Why Do You Say Nothing Is Impossible By Robert Smalls?

Robert Smalls Potter Stewart said, "Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do, and what is right to do." To many African Americans in the 1800s what was right to do for them was considered completely illegal in the southern states. Freedom; what should be counted as a natural right for every human being was something taken away from anyone whom skin color was not white. Robert Smalls was one of the numerous amounts of slaves who did not know what freedom felt like, but knew what it was and knew that was something he had to have. He inspires me due to the fact that he went from being considered a slave from the moment he was able to breathe in the air of the outside world, to a member in both houses of South Carolina legislature and elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as well. I have my own personal goals and Smalls is a very pure example of the meaning behind the saying "nothing is impossible." Robert Smalls was the son of Lydia Polite, whom was a house servant owned by the McKees. The McKees did not treated Smalls horribly like many other slave owners do to slaved men and woman working on plantations picking cotton; in fact, Smalls’ first 10 years of life were smooth
Smalls was so generous he kindly took in some of the McKee family, who were financially ruined by the war. Smalls also did various actions for his community. He started a school for African American children, a general store, and a newspaper as well. He soon was elected to both the South Carolina House of Representatives and the State Senate, and in between 1874 to 1879 he served in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, he was accused of taking a $5,000 bribe and although there was no legal proof of anything, he was charged and found guilty. In 1879 he was pardoned by the