EOTO Reaction #1

The first each one teach one presentations were a success as we were all taught new information about slavery and the Civil War from the side of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery events. 

The pro-slavery side taught us about conflicts like Bleeding Kansas and the Battle at Fort Sumter which eventually led to the Civil War. We also learned about important events like the nullification crisis and the secession of South Carolina from the United States. 

The anti-slavery side taught us about efforts like the Underground Railroad, the anti-slavery society, and many newspapers who published anti-slavery poems and articles. These groups all worked to abolish slavery. We also heard about many anti-slavery rebellions and the abolishment of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 

The event I learned the most about was the Amistad case. I had heard about many of the other events during the abolitionist movement and Civil war era, but this was one I had not heard of before. 

This case centered around a Spanish ship that abducted and transported fifty three slaves from Africa which violated treaties from many different countries. While aboard the ship, the slaves and plantation owners fought each other for control of the ship. The ship ended up in Long Island, New York after the battle for control of the boat. 

Once the slaves ended up in New York, abolitionists worked to keep them in the state. Abolitionists worked through different efforts to raise money to keep the slaves in the North where they could remain free. The case was later taken to court to decide what to do with the slaves. 

The slaves were represented by John Quincy Adams in the Supreme Court. The ruling was ultimately that the slaves had not been rightfully taken when they were taken onto the ship. Once the slaves won the case, it was ordered that they would be returned to their homeland where they could once again live as freed people.