Town Hall Meeting

In my FYS class Talking About Freedom we had a mock town hall meeting where groups were divided into two groups, pro-slavery or anti-slavery and had to research a famous historian on either side of the argument and present our stand on the issue of slavery from the perspective of the historian that we researched.

Me personally was on the pro-slavery side and I chose to research James Henry Hammond, whom was born on November 15th, 1807. James was a senator and wealthy plantation owner from South Carolina whom became the governor of South Carolina and the United States senator before the civil war.

James Hammond was famous for his Mudsill theory believing that there must be, and always has been, a lower class for the upper classes to rest upon. James believed that "Slavery can never be abolished" and that "American slavery is not only not a sin but especially commanded by God through Moses and approved by Christ through his Apostles."

This assignment was an interesting way to look the differences between people for slavery and people against slavery and the arguments made for each side.