essay us

Essay #1: Freedom and Bondage
Prof. Helton, History 117A, Fall 2020

DUE DATE: October 19, 2020

In 1776, the thirteen British colonies united together to fight against their parent country, Great
Britain. After a long and difficult war, the colonies emerged victorious. In 1787,
representatives from the new states gathered in Philadelphia to write the US Constitution,
under which we still live today.

During the American Revolution, animosity towards the common enemy, the British, enabled
these thirteen colonies to present a united front. But the colonies were in fact very different
from each other. They had been founded at different times by different people with widely
different agendas. Each colony had their own government, and each had a distinctive political
and economic culture.

One of the central differences among the colonies was slavery. While slavery was legal and
practiced in all of the colonies, it was much more extensive in the South. At the same time, as
the words “liberty” and “equality” were becoming part of American political discourse,
agitation against slavery became more common. This conflict over the issue of slavery would
eventually lead to the Civil War.

But before we get to that, let’s consider the role that slavery played in shaping the foundational
culture of the colonies and the early United States.

The Assignment:
In a thoughtful, well-written essay, answer the following question:

In the period 1619 – 1792, in what ways did the institution of slavery impact the way in which
the North American British colonies, and later the United States, developed? How did slavery
shape the economy, culture and laws of the colonies and the nation created from those
colonies? And how did slavery impact the development of the Constitution and the US
government?

Sources:
You are not required to conduct additional research for this assignment. Your secondary
sources are the class videos and American Yawp. In Perusall, I have created #bondage to
highlight some of the passages of the textbook you may want to look at as you are considering
this question.

However, your answer should be based mainly on the primary sources you have read for the
class. Some of the sources you may want to refer to may include:

• Primary Sources for the Week of September 14
• Sources on Servitude and Slavery in the Primary Sources for the Week of September 21
• Common Sense
• The Declaration of Independence
• The US Constitution

Format and Requirements:
You are not required to do extra research for this assignment. Please use the readings from
California, A History and the readings linked in Canvas in addition to the class lectures as your
sources. You must use primary source evidence in this essay. Support your answer with
specific quotations and examples from the assigned primary sources.

Your essay should be four to five pages long, with formatting as described in the class syllabus.

Your essay should include a thesis statement that clearly answers the question. The body of
your essay should include primary and secondary source evidence that supports your thesis.
You must use footnotes to document these sources. Your essay should include a properly
formatted Bibliography at the end (the Bibliography is not included in the page count).

The proper format for footnotes and bibliographies can be found in Chapter 16 and 17 of
Turabian.

If you have any questions, please email me at jhelton@ohlone.edu.