Albert Taylor Bledsoe a Pro-Slavery Advocate

Albert Taylor Bledsoe was a well-known pro-slavery advocate among the southerners in the early to late 1800s. He was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, and was the oldest of 5 children. Like many young men of promise in this period, he joined West Point, a US military academy as a cadet from 1825 to 1830. He later expanded his ideas and values into multiple career paths, which included being a clergyman (minister) in 1835 with Bishop Smith as his assistant in Kentucky. In 1838 Albert became a lawyer in the same courts as Abraham Lincon and Stephen Douglas. He was also a college professor of mathematics and advanced calculus at numerous colleges from 1833-1861. Adding on he was an acting assistant secretary of war in the Confederate army in 1861. Bledsoe was a go-getter with pursuing knew carriers however he was most known for being a southern apologist debating why slavery should always exist in society.

Albert Bledsoe’s most well-known books included the Essay on Liberty and Slavery (1856) and the Southern Review (1868). In both books that he published, he was recognized as the “epitome of an unreconstructed southerner” trying to prove his point on slavery and succession. Albert Bledsoe had a fighting wit about slavery. Bledsoe argued that the natural state of humans was in society, not in nature and that humans in society needed to have restraints on their actions. That is, he argued that liberty was greatest when humans were allowed to exercise only the amount of freedom they were naturally suited to. Some had to be muted along with others who were entitled to freedom.

Most literature called forth by slavery controversy is topical and superficial, but Bledsoe was profound enough to see the real crux which was in the issues from the French Revolution. For over 20 years Bledsoe continually attacked the romantic postulates underlying this movement. A believer in the necessity of divine sanctions for government, Albert denied the existence of natural rights. The natural rights of a man on if he is naturally good he is regarded as a grand heresy of the modern world and the source of all social disorder (slavery).

Another key position of Albert Bledsoe was that libertarianism rests upon a false metaphysic, for it is wrong to suppose that liberty and order are opposed principles. This misconception, seemingly one of the confusions of political thought, assumes liberty and order limit one another and that to boost one while we must somehow diminish the other. Bledsoe sought to show that they are mutually sustaining and that the boost in one promotes a boost in another.

Bledsoe agreed that the slaves were not burdened to having to make many decisions taking care of themselves. Additionally, a great deal of the slave owners treated their slaves very well and took care of them like ordinary employees. Slaves were protected from crime by their owners. Bledsoe was annoyed when slavery was abolished because he believed many slaves did not want to leave. Keep in mind that if the slaves left their plantation they would have to find another job or owner to work for otherwise they would not make any money. Those are few ideas for Albert Bledsoe, but Bledsoe had many more ideas to try and turn the South into pro-slavery, yet it failed and historians say it caused his downfall.

“If liberty were an equal blessing to all, then all would have an equal right to liberty. But if one accepts the fact of this difference (slavery) between races, corollary follows that complete equality would result in terrific inequality.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Taylor_Bledsoe 

https://archive.org/details/essayonlibertysl01bled/page/6/mode/2up 

https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2581&context=etd 

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABT7109.0001.001/35?rgn=full+text;view=image

Bible Team Challenge John & Skyler

 

The Bible is very contradicting in the views of slavery. We will discuss the possible arguments on why The Bible could be seen as for or against slavery. Most were not “slaves” from their birth, or for their whole life, or because of their race—for instance, the Roman jurist Gaius (second century) claimed that most slaves were prisoners of war who actually would have been slaughtered if not made slaves.

Further, slavery was generally not organized by race but by circumstance and economics (for example, foreigners, debtors, and so on). (Exodus 21:16)

Why the bible could Pro-Slavery

When discussing the Bible, people often only reflect on the joy and good it brings; they don't really think about what the Bible might have been justified for. In other words, believe it or not, the Bible has been used as a justification for why slavery was “okay” and not demeaning or discriminative. One way people have used the Bible to do so, Bishop Willam Meade claims that if one is to commit an act of misdeed and not be seized, that person is getting justice from God. He would've been the only one to see the act committed. As well as, throughout the Bible, their people have been able to notice not once does the Bible condemn slavery? This can be questionable and also can be seen as where the argument comes from. It can also be questionable that in the book of Philemon, St. Paul, who returned to his “master” and claims it is not out of the ordinary to be a “servant” or “slave” as the second reference. Most of the people who had slaves were Christians. Now, the claim has been made that saying slavery is anti-christian would also meet the remark that you're going against God if you believe this. So many were quite disputed on the topic, but there are many reasons for why the Bible could've been the justification for slavery.

Why the bible could be Anti-Slavery

One could say that the bible is greatly opposed to slavery. An example of this would be the book of Philemon. It could be surprising to most people that the book of Philemon is not brought up often in reading and discussion. The book of Philemon was one of Paul’s letters to a slave owner about Onesimus; his runaway slave. If Philemon was solely pro-slavery what would you expect the apostle Paul to say? Strikingly, Paul instructs Philemon to receive Onesimus “no longer as a slave . . . but as a dear brother”—and he appeals to Philemon to “receive him as you would receive me” (v. 17). Breaking this text down the apostle Paul rejects Onesimus as a slave and constructs in its place a brother to brother relationship. The slave is treated with all dignity and fairness like a brother would. Furthermore even before the actual institutional abolishment of slavery, “the work of the gospel abolishes the assumptions and prejudices that make slavery possible.”

