Ruben

= = Gender: Male Profession: General of the Army of the United States. Religion: Methodist Graduated from: West point, class of 1843. Relationship status: married to Julia Dent. Political status: Republican Born: Point Pleasant, Ohio Children: Jesse Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie Grant, Frederick Grant. Hometown: April 27th 1822 Battles fought: Battle of Fort Donelson, Battle of Shiloh, Siege of Vicksburg, Battle of Chattanooga, Overland Campaign, Siege of Petersburg, Appomattox Campaign. Hobbies: Politics, War, Horse riding. Likes/dislikes: Likes fighting for what he thinks is right.Dislikes: Slave holders.

Status updates:


 * 1860**: Abraham Lincoln was elected President, I am not sure if I should trust him fully, but I think that I will hope he tries to abolish slavery.
 * 1859:** Oregon was brought into the United States as a state, This could cause turmoil because some people would like it to be a slave state, and some would like it to be a free state.
 * 1857:** Today a person named Dred Scott filed suit for his freedom. I don’t think that he will win his freedom though, because of the unfairness of our country.
 * 1856**: James Buchanan was elected President, I hope he makes some good decisions for this country and Attempts to abolish slavery, or at least make more free states.
 * 1855**: Frederick Douglass published his autobiography. His autobiography was called “ My Bondage and My Freedom.”
 * 1854:** the Bleeding Kansas civil war started. This small civil war was between the free states, and the slave states.
 * 1852**: Today a compromise to the Fugitive slave law was proposed by Senator Charles Summer, I am hopefully that it gets accepted.
 * 1852**: Franklin Pierce was elected President today. This is a great shame because he is a democrat, and might try to create more slave states. I feel as though more slave states would make this country so much worse.
 * 1850**: the compromise of 1850 was passed today. It made a stricter fugitive slave law and made California a free state. It also made the territories of Utah and New Mexico so that there would be a vote to decide weather there was slave trade or not. Slave trade, but not slave ownership was abolished in Washington DC.
 * 1850**: President Taylor died today, and the Vice president took over. I do not think that he will be as forceful, or make as much of a change as Taylor would have, but i think that he could improve our country a small amount.



Note #1. May 2nd 1860. I have decided to rite this letter on slavery, seeing as we might be on the brink of a civil war. Slavery is one of the main causes of this war, along with money and the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Slavery is one of the most terrible things that you could do to another person. Slavery is practiced mostly by people in the south. Slavery has actually been outlawed in all of the northern states. The outlawing of slavery in northern states was one of the best things that I could have hoped for. Without slavery in these states, life is much better because we are starting to live more closely to the Constitution. If the southerners would outlaw slavery, we could live even more closely to the ideals found in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, instead of being split down the middle.

Although I (along with many other northerners) think that slavery should be outlawed in the southern states, the southerners are not willing to budge. They are too attached to slavery in the south; we need to end slavery all together. Slavery only exists now because of the stubbornness of the people who condone, and practice slavery. Slavery is something that only the power hungry, and money hungry would come up with and care about more than the unity of their country. The southerners will probably not give up their slave-holding ways anytime soon because they are way to attached and used to it. There is a possibility of a war because of the southerners not wanting to give up slavery, even though it is against the Constitution and dehumanizes the slaves. If there is a war between the South and the North I think that I will volunteer for the army. I enjoy fighting for my rights, and think that slavery is one of the worst things in our time period.

Note #2. I saw Frederick Douglass speak a few days ago. His speech was so inspiring to me that it made me think about how bad slavery was. I just stood there, thinking about how this man who was so powerful with words, and so captivating had once been a slave. I thought about how much he had been affected by slavery, and how this cruelty had made him into a great and inspiring man today. Frederick Douglass talked about what it was like when he was in slavery. His stories about slavery probably impacted me the most. He also talked about his feelings for slavery being abolished. Douglass talked about how the Missouri Compromise caused slaveholders to become more angered about the land from the Louisiana Purchase going to more free states. Frederick also talked about the Fugitive Slave Law or 1850, and how unfair that it was that if a slave escaped and was caught, the person who got him was obligated to return them to their owner; even in a free state. One quote that got to me in particular is “I could, as a free man, look across the bay toward the eastern shore where I was born a slave.” This quote really got to me because I realized that now we don’t have to worry about the slaves on the other side of that bay. Frederick said that he could have seen where he was born a slave, which is important because he was one of the first slaves to illuminate this to the abolitionist world from his point of view. This quote, along with others of his, and quotes of other escaped slaves helped us to win the Civil War and abolish slavery. In my opinion Frederick Douglass was the most influential escaped slave who gave speeches because of his extreme power with words and all of the experiences that he has.

Note #3 November 29th, 1860. I have decided to write this journal about the instances of resistance to that horrid thing called slavery. There have been more and more slaves uprisings lately; I hope these will continue and lead to the end of slavery. One instance that I have heard much about is the maroons. Maroons are usually bands of slaves that have escaped and make a culture in woods or swamps and join together with Native Americans tribes, such as the Seminoles. Many maroon cultures joined together with Native Americans because it scared the slaveholders. Many slaveholders tried to pit the Native Americans against maroons because it would benefit their slavery. In this culture they try to help other slaves get free, or away from slavery. It is incredibly hard for slaves to escape so I think that the maroons are doing a very good thing by helping other slaves escape. The maroons know what it was like to be a slave and then to escape so they are the best people to help other slaves escape and not get caught. Many slaves that were helped by the maroons help other slaves escape, and then they join the maroons. There are many societies of maroons across the south and I hope that more start showing up.

Another example of slave resistance are runaway slaves that became abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was a slave until he escaped to Philadelphia. I went to see Frederick speak once and it was incredible. He has such a power with words that it is almost unbelievable that he was once a slave. Douglass is educating people about how bad slavery is, and why it needs to be abolished. Douglass is impacting the course of slavery so much because of his strength with words. Douglass speaks mostly to abolitionists, but sometimes other people hear him. In my opinion the people that hear his speeches that are abolitionists get impacted the most.

A group very active in the cause of abolition that everyone knows about are the Quakers. The Quakers are a religious group that contains peace in their religion, so they do not believe that slavery is right. The Quakers made a Petition in 1688. The petition was called The Germantown Petition, It was how they wanted to abolish slavery and get African Americans freedom. Quakers have put a lot of work into freeing slaves, and helping our side of slavery. Although many Quakers are not able to provide help for slaves escaping directly, they will offer up their homes to refuge recently escaped slaves or try to find somewhere else that they can stay.

Bibliography: Pinzler, Andrew. //The Fieldston School United States History Survey//. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar 2010. .

Thomas, Sandra. "Frederick Douglass." //Abolitionist/Editor//. Evisum Inc.TM, n.d. Web. 18 Mar 2010. .

"Ulysses S. Grant." //28th President of the United States 18th under the US Constitution//. Evisum Inc.TM, n.d. Web. 17 Mar 2010. . Photos: [] [] [] [] [] [] [|http://haysvillelibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/ulysses-s-grant-1.jpg] [] [|https://myrtlebeachflag.com/images/unioncw.jpghttp://cockingasnook.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/confederate_flag.jpg] [] [|http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/siege-vicksburg/siege- vicksburg_Picture3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/siege-vicksburg.htm&usg=__O9EeDdv0en4v16t3g28FqCsByU8=&h=351&w=443&sz=41&hl=en&start=1&sig2=uNcHgV7PUiPub4gt_jDySw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=xEwhlAxupYFNNM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsiege%2Bof%2Bvicksburg%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=lLyoS-GEGoSclgf2vPXWAw]