How would Abraham Lincoln most likely respond to this statement?
Only state governments should be able to make decisions
about slavery. The federal government should not interfere
with this issue.
O
A. No states will outlaw slavery if they are given a choice.
O
B. Only the federal government is powerful enough to completely
end slavery.
C. States do not have the constitutional right to pass laws related to
slavery.
O
D. The Constitution states that slavery must not spread into any new
territories

B

Explanation:

Slaves and the Court, 1740-1860 includes approximately 100 documents (all published between 1772 and 1889) concerning legal issues confronted by African and African-American slaves as well as legislators, officers of the law, abolitionists, and slave-holders. Prominent among the documents are records of court cases, including arguments, testimony, judicial opinions, and analyses of cases and decisions. The collection covers some of the best-known cases of the era, such as the Anthony Burns, John Brown, and Dred Scott cases, but many lesser known cases are also presented. Among the prominent Americans whose words can be found in the collection are John Quincy Adams, Roger B. Taney, John C. Calhoun, Salmon P. Chase, William Garrison, and Francis Scott Key.

A large number of the cases deal with the Fugitive Slave Law and its enforcement; other topics include the ending of the slave trade, criminal prosecutions of slave-holders for mistreatment of slaves, regulating the expansion of slavery into the territories, and slave rebellions. The cases represented in the collection raise a panoply of fundamental constitutional issues—property rights, separation of powers, state’s rights, rule of law, natural law, the independent judiciary, freedom of speech, trial by jury, popular sovereignty, the meaning of citizenship, cruel and unusual punishment, and freedom of religion, among others. The collection is strongest in presenting material related to the 40 years preceding the onset of the Civil War.

On the collection’s home page, the Library of Congress reminds users that “These primary historical documents reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not endorse the views expressed in these collections, which may contain materials offensive to some readers.” Teachers would do well to prepare students to deal with the documents’ depiction of these attitudes.

Depending on how teachers plan to use this collection, it may be helpful to create a chalkboard timeline of major events in the history of slavery in the United States. These events might include the following events and/or others of your own choosing. As students examine documents in the collection and learn more about the issues and events represented in the documents, they can add information to the timeline or simply refer to the timeline to provide a context for the documents.

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