Whether or not you believe that the bible was pro or against slavery, it can be seen in different lights by people who all think differently. Personally, I believe it was a test to see if people were truly good at heart or were not willing to serve others as God served us today through his resurrection on the cross. In our society today, the argument will never end because truly no one eyewitnesses it that is alive today, but we can see the arguments through scripture and create about slavery from our own morals and beliefs.

 

Why It’s Wrong to Say the Bible Is Pro-Slavery

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-wrong-say-bible-pro-slavery/ 

Why the Bible can be justification for slavery

https://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/

The Value of Individual Self-Fulfillment

Free expression is seen as a big part of society today. Without free expression no one could be unique with what they believe in. We would be in a boring esk society with no room to innovate and create new opportunities. 

Here are the eight values of free expression 

• Marketplace of Ideas 

• Participation in Self Government 

• Stable Change 

• Individual Self Fulfillment 

• Check on Governmental Power 

• Promote Tolerance 

• Promote Innovation

• Promote Dissent

These eight values of expression impact people's lives on a daily basis. I believe the biggest one for an individual to have and pursue daily is individual self-fulfillment. Self-Fulfilment is a combination of hopes and dreams we have in our lives as well as taking action to make them a reality.

Everyone has freedom of speech thanks to the First Amendment. One of the big ideas is that individuals have freedom of speech, but most are not self-fulfilled. A motivational speech by Les Brown on self-fulfilment talks about how everyone has more to give with positive changes in their life, it's just a matter of having the mental fortitude to suffer sometimes when going through good change. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are, what you are doing at this very moment, life is about growing. You gotta ask yourself, what is it that I need to do to improve in areas of my life. Don’t get confused with what you are doing with who you are. During the self-fulfillment journey you have got to treat triumph and disaster the same because no one is perfect and there will be hiccups in your journey. As Les Brown says, “You can not just embark on a life changing journey by yourself, you gotta develop an appreciation for external support when changing.”

However, numerous people go through life pre-judging things. An example would be skydiving, if you have not sky dived you might be missing out on something. You do not know what the possibilities are of skydiving until you do it, you might absolutely love it. Having a closed mind can drastically impact change in a negative way. You will be unable to open your eyes on new inroads to solving a problem. We have all had ideas that we did not act on and what do you know, someone else acts on the idea and gets the positive result. That’s why self confidence is huge with change.

Les Brown also goes over charastics of the people who are self-fulfilled 

• They make their mind a fertile ground for the seed of opportunity. (Got to have an open mind if you want a sense of self-fulfillment) 

• They become involved in life. 

• They live your fantasy without making life predictable. Most people do not. 

• They challenge their fears, looking those fears in the face and taking them on. 

I greatly found his speech motivational and impactful and would suggest it to individuals who struggle with living a self-fulfilled life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SBRSxn1ZEw

http://fys1000.blogspot.com/p/speech-theories.html

https://study.com/academy/lesson/self-fulfillment-definition-lesson-quiz.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=self+fulfillment&sxsrf=AOaemvJ5hl8KtROSvANrPsUdk0CvKtmZEg:1631311694683&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP_NDQtfXyAhW0MlkFHX1EACEQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1309&bih=667#imgrc=EO1KtmNG7QfVG

The Supreme Court

 The in-class video that we watched about the Supreme Court was very engaging and had some interesting facts that I never knew about the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was founded in 1789 by Article 3 of the US Constitution with deliberation and decision making in quiet in mind. . When the Supreme Court was created the Constitution granted the Supreme Court unlimited administration over all laws especially the cases that were broken within the laws of the Constitution.  

    

    The role of the Supreme Court is to interpret the Constitution and to deem current action constitutional or unconstitutional. It is also the final judge in all cases involving the laws of Congress and the highest law. (national supremacy) The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time. Appellate jurisdiction Is the power of the court to review decisions and change outcomes of Visions of lower courts. A state supreme court is the ultimate judicial tribunal in the court system of a particular state.

 

    

    There were some ideas outside of the basic info that I found to be intriguing. It is a very stressful job to be a Supreme Court justice. One of the supreme court justices said the job can be very overwhelming for the first 3 years. When you forget you're there then you start doing your work very properly. It completely makes sense due to all of the cases they have to widdle down to find the best cause, and to figure out the right verdict. Also, another issue that can be stressful for justices is arguing with 9 rather than 3 individuals due to the fact that there could be 3 ongoing different conversations at the same time. One thing that I greatly admired was how proper the Supreme Court is when they talked about how each justice has to shake other justices' hands, to not hold grudges on each other.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-supreme-court#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20was,their%20constitutionality%20was%20at%20issue. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Supreme-Court-of-the-United-States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo