By: Aarav Agarwal
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Essential Questions
A1 - How do citizens, civic ideals and government institutions interact to balance the needs of individuals and the common good?
Many citizens and free African Americans interacted and set up a system with set routes and safe houses with food and clothes to set slaves free. This helped the common good and let the slaves be individuals with rights, promoting equality.
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The government of the Confederate states interacted as an antagonist, being pro-slavery. They passed the Fugitive Slave Act to keep things the way they were and prevent slaves from ever being free. The government's actions were to sustain the economy, as it had always been sustained by plantations, with the owners having all the power over their slaves.
A2 - How have economic, political and cultural decisions promoted or prevented the growth of personal freedom, individual responsibility, equality and respect for human dignity?
Slavery was thought of as just by the south, and this prevented African Americans from having any of the rights others had. They weren't thought of as people. The government of the Confederate States was pro-slavery and had passed the Jim-Crow laws.
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The Underground Railroad helped to give former slaves equality and dignity. It had also helped people in the north to be more sympathetic towards slaves and see what they had to go through. The underground Railroad had also inspired works of literature, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, which helped more people to see the injustice going on with slaves.
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