Slavery and Abolition - 2018

Question Set A

Thursday, Jan. 11: Amistad Case as a Window

1. What were the legal contradictions of slavery?

*2. What were the philosophical contradictions of slavery?

3. In the excerpt of his speech, Adams appeals to an ancient moral principle on behalf of the Amistad Africans. What was that principle?

*4. Adams also appeals to the Declaration of Independence. What philosophical foundation of slavery does this document contradict?

Tuesday, Jan. 16: Long History of Slavery

5. According to scholar Orlando Patterson, what are the five constituent parts of slavery?

6. What are the particular implications of Aristotle�s theory of slavery for Africans?

*7. What is the �problem of slavery,� according to Davis?

8. How does American slavery compare with other forms?

*9. How can it be said that ancient Greece was the first slave society?

We will read the selections of Aristotle and New Testament in class. Questions to be considered in class:

10. What is a reason that Aristotle believes that slavery is natural?

11. In the New Testament letters, how does adherence to Christian faith affect the condition of the slave?

12. What differences can you see in the perspective of the NT letters over time?

13. Identify a significant point of commonality and a significant point of difference between Aristotle and the NT letters.

Thursday, Jan. 18: Intellectual History of Racism

14. How did dark skin become connected to subservience in European culture?

15. How are slaves dehumanized?

16. Which ideas favored the unity or division of humanity into distinct categories?

*17. How did Islam contribute to the development of African slavery?

*18. Why did the �curse of Ham� become an important justification for slavery, and how did it change over time?

19. How did Christian anti-Semitism contribute to anti-black prejudice in Spain?

Tuesday, Jan. 23: Exploration and Exploitation

*20. According to Davis, what is one example of cultural values trumping economic interests?

21. Who were the slave traders, and who were the slaves in medieval times?

*22. What does the career of Bartolomeo Marchionni say about the history of slavery?

Thursday, Jan. 25: Labor in Spanish America

23. What labor systems did the Spanish establish as an alternative to slavery?

24. Why were Africans preferred to Native Americans as slaves?

*25. (Cuneo) Describe Cuneo's view of native Americans. To what extent does he sympathize with them?

26. Compare Las Casas's view of native Americans to Cuneo's

*27. According to Las Casas, why has the population of native Americans declined so steeply?

We will read the Valladolid debate in class. Questions to discuss in class:

28. In the Valladolid debate, Sepulveda agrees with Aristotle in what way?

29. Where, if anywhere, do Las Casas and Sepulveda share common ground?

Tuesday, Jan. 30: The Sugar Economy

30. What are the reasons that sugar production required so much labor?

31. Why did the Spanish fall behind in the sugar industry?

*32. How did the capitalist approach of British planters in Barbados and Jamaica help the slaves in the long run?

*33. Why was life expectancy lower in Brazil and Cuba than in the US?

34. How could white owners control blacks in colonies where they might outnumbered 9 to 1?

Thursday, Feb. 1: The Middle Passage

35. Based on Baquaqua's account, what were two prominent reasons for the mental anguish of the slaves on ships?

*36 What convinced Equiano that the whites wished to kill him?

37. What made Equiano's passage a bit more bearable than most?

*38. What do Baquaqua and Equiano's description of the Middle have in common?

Tuesday, Feb. 6: North American Slavery

39. What was the essential difference between the northern and southern economies, which explains the different development of slavery?

*40. What demographic changes led to increasing reliance on Africans in the Chesapeake region?

*41. How, according to Edmund Morgan, did the advance of slavery in Virginia contribute to American ideals of equality and liberty?

42. How did the conditions of slavery in South Carolina differ from those in Virginia?

Thursday, Feb. 8: Comparative Slave Regimes

*43. Compare the size and characteristics of the slave economies of the French, British, Spanish and Portuguese [only one to write today-do a good job!]

44. What is an example of slave laws similar to all these nations?

45. What is an example of a law or practice unique to each one?

46. Summarize the differences between the slave societies of the Atlantic

Tuesday, Feb. 13: First-Person Narrative

47. [In chapter 1] Equiano compares his own African society to another people from history. What is the significance of this comparison?

*48. Equiano's own people have slaves, so what surprises and horrifies him about his early experiences as a slave of Europeans?

*49. Why do suppose that the Captain Pascal, Equiano's master, suddenly sold him off at the end of Pascal's service in the Navy?

50. How would you characterize Equiano's treatment in these three settings: England; Naval ships; the West Indies.

Thursday Feb. 15: Between Slavery and Freedom

51. What laws and practices regarding slaves particularly anger Equiano?

*52. Explain what Equiano means in this passage: "Yet how mistaken even is the avarice of the planters." [p. 80]

53. How does Equiano manage to improve his situation over time?

*54. What were the unique difficulties and abuses faced even by blacks like Equiano with good masters?