Deal been successful in overcoming the Depression in the United States by 1941?

To What extent had the New Deal been successful in overcoming the Depression in the United States by 1941? The Great Depression was a catastrophic phenomenon in which America faced during 1929-1941. It had caused unprecedented hardships to businesses, workers, farmers and ethnic minorities. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the slew of the stock market meltdown characterised by bank closures, depositors lost their monies, farm lands were auctioned, and 25% of working force were unemployed. Prior to the stock market crash, symptoms of economic disaster were showing such as gross imbalance in wealth distribution (0.1% of the population earned 42% of the income of the masses), excessive production of goods, natural calamities known as dust bowls hit farm lands, etc. By now, disappointment of the American people on Herbert Hoover's "laissez-faire" governmental approach to reverse the crisis was escalating. In the 1932 November election, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a landslide victory and therefore officially became President on early March 1933. "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people." Roosevelt informed the convention in his acceptance speech. The New Deal was a suite of economic and social programs and legislation initiated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of USA (1933-1945), in hope to solve the economical crisis

  • Word count: 2789
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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US History - the life of Henry Ford

Ben Glime pg.1 Mr. Fowler American History8th 9 February 2011 Henry Ford didn’t invent the first car, but however he did create the assembly line. Which we still use today. Ford was the first to mass produce cars and be successful. He based his business on three fundamentals: low prices for the consumer, increased productivity, and better working conditions for the laborer. In order to maintain a high rate of productivity. Henry Ford is important because he created the moving assembly line. ‘He received a job with the Detroit Edison Company, and by 1891, advanced to the position of chief engineer. Ford loved this job because it allowed him to experiment with steam and combustion engines and innovate on other inventions. Ford built a gasoline engine in 1893 and his first car, dubbed the “Quadricycle” in 1896’. Henry Ford was born on July 30,1863 and died in April 7,1947. Ford was born and raised on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan. His mother and farther were Mary Litogot Ford and William Ford (1826–1905). ‘Ford was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children’. When Ford was older he became an apprentice at a work shop in Detroit fixing watches. In the year of In the year of 1888 his father gave him a

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Thomas Jefferson(TM)s Views about Black Inferiority

Project Paper: Thomas Jefferson's Views about Black Inferiority Thomas Jefferson penned many stirring tributes to human equality including the introduction to the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." However, slavery was vital to every aspect of Jefferson's life. When he drafted the Declaration he owned more than 180 slaves. By 1822 Jefferson owned 267 slaves. (Dershowitz 124) Jefferson didn't free most of his slaves during his lifetime, nor did he provide for any general emancipation in his will. Jefferson bought, bred, flogged his slaves and hunted down fugitives in much the same way his fellow Virginia planers did. Jefferson's life and words reflect the moral contradictions and practical concerns facing the founders of the new democracy that extolled freedom and equality. All of Jefferson's actions or lack thereof were inherently racist and helped form an ideology designed to justify the unjust treatment of the subordinate group for the purpose of exploiting its labor power. Although Jefferson may have been torn in opinion regarding issues dealing with people of color, his inability to ever take a leading stance ultimately illustrated how he viewed blacks as inferior and was unable to significantly help change the situation for blacks at that time. Jefferson clearly expropriated and exploited the

  • Word count: 2761
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman who not only defined the position of first lady of the United States but also established herself as a feminine political icon. She won much of her respect as the first lady of the United States, but Eleanor Roosevelt also gained a lot of her international esteem as a civil rights activist long before her husband's arrival in the White House. Eleanor's interest in politics coincided with her husband's career in politics as she was very involved in every aspect of his public life from the very beginning, but her realization of that political interest was not apparent to her until later on, when Franklin Roosevelt was named to the Democratic ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. Early on in their careers, while Franklin Roosevelt was becoming governor of New York she was instrumental in campaigning for him all the while advancing her own political career, and once she became first lady, it was already apparent that she had made a political name for herself as well as for her husband. Eleanor's background in politics goes back to her Uncle Teddy Roosevelt who was once the President of the U.S. Eleanor married a young amiable Harvard student by the name of Franklin Roosevelt. But soon Franklin became bored with Business Law and Eleanor pushed him to go into politics. Aided by a Democratic landslide and his

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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The Great Depression, causes and effects.

“The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world” (The Great Depression-History.com 2012). The great depression is said to have begun after the First World War, It was a time of hardship and uncertainty. Although the great depression began in the United States it spread throughout the globe and affected almost every country. It brought about drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and serious deflation. Many countries such as Britain, Germany and France came out of the war with large debts to pay, this was due to the fact that they had been borrowing from The United States of America, after its entrance into financial crisis the rest of the countries depending on its financing would inevitably enter down turn and face similar crisis. World War 1 also left many industrialized countries weak and in large debts, they needed to finance the rebuilding of their economies and industries that were damaged during the war, this made it harder for them to recover. There are a number of explanations to as what brought about the great depression in 1929. These are structural and monetary weaknesses as well as a number of specific events that enhanced the effects from one country to another and eventually to all major industrialized countries. What Caused the great depression? The

  • Word count: 2652
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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