Pages 13 continued-21
-In, 1789 following the ratification of the Constitution, Congress expanded its fight to end slavery by passing the Northwest Ordinance
–the Northwest Ordinance established how territories could become States in the new United States
-new states forbade slavery in any of the federal territories then held
-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin all eventually came into the nation as free states
-slave states were dividing their own states to form new slave states from old ones like Kentucky formed out of Virginia, Tennessee from North Carolina
-on the federal level–progress was being made toward ending slavery and achieving full civil rights for black Americans
***In 1792, the Democratic Party was started by Thomas Jefferson (Democratic National Committee)
-the Democratic Party played a huge role in black political history
***in 1808, Congress continued its fight against slavery by abolishing the slave trade
Pg. 14-17 Rev. Absalom Jones
-the 1st black bishop of the Episcopal Church in America
-made a famous sermon commemorating the abolition of the slave trade
-delivered in the famous St. Thomas’ Church
-St. Thomas’ Church was the 1st black church in Philadelphia
-it was built in 1792
-under the leadership of 3 famous leaders: Rev. Absalom Jones, Dr. Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence along with Benjamin Franklin, & co-founder of the first abolition society in America ), and Rev. Richard Allen
Rev. Richard Allen
-a famous black minister who regularly preached at a large white mega-church before starting his famous Bethel Church and birthed the AME denomination
Bishop Jones Sermon in 1808:
-began with a scriptures
Exodus 3: 7-8 “I have seen the affliction of my people and have heard their cry, for I know their sorrows and heard their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them”
-these words are a short account of the circumstances which preceded the deliverance of the children of Israel from their captivity and bondage
-1: affliction consisted in their privation of liberty
-2: in this situation they were not forgotten by the God of their Fathers and the Father of the human race
-3: He came down from heaven in His own person in order to deliver them
Hebrews 13:8 “The God of heaven and earth is the same yesterday, and today, and forever
-He has seen the affliction of our countrymen with an eye of pity
-He has seen the anguish which has taken place when parents have been torn from their children and children from their parents with their hands and feet bound in fetters on board of ships prepared to receive them
-He has seen them exposed for sale like horses and cattle
-He has seen the pangs of separation between members of the same family
-though masters and mistresses have been deaf to their cries and shrieks, they have been heard in Heaven
-the ears of Jehovah have been constantly open to them
-He has heard our prayers that have ascended from the hearts of His people
-just as the Jews, He came down to deliver our suffering countrymen from the hands of their oppressors
-He came down into the Congress of the United States last winter when they passed a law abolishing the slave trade
-we commence this happy day in united thanks
Luke 2: 13-14
-let the song of angels, which was first heard in the air at the birth of our savior
-let us sing psalms unto Him and talk of all His wondrous works
***let the first of January–the day of the abolition of the slave trade in our country–be set apart in every year as a day of public thanksgiving
“The Lord–on the day of which this is the anniversary–abolished the trade which dragged your fathers from their native country and sold them as bondmen in ... .America.”
1808
-very few know that Congress abolished the slave trade
-slavery still had not been abolished in all the states, but moving in the right direction
Pg. 17- The Reversal of 1820
-most of the Founders Fathers were dead
-Thomas Jefferson’s party (the Democratic Party) had become the majority party in Congress
-with the new party in charge a change in congressional policy emerged
-the recall of the 1789 lay prohibited slavery in a federal territory
-the Democratic Congress passed the Missouri Compromise in 1820
Missouri Compromise
-reversed the earlier policy, permitting slavery in almost half of the federal territories
-several states were admitted as slave States
***for the first time since the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, slavery was being officially promoted by congressional policy
-the only way for the Democratic Congress to promote slavery was to ignore the principles in the founding documents
John Quincy Adams
-Founding Father & President
“The first step of the slaveholder to justify by argument the peculiar institutions of slavery, is to deny the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. He denies that all men are created equal. He denies that they have an inalienable right.”
Democrats in Congress
-added pro-slavery laws
1850 Fugitive Slave Law
-law required Northerners to return escaped slaves back into slavery or else pay huge fines
-the law became little more than an excuse for southern slave-hunters to kidnap Free Blacks in the North and carry them into slavery in the South
-if a black was simply accused of being a slave (if free or not) was denied the benefit of both a jury trial and the right of habeas corpus
-blacks had no rights with had been explicitly been given under the Constitution
-northerners warned freed black people and the height of use was the underground railroad
-this las was disastrous for blacks in the north
-the north helped thousands of slaves escape the south all the way out of the United States into Canada
**escape the reach of the Democrats’ Fugitive Slave Law
Pg. 19 1854
-Democrat controlled Congress passed another law strengthening slavery
Kansas-Nebraska Act:
-Democrats in Congress has already expanded the federal territories in which slavery was permitted through their passage of the Missouri Compromise
-this retained a ban on slavery
-Democrats repealed the earlier restrictions to fight to keep slavery so introduced into parts of the new territory where it previously had been forbidden increasing the national area in which slavery would be permitted
-this law led to what was called “bleeding Kansas” where pro-slavery forces came pouring into that previously slave-free territory and began fighting violent battles against the anti-slavery inhabitants of the territory
***this Kansas-Nebraska Territory is not the same area of Kansas and Nebraska as known today
-In 1854, it included part of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota
-Democrats were pushing slavery westward across the nation, coast to coast
Pg. 21 May of 1854
-anti-slavery Democrats in Congress and in other political parties formed a new political party to fight slavery and secure equal civil rights for black Americans
-they called it the Republican Party because “they wanted to return to the principles of freedom and equality set forth in the governing documents of the Republic before pro-slavery member of Congress had perverted those original principles” (Pg. 21).
Charles Sumner:
-U.S. Senator and one of the 1st founders of the new Republican party
-he had taken the seat from the great Daniel Webster
-he had a record of promoting civil rights
-he had championed the desegregation of public schools in Boston which he argued before the State Supreme Court
1856:
-Sumner gave a 2-day long speech in the U.S. Senate against slavery
-after the speech he was beaten unconscious by Democrat Representative: Preston Brooks (South Carolina)
-Brooks was seen as a southern hero and easily re-elected to Congress
-it took 3 ½ years for Sumner to recover
***Sumner returned to the Senate and the 1st speech he delivered was again against slavery