Uncle Tom's Cabin: Historian Point of View

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe who was anti-slavery. The book was published in different series from June 5, 1851 through April 1, 1852.      http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/utc/   It was in a weekly newspaper called National Era that was home-based in Washington, D.C. The newspaper where Uncle Tom’s Cabin was being published was anti-slavery. In 1852, the book was broken up into two volumes to what we know as Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  During this time period, there were many events that were taking place. One of the main historical events was the Civil War. The war was being fought by the Confederate States of America and the Union. This is a reenactment video how the war was portrayed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDxrB9-7tHY  In this year, Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President and he was able to abolish slavery.

Historically, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was influenced by different slave narratives describing how they were living.  Ms. Stowe wanted everyone that she knew to write down what was going on in their life regarding how it felt to be a slave.  She felt that if they wrote the narratives, it would give “ first hand accounts as she composed her story." http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/utc/ The information that was being written made a connection historically.  It gave an image to what some, or most slaves were going through at this specific time frame.  The importance of the text is to illustrate that some slaves found it hard, “to cope with separation by masters through sale." http://www.ushistory.org/us/27b.asp  It makes the historical connection better to understand for those who have not gotten the concept of slavery.

Working six days out of the week, slaves worked from sunrise to sunset in harsh weather.  Depending on some slave owners, “work for a small farm owner who was not doing well could mean not being fed.” http://www.ushistory.org/us/27b.asp The food that the slaves ate would be the leftover food that their owners did not eat. Sometimes it would be worse when they would get slop. Housing conditions for many of the slaves were deplorable. They lived in shacks and had nothing except the cold, hard ground to sleep on.  The slaves would sing gospel hymns while they worked in the fields.  Here is a link of what slaves would sing in the fields and the explanation of why they would sing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ejJPp8wdU It does not give any information on what slaves wore, but from different visual accounts it shows that they wore rags. It emphasizes that what has happened in the past has made a huge outcome on today’s culture and history.

Writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin opened the eyes of many people who could not understand the concept of slavery. It is shaped by history and time, because in 1852 this was the norm for slaves. The book illustrated that at this time, culturally it was safe to say that many blacks in the south were slaves and there was hardly any way of getting out. In the text, some slaves were not happy leaving their owners and would break down if they were sold off. Based on information in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, if it was written in 2012, there would still not be that much of a difference. Slavery is still going on today not just in African Americans, but in other ethnicities. The book would still have the concept of what the slaves would go through and it might just connect it to this day and time. Although, not a lot of the text would change it would just bring into light what other countries and what America is doing about slavery. It is still a sign of racism and it still goes on as we speak here today.  Not only would the effects of slavery be written the same, it would explain that for many people it, “continues to exert its brutal influence in the untold sufferings of millions of everyday folk.” http://library.thinkquest.org/26477/usa3.htm  Not only would writing at a different place and time keep some accounts the same, it would open up new untold stories about what people are going through in the midst of slavery as we speak. 

Was Washington Irving an Adventurous Man?

Yes, I was born an ill child, but that did not stop me from being adventurous in my younger years to older years.  Born in New York on April 3, 1783 I knew I was put on this earth for a purpose. Knowing that I was, “eleventh child born to emigrants Sarah Sanders and William Irving, deacon and successful merchant”http://www.online-literature.com/irving/ I would be giving back to the ones who might not have as much as I did growing up.  I knew I was special because there was the feeling of adventure that would boil in my blood. I would sneak out and go see different plays and wander the streets at night thinking about places I could visit. All of my imagination steamed from the books that I loved by Daniel Defoe. 

Getting older I would become sick on and off but that did not stop me from seeing the world and traveling.  Although, the trip that I took was for my lung alignment in 1804 to a spa in Bordeaux, France I was still able to relax and enjoy the travel. Within the next two years I see new horizons with me having “travelled through many countries in Europe including France, the Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, Wales, and England”http://www.online-literature.com/irving/.  Traveling to these different countries made me love the art, theatre and operas in their culture.  In 1806, I was sad to leave my travels but had to return back to America.

It was hard to leave, but I returned back in 1815 to visit my brother and that lasted for the next seventeen years of my life. I was still able to travel which I love to do while trying to do a business venture with my brother.  Although that failed it gave me insight to start back writing again to receive a little bit of income.  My adventures gave me the energy to write and I wrote two of my most famous writings "Rip van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".   I became very sickly but that did not stop me from putting my pen down and telling stories that I felt were interesting.  Returning to I America my life would end with me being surrounded by my loves ones and relatives. 

 Here are is a clip from one of his famous writings Rip Van Winkle while on his adventure through England...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62tCuJKfSJU 

Was Frederick Douglass Writings Influential?

Born into slavery Frederick Baily will be one of the most influential Abolitionists in both the past and future time with his writing.  Known to everybody as Frederick Douglass he was considered a leader too many slaves during his era. During this time slaves were not able to read and write, but Douglass was one of the few who did.  Becoming a leader to some of the slaves his master William Freeland was able to let him, “secretly organized a Sunday school, where he taught other slaves to read.”http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/frederick_douglass.html  This experience to Douglass was one of the best contributions to slavery at this time.  

