Town Hall Meeting

 How many of you may not know me? My name is William Lloyd Garrison. I am a man from the New England area who had to learn how to support and educate myself after my father left me at age 11. By the time I was 13, I was in an apprenticeship with a printer and published a newspaper. I first joined the abolition movement at age 25. For most of my life, I have been constantly trying to end slavery. I even spent some time in jail for lying to a Newbury port merchant engaged in the coastal slave trade. Soon after my release, I published an article known as The Liberator. This article instantly became a controversial topic that spoke out against slavery in England and the United States. I start this article with a vital, clear purpose. Here are the first words: "I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.… I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD." 

A year later, I founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and one more year after that, I founded the American anti-slavery society. Many of you here may wonder why I started all these anti-slavery organizations and wrote the Liberator. I had many talks with many black abolitionists and black Americans in general. Yes, Black Americans because that is who they are; they are Americans, and as Americans, they deserve the rights and social equity that other Americans have. Because of that, I continued to publish the Liberator every week for 35 years to speak out against this awful slave trade in this country. 

Without giving black Americans any rights, it's a disgrace to our country and national.

Sin to it as well. Enslavers have threatened me to be more moderate or to watch what I'm saying. Many of you may think that was bad for me, but I know that means they were getting scared. From that moment, my statements on slavery became more uncompromising towards the South. To the owner who told me to stop, I replied that slavery is a monster and should be treated as such. I used the newspaper to spread awareness and tell the rest of America what evil was happening in our country. I could not see how anyone on this earth could see why slavery is moral. That is why I could not stop writing. My morals would not let me. I believe in the Declaration of Independence, and when it said, "All men are created equal," it did not say all white men are created equal. It told all men that if they do not make changes soon, this will be the biggest insult to the Declaration of Independence we have done to this date. I led this effort to stop slavery and will not stop until it is done.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1561.html

https://www.nps.gov/people/william-lloyd-garrison.htm#:~:text=Speaking%20in%20Boston%27s%20Park%20Street,their%20%E2%80%9Chomeland%E2%80%9D%20of%20Africa.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lloyd-Garrison

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1854-william-lloyd-garrison-no-compromise-evil-slavery/

Supreme Court

 Before watching the two videos, I had a general idea of the Supreme Court, what they do, and how they do it. I also knew it was a reasonably powerful branch with much responsibility. However, after watching the videos, I now know how powerful they are and how big of a deal it is when they get a case.

To start, there are only nine justices for this court who have worked their whole lives to get the opportunity to be selected for this position. In every election, the new president will try their best to alter the court to strike in their favor. This is important to them because of the amount of power the Supreme Court truly has. Today's Supreme Court is a highly respected and essential part of our government's functions, but it was only sometimes this way. It took time and experience for this to happen. It wasn't until 1803 that the Marbury v Madison case showed the court's power, which started judicial review, allowing the court to to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional.

 This was a vast and significant change to our judicial system. Citizens could now challenge what had happened before if they felt it was unconditional. For many since then, this has saved people convicted to have a better sentence or be treated fairly when they weren't before. 

This is the only branch that has the power to challenge legislative acts. This is very important because citizens wouldn't have this opportunity tonight if they were mistreated in many places in the world. If you kept trying to challenge your government in many areas, there would be extreme consequences, including death. This is why the court is so important. It gives us as citizens the chance to be heard when we feel oppressed or feel we are not getting the rights we deserve

Slavey & the Bible

 In the United States today, we try our best to keep religion out of our government as much as possible by having a separate church and state. With this being said, people will still try to use their beliefs to argue if something is right or wrong. Mainly, this works out well with not too many issues. For example, murder is a sin in the bible. However, people see what the bible says in different ways, causing arguments between each other. This is the case with slavery. Many believe the bible allows slavery, while others say it forbids it.

When reading an article from Time magazine, you can see one of the ways that many Christians believed that the bible allowed this action to be done. In the Old Testament, slavery was prevalent among the Israelites, making most people believe this was expected acceptable behavior.

In Exodus 21:2, slavery was a common way for people to pay back their debts. "When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh, he shall go out a free person, without debt," not as an enslaved person just let free in the seventh year, but the master was also provided to set him with the tools to start a successful life.

With these reasons on how the bible allowed and accepted slavery, you might be able to understand how many people argued to keep slavery. However, there was also much evidence supporting the bible being against slavery. 

In Acts 17:26, the bible says human beings are from one blood. When saying one blood, they mean the same meaning. As part of equals, one does not have the right to a higher person than another. Representing slavery wouldn't be accepted (The Bible and Slavery) 

Another reason the bible was against slavery is that the Deuteronomic code (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deuteronomic-Code) says Israelites are forbidden to hand over fugitive slaves or oppress them. We can see how this is very clear on slavery and how it's terrible. 

With this reasoning, it is obvious how people could argue on both sides, defending or opposing slavery using the bible.