How did Europeans engaged in the slave trade convince themselves of its acceptability? How did these views contribute to racism?
What will be an ideal response?
A. European's views on slavery
1. convinced themselves that slavery represented a civilizing process
2. recovery of one of the virtues of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds
3. removal of slaves from the supposedly "barbarous darkness" of Africa
to the "light" of Christian European civilization
B. Slavery nourished its own forms of lies
1. racism
a. depicted blacks as inherently inferior to whites
b. claimed that they were better off enslaved than at home
2. corruption
a. owners, by giving them power over the lives and bodies of their
slaves and encouraging them to abuse it
b. shippers, who overcrowded their cargoes to maximize their
profits and, in verifiable incidents, tossed slaves overboard for
the insurance ship owners could earn for dead "cargo"
3. encouraged fear and loathing
a. driving black rebels to horrific and despairing acts to find
refuge or gain revenge
b. trapping colonial governments in policies of inhuman rage and
repression
c. let loose predatory gangs of slavers and bounty hunters
d. encouraged war in Africa between predator states that profited
from the trade and their victims
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Which of the following statements about the nullification crisis of 1832 is FALSE?
A. Jackson eventually backed down from the controversy and gave in completely to South Carolina's demands. B. The issue under discussion was the tariff, but the right of secession was also debated. C. Andrew Jackson determined that the president had the right to use force to preserve the Union. D. The nullification theory, according to Calhoun, gave the South a legal device to justify secession.