Reading and writing was something that Frederick Douglass loved to do and that is what made his autobiographies and speeches interesting to read and listen too. Since he was able to do both reading and writing he was able to express the needs that could clarify different assumptions about who he was.  In one of his autobiography Narrative of the Life of an American Slave he was able to express different events that happen on the plantations where he was living in numerous occasions. Douglass in his writing was able to illustrate events that happen for example; “I would crawl into this bag, and there sleep on the cold, damp, clay floor, with my head in and feet out.”http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/f-douglas/Narrative-Douglass.pdf It just shows that he is very thoughtful when he writes so that he is able to draw you the picture in his head.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery but was able to get out of his slavery and be an educated man to teach and tell his story. Not only has his writing and reading helped him, but it has also touched people in many ways. In this cliphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKYrCDCVMgU from his famous speech "What to the Slave is your Fourth of July?” he is expressing his feeling why he has been called to speak on independence.  Not only does this give insight it again shows that his writing is influential of all different races, colors and creeds.  

Who was King Philip?

I was born in the year 1638 either in the Massachusetts area or Rhode Island, but I really cannot say.  I am the second son of Chief Massaoit many may know me as Metacomet and Philip of Pokanoket and the leader of Wampanoag Confederacy in 1662. I married my lovely Indian wife Wootonekanuske who was born in Pocasset, Massachusetts.  Together we have made a family having several sons and daughters who people cannot seem to know the actual amount that my wife and I had.  It was a rough year when I had to bury my son on April 1, 1671 and when my wife and other 9 year old son were captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies. One event that I say that I am proud of is that my daughter Lucy managed to get away to Canada. Once my fathered died in 1661 and my oldest brother in 1662 I became “chief of the Wampanoag Confederacy as Wamsutta was laid to rest.”http://www.westbrookfield.org/kingp-bio.htm I have seen so many disease take ahold of my father and brother and it was so unreal that that several things had to be questioned as to “if not intentionally poisoned as the Indians believed, at least from disease contracted when Wamsutta was summoned before colonist officials for questioning.”http://www.westbrookfield.org/kingp-bio.htm

While being the new Chief of the Wampanoag tribe it was a little uneasy because there were rumors that had been circulating around. Two of my men were put on to trail for the murder on John Sassamon.   The trial was held and they found my men to be guilty and on June 8, 1675 the men executed.  With all of the turmoil that was going on between the English and my tribe what came into existence was known as King Philip’s War. Here is a link that will better help explain the war and how it became to be. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qTqdxP2qVo  The War began June 1675 with us attacking the English settlers first. With the War ending in August of 1676, food was becoming scares so many of my relatives, my wife, son and I returned back to New Hope.  Once the War was over the aftermath was that, “Members of the Wampanoag, Nipmuc and Narragansett tribes were gathered and sold into slavery. Those who escaped fled from tribe to tribe as each in turn was destroyed”http://www.westbrookfield.org/kingp-bio.htm

Did Benjamin Franklin make Thomas Paine Successful?

Thomas Paine was born 1737, in England where he lived with his father.  Around the age of nineteen Paine started to become rebellious and made him an outcast of England. Paine was an outcast and he stood up for what he felt was right, that caught the attention of Benjamin Franklin while the both were in London. Being impressed by the ideas that Paine expressed Franklin called him an “ingenious worthy young man,”http://www.clio.k12.mi.us/user/rmclinch/chpt6ThomasPaineHistMakers.pdf and felt the need that he should come to America. Coming to America Paine was in good hands and was able to pick up a job at Pennsylvania Magazine with the help of Benjamin Franklin writing letters to numerous people.  Writing in the Pennsylvania Magazine jump started his career as being one of the most influential journalists in America.  Paine would go on to write about issues that were being faced at that point and time.  In writing one of his influential pieces, “Common Sense,” caught the attention of General George Washington.  George Washington felt as though Thomas Paine’s article is, “working a powerful change in the minds of many men.” http://www.clio.k12.mi.us/user/rmclinch/chpt6ThomasPaineHistMakers.pdf In reading just that quote, it entails that Paine is making a difference in the army and America as a whole in a positive way.  Not only did George Washington feel the need that it was good for himself, but he wanted all of his soldiers to hear what Paine had to say in his pamphlet out loud.

As you can see if it was not for Benjamin Franklin where would Thomas Paine be today in history or would he still have been in the public eye for his rebelliousness? By reading the article, Benjamin Franklin was the one that started Paine’s career by meeting him in London. Discovering his uncanny since of intelligence, Paine stood out from others that Franklin might have seen or heard of before. Bringing him from England to America, it shows the Franklin had a part of Paine being successful and becoming one of the Four Fathers in our time.

