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Document Interpretation 6: The Civil War Causes and Consequences

Uncle Toms Cabin


I picked this article because I wanted to remind myself for what is Uncle Toms Cabin. It was
a long time since I took US history class in high school and I barely remember what does it
mean and how does it affect the history. I hope to read and learn more about it in order to
refresh my memories that was long gone for years of high school. I actually heard this name
but I think I havent read document that is related to it. This would be a good change for me
to know more about it.
1. Although the document starts up with chapter 33 which is in the middle of the book,
we can tell that Tom was a slave who suffered a lot from his life. It seemed like he had
a new life with his new master, Legree. This means that Tom was sold by someone
before he met Legree who was his current master.
2. When there was a woman came to them, the slaves started to say words that were
impolite. It looked like the male slaves were ridiculing the female slave. I originally
thought this would not happen between gender since they both are suffering from
oppression, but it really happened.
3. Throughout the passage, the author described the women with a very beautiful face.
Tom also thought that the woman is from that class. This kind of represents that the
woman should be a white woman instead of black.
4. It seems like the woman was in trouble and Tom really wanted to help her out. The
woman suffered more than the others and Tom kept helping her secretly.
5. The place where both the woman and Tom stayed in was horrible. No one was helping
the other and even Tom wanted to help the woman, he got rejected and was told that
there was no one helping other in there.
6. Legree and Sambo were both drivers who wanted to play with the slaves. I thought
they were masters but actually they were not. They were only drivers who wanted to
play tricks on slaves which would make themselves happy.
7. Even the woman was treated unfairly by the two drivers, it seemed like the woman
called Misse Cassy was so brave to fight back to the drivers. It seemed like she has a
lot of power and she even know how to speak French. I dont think she is a black.
8. Tom was told that slaves should not be helping each other because when they helped
any other, they will get punish to work more than they should be. I thought slaves
were helping each other before I read this article.
9. From the article, we know that slaves had to do whatever they were told to do, even if
its wrong. Tom got punished and his master was enraged because he tried to correct
him. They lived in a very oppressed environment.
10. I think Tom was really a slave that has a just heart. He is so polite and kind in a way
that he would not do wrong thing even it was an order from his master or even he is
going to die. I think he would suffer a lot because of his personality but he is so brave
to fight for himself and the others.
From this short chapter, what I remember the most is the last scene when Tom was punished
in the end. He is so brave to fight for what he believed and would not do things that are
injustice in his thought. The chapter does not mention whether he died or not but I think he
would suffer a lot because of his personality. I think during that time, most of the slaves
would rather listen to their master in order to escape from punishment, like the woman, but

Tom is really a counterexample among the slaves. The history of slavery is really dark and
horrible in a way that we cannot imagine.
Lincolns First Inaugural Address
By the time I was taking US history during high school, I remembered that we focused on
Lincoln a lot. He was so famous and admirable for the American history. He was the
president who tried to ask other states to prohibit slavery even when the time the society was
still in favor of having slaves. I would like to read about his article to know more about him.
1. When I read the first few lines of the passage, I can feel Lincoln was so serious on
this issue which he really wanted to explain his speech to all of the people. When he
mentioned about Southern State, I can think of the reason of speech. It would be about
slavery.
2. From the first page, it seems like he was saying he has no power over the other state
and he does not care about slavery. This makes me a bit confusing since I thought he
is the one who prohibited slavery and promoted anti-slavery.
3. Although he mentioned at the top where he said that he has no control over other
states, in the bottom, he restated that a union is forever. I think he way he means was
that he promoted anti-slavery for all states of the America since all states are union
and should have the same thought.
4. He mentioned the union for a few times. I think what he really wanted to mention is
that since all the states are union, every state should follow the constitution where
mentioned that all men are created equal. Although he said he didnt care about
slavery, he did want to promote union nationally.
5. At the end of page 2, he said there should not have violence exist. I read up to this
point I finally understand his stand and his point of view in slavery. He wanted to
promote a peaceful and equal America to Americans who should all follow the
constitution.
6. There is not law mentioning that the congress should either protect or prohibited
slavery, but everyone should be following the constitution because of its importance. I
am surprised that he kept mentioning this in his speech.
7. He mentioned that all the rules were followed and checked by the Supreme Court.
Lincoln himself would not have power over them, whether how they will punish the
ones that did not follow the rules. I think this stood out to me because I think Lincoln
is inviting people to follow the way constitution states.
8. Since some of the states support slavery and some do not, Lincoln states that a nation
cannot be separated like this. A nation should be treated as a whole, cannot be
separated at all times. This will hurt both states and the fugitive slaves. Up to now,
Lincoln did a good job on not standing at either side, he kept saying that what would
do best for the state.
9. I think Lincoln was so fair on his duty of being a president of the United States. He
said he must admit that the state has power to overthrow anything and to support
anything. His job is to manage the state and to lead the state. He does not put his own
decision into his post. This is what makes me surprised.
10. In the last paragraph, he said to all of the people who dissatisfied on what his
speech mentioned, he said he was the one who would protect the government. This
line makes me so impressed and admiral over Lincoln. His speech has a lot of
meaning but he expressed it in a polite way.

The biggest take away for me in this passage was that I originally thought Lincoln was really
an anti-slavery president. I didnt know that he wanted to keep the states union as of what is
stated on the constitution. The thing that most surprised me is that I have never thought a
speech from the president was that powerful and meaningful which expressed in a serious
way. I think he did not want to stand on either side about slavery and the only thing he
wanted to do was to keep the state fair and equal. This amazed me!

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