Causes of the Civil War

        Because many of the amendments, trials, and milestones in civil rights history date back to the case of Dred Scott v Sandford, one of the turning points in our country’s history was the case of Dred Scott v Sandford. This was one of the cases that occurred prior to the civil war. In a recent short documentary on causes of the civil war, there were details on the emphasis of the ill treatment of slaves. A starting point is the living conditions and the environment in which the slaves found themselves in on a day-to- day basis. They would sleep on cold, damp floors and they’d wear the same clothes every day that had to be washed on their own by hand at the end of each day.
        Slaves of all ages were beaten by whips, from young children to adult women who were pregnant. Fredrick Douglas was a powerful voice against slavery, especially in his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave”; in which he talks about the daily tasks that he took on and his journey to gaining freedom. In 1800s, there were free African Americans (bought out by relatives, released out of consciousness by slave owners, escaped slaves). Free blacks worked several manual labor jobs, and in fact there were black doctors and lawyers in free states. These free blacks would congregate in similar parts of a town and form communities for those who looked like them. This created the roots from which the modern black community is based from.
        Eventually, tension built and more slaves wanted this type of freedom that felt out of reach for them. Instead of going around their slave owners and escaping, some decided to go through them. The Nat turner revolt (in Southampton County, Virginia) was a mass rebellion led by slaves who wanted to fight for their freedom. Another ground-shaking event in history was the “1811 Louisiana Slave Rebellion”, also known as the “Charles Deslondes Revolt” took place and is regarded as the “largest slave revolt in American history”. After these events, slave owners increased plantation security and slave owners went to bed with fear on their hearts in minds.

image:“Deslonde Revolt 1811” zinnedproject.org