Preaching In Puritan Times

              

  During the Puritans Era preaching was considered their type of entertainment.  In an article by Joseph Steele he explains that there are different ways which sets puritans preaching from others.  The first ways was grammar in the Puritans preaching. In the text the puritans, “viewed Scripture as God speaking to them as their Father, giving them the truth they could trust for all eternity"(Steele 1). http://www.reformation21.org/articles/a-classical-analysis-of-puritan-preaching.php Their Bible was what they slept, ate and breathed every day because the words that were coming off of the page were near and dear to their hearts.  The second way is dialect of how the preacher would convey his sermon to the audience of listeners. Puritans like for the sermon that is being taught to them to be well understood. If it is understood then they are able to apply what they have learned to everyday life.  The finally stage about Puritan preaching is rhetoric. This stage shows that what the pastor has written for the congregation were it was supposed to be. It did not matter about the length of time of the sermon; it mattered on the material that would be taught.http://www.reformation21.org/articles/a-classical-analysis-of-puritan-preaching.php

                As for Jonathan Edwards many people including myself feel as though his sermons were kind of scary but at the end of the sermon, you would be able to understand the point that he was trying to get across. In his sermon “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” portrayed his passion for the love of preaching.  From the reading and listening to the sermon he repeated a lot of the concepts over again so that you would be able to comprehend what he was saying.  Also, in that sermon it made you a little scared to know that if you are a sinner what can happen to you. Jonathan Edwards made you open your eyes to the world in today’s time and in past time. Connecting Steele's article to what we know about Jonathan Edwards, you are able to see that he may have used all three different steps in Puritan preaching.

 "Jonathan Edwards' - Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Listener's Audio Bible with Max McLean. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <https://www.listenersbible.com/products/mp3-downloads/famous-sermons-speeches/jonathan-edwards-sinners-in-the-hands-of-angry-god?cPath=3>.

Who is Anne Bradstreet?

Having a love for poetry and writing, Anne Bradstreet has taken the title as being the first American woman poet. Born in the year 1612 in Northampton, England, she was the loving daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke.  Being the tender age of 16 she married her father’s assistant Simon Bradstreet who was 25 years of age. http://www.annebradstreet.com/anne_bradstreet_bio_002.htm Within the next two years the two of them and her parents moved to America in 1630 with a Puritan group settling down in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  After settling down for a few years, Bradstreet and her husband brought in the world eight beautiful children that they cared for the deeply. The text mentions in the text she was considered a religious person and loved Christ with all her heart and that came to help her write some of her poetry.

As for Bradstreet’s writings, she never shared any of it publicly because they were near and dear to her heart. If she were to share them it would be with a close set of family and friends . As for close family and friends they went behind her back and published the work that she had done. Anne’s brother-in-law brought one of her poems called   "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts" to England and it was published in 1650. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/428 It did well in England, but she was still unhappy that he had done that to  her.  This writing was considered the only writing that was published of her works while she was alive. 

Anne and her family moved to Andover, Massachusetts, until her death in 1672 at the age of 60. She was battling with tuberculosis, and when she caught the disease another tragedy happened with the death of her daughter Dorothy.  Anne was strong and believed that since her daughter was in a better place she would become even stronger fighting her disease to stay alive. Anne fought to the end until it was her turn to pass away and see her daughter. 

Nina Baym, ed. Anne Bradstreet. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Seventh Edition:

       Volume A. New York: Norton, 2007. 187-188.

Who was Captain John Ratcliffe?

Captain John Ratcliffe cited in both the text and states that he was an alias to John Sicklemore but it is not confirmed as being true or not.(http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-john-ratcliffe.htm What many people do not know  that Captain Ratcliffe had his own shipped called Discovery and John Smith were one of the men that was on his ship and he sailed to Virginia with 21 men which was considered a small ship out of the other two that where sailing to Virginia as well. It is also said that he was a governor and was one of the earliest English colony in Jamestown. The colony that was led by Ratcliffe was called Fort Algernon and was located at Fort Comfort. On September of 1607 he was elected as president of governing the colony and John Smith took over those duties in 1608. In the article the reason why Ratcliffe had to give up his duties was because he did not meet the expectations of what the council wanted of him. (http://genealogical-gleanings.com/Jamestown.htm)  It shows that if it was not for Captain John Ratcliffe than some of the success of John Smith would not have been known. Another Captain names James Davis would have to take over the colony due to Governor John Radcliffe’s death in September of 1609. The death of John Ratcliffe by the written articles of the people who knew of him in his colony said that is death sad.  They remember his death as The Luckless Captain Ratcliffe as to the article because it was so unfortunate death.(http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-john-ratcliffe.htm) His death was by Chief Powhatan it was said because he was trading correctly with the natives but Pocahontas believes that was not true and she did not want him to be killed. He did with the women of the village boiling hot water and placing is feet in it. Also they scraped off his skin and then stuck his face in the hot water.   Although there is not much written about John Ratcliffe but you know that he was a man of his word and a man of power if he was elected to govern the English colony. 

Smith, John. "The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Home." Home | W. W. Norton & Company. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/

About Me

My name is Justine Billups I am from Ewing, New Jersey and I am a Junior. My major is Dietitics and I am in love with it so far. I love to dance an have been dancing since I was 3 years old and still do it in my spare time. I am in a sorority called Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority Inc. and I love being apart of a wonderful sisterhood with service.