South Carolina Declaration Of Independence Analysis
Governing the Nation: Perspective from a South Carolina Slave
Marja Santiago
History 111
June 24, 2013
Professor Gregory Shrout
The philosophical ideals embodied by the Declaration of Independence declared that all men "are created equal" and therefore everyone had the same rights. As a former South Carolina slave, I was so glad to hear this. For once I was hopeful that maybe after all; I could still have a chance to be free. Furthermore, the Declaration of Independence stated that every person had "unalienable rights [which included the right to] life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." All I could think about was going out into the world, doing whatever I wanted, seeing my family, and working for myself instead of others. I could finally have my own things and be happy. As time passed by, my hopes slowly started to fade, I had not heard a thing about my freedom and I was certainly not happy. I was still trapped in the plantations, working hard for …show more content…
They showed their interest by writing in the document that slave trade would become illegal. This gave me and other slaves hope. For once, things seems to be progressing, maybe this was the beginning of something even better for the slaves. It gave us hope to keep going, because we now had the chance to be free. One major argument against the ratification that I would support as a South Carolina Slave would be because they protected the rights of slave owners. Even if slaves escaped, owners had the right to take them back, after all they were considered property. I never understood why they protected the people that treated us bad, humiliated us, and took our freedom. The states supported the idea that everyone is equal and therefore we all deserved the same rights, yet this all changed when slaves were
Marja Santiago
History 111
June 24, 2013
Professor Gregory Shrout
The philosophical ideals embodied by the Declaration of Independence declared that all men "are created equal" and therefore everyone had the same rights. As a former South Carolina slave, I was so glad to hear this. For once I was hopeful that maybe after all; I could still have a chance to be free. Furthermore, the Declaration of Independence stated that every person had "unalienable rights [which included the right to] life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." All I could think about was going out into the world, doing whatever I wanted, seeing my family, and working for myself instead of others. I could finally have my own things and be happy. As time passed by, my hopes slowly started to fade, I had not heard a thing about my freedom and I was certainly not happy. I was still trapped in the plantations, working hard for …show more content…
They showed their interest by writing in the document that slave trade would become illegal. This gave me and other slaves hope. For once, things seems to be progressing, maybe this was the beginning of something even better for the slaves. It gave us hope to keep going, because we now had the chance to be free. One major argument against the ratification that I would support as a South Carolina Slave would be because they protected the rights of slave owners. Even if slaves escaped, owners had the right to take them back, after all they were considered property. I never understood why they protected the people that treated us bad, humiliated us, and took our freedom. The states supported the idea that everyone is equal and therefore we all deserved the same rights, yet this all changed when slaves were