Town Hall Conference: Starring John Quincy Adams

Hello, I am John Quincy Adams, yes the former 6th President. People often call me “Old Man Eloquent” because I was born July 11th, 1767. Let me tell you a little about me, as to why you should hear what I have to say about this controversial topic. I am a diplomat, lawyer, and even statesman. I served as your president between 1825 to 1829. Before being president I served many many years as a diplomat, and a Senator, and I even served in the House of Representatives for a while. When I graduated from Harvard I knew I wanted to change the world. When I was just 26 I was appointed the Minister of the Netherlands, shortly after advancing to the Berlin Legation. Oh did I mention President Madison appointed me the Minister of Russia a few years later too?

I've been around for a while now, and I strongly believe we the people need to come together to abolish slavery! Slavery is immoral, we need to promote freedom among all humans. Why should some of us be able to own land, speak freely, work freely, be educated freely, etc? If we don't act now, how will this end up in a few years? Sooner or later African Americans will strike back and realize how unfairly they truly are being treated. If we don't support any sort of movement against these awful acts we have to at least come to some type of compromise, don't you all think so?

The skin color of any human should not define who they are, should not define their position in society, and will not! Put yourselves into the shoes of these African Americans, how would you feel if you had no say over your entire life? Why should one skin color be beaten, whipped, harassed, pierced, branded, abused, and even killed? Black women should never have to worry about being sexually abused by anyone, black women should be just as free as white men. Take a moment and imagine being separated from the rest of your family, maybe forever. What if your own very “blood” was ripped out of your hands because you are being sold to someone? 

Slaves at Work

Expansion of Slavery

Do you know what is nearly as awful as losing your own family, imagine not even being able to write, read, or have the slightest education? Things like this render African Americans helpless, never allowing them to have an actual life of their own just because of their skin color. It's so sad how we let these poor African Americans grow into a life not even knowing that other people have freedom. I am a privileged white successful man, even I can see how morally evil this entire concept is. I am John Quincy Adams, I have been involved in the politics of your society for a very long time now, and I know this must change.

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The black-skinned people are not an issue in our society. Take a look around, all the skin colors you see next to you are the issue. Between 1800 to 1861 there were 3,045,724 enslaved African Americans. Let me say that number again, 3,045,724 black-skinned humans lost all their rights and freedom. To commit an act like this should go against all morals. This act of slavery is one of the most sinful acts possible. This concept should not even be a thought, this is disgusting anyone could agree with this, this is a moral evil. 

What happened to the Constitution? You know that paper that forms all of society's freedoms. Why is it that in the Constitution, we the white people can have all the space and power? Isn't the Constitution made to allow space, not just for white people but all humans? Out of about 55 of the representatives of the Constitution, roughly 25 of those support and own slaves, that is nearly half of the representatives. Don't you think that is absurd? What's next, 30, 40, all 55 are going to own slaves? How can we live in a society that allows even the idea and concept of this? This will only get worse if we do not start acting now. We the people need to move to the ending of slavery!  

I am here today because we need to “Free people of color”. We must come together as one, as a whole, and support each of us. The skin tone of a human should not affect how they are treated, we have to treat others how we want to be treated. For society to grow we have to learn to evolve. Change is often a good thing, in this case, change is a must!

Bible Team Challenge

Slavery has been around since the beginning of the bible. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments multiple passages speak about the topic of slavery. Although slavery has been talked about for such a long time, slavery is not perceived the same from way back then to now. Slavery was both condemned as well condoned at one point and viewed differently by each religion. Specifically, one religion that has encountered the attention of slavery ample times is Christianity. The perspective of slavery throughout the Christian religion has evolved and adapted over a long period. In the Christian religion, slavery was seen as an act of charity often. Christians seemed to have a sort of kindness towards slavery, possibly even as a way to redeem a “sin”. The perspective of slavery varied for each religion as well as region and is heavily impacted by the environmental influences over nearly eighteen centuries. There is an ample amount of information regarding slavery connected with the bible, and throughout the post will be diving into the depth of each perspective. 

For Slavery:

Throughout history, slavery has shown up in every history book throughout the world. It was a natural occurrence to own a man or woman as your property, and the Bible especially the new testament does not condemn slavery but condones it. In the new testament, Christ never mentions or talks about how slavery and making a man or woman property is a sin. So-called slaves in the Bible have been mentioned as nothing more than hired servants, or workers. The new testament also talks freely about roman slavery, therefor the slavery that the new testament talks about is the white slavery of the Romans. Back when slavery was acceptable, people interpreted the Bible in many different ways and this made people think that slavery was acceptable due to the Bible. There are roughly 27 million people in the world who have had to deal with slavery, and the bible does not fully outlaw slavery, especially in the new testament. Slavery was specifically targeted at mainly black people, those who were not white, and had little power. Slavery was often even directly talked about in the bible.

For example, in Ephesians 6:5-8 Paul states, “Slaves be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ”. In this exact line from the bible, Paul is telling all slaves to listen to their masters, to obey them like you would to God. 

Against Slavery: 

The Bible has always condemned slavery. Although the bible may mention verses accepting slavery, there are an ample amount of verses that do not support slavery. Slavery was seen as sin often, the concept of slavery was based on the time period and how society was at certain time periods. The Old Testament especially did not condone slavery. For example, one popular verse that does not support slavery in the Old Testament is Peter 2:16-1 “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as Gods’ slaves”. The Bible did not want people to enslave themselves, but to actually live free will, but as “slaves” for God only. The Bible mentioned how slaves should be treated during the time period of enslavement, and the bible mentioned that humans can be slaves to sin itself. The Bible mentions how if a slave comes to you for rescuing, to not give them up back to their slave owners. The Bible did not condone slavery, especially for Christians in modern times. Slavery was less and less condoned as society grew and social environments evolved leading to the bible adapting. Many people often confused the bible for condoning slavery but did not understand the bible's meaning of slavery throughout history. Many Christians believed later believed in giving themselves to God, not to other humans, evolving away from true slavery.                                                                              Click Below!

                      

The bible both condoned and condemned slavery. The perspective of slavery throughout the bible depends on the time period, region, and social environment. Slavery was spoken against and for slavery in verses of the bible. In modern times slavery is much less condoned. The New Testament still speaks about slavery as did the Old Testament. Slavery especially during modern times is a major sin, slavery is seen as evil. The only slavery that shall occur according to the bible is obedience to God. God said in the bible to give yourself to him, and he shall provide your purpose in life. Many Christians truly believed in this belief, leading to slavery being condemned. 

Recap: Supreme Court Video

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Who knew The Supreme Court of the United States has the most power of all judicial bodies? The power of The Supreme Court is like no other, the group has the option to overrule anything they choose is the suitable and ultimate justification for any court case from a minor misdemeanor to the worst crime act possible. The court could even shoot down the president's actions if they do not believe it is constitutional. This idea for the creation of the Supreme Court came to life through the Judiciary Act of 1789 by the first Congress. 

The court includes 9 members, there are 8 justices, and the chief justice of the United States. Every member serves for life, unless some type of circumstantial misbehavior occurs, retirement, death, or removal. When a new member of the Supreme Court must be rejected the process is simple. Both the Senate and President must agree on the new justice member to be fully elected into the court. The power held within the court follows through serenity, besides the chief justice. The Chief justice is capable of deciding who and what writes the opinion of the courts and what tasks are acquired. The eldest member of the court also follows in close capability to the chief as to the majority of the tasks.          Throughout most of the video, it was clear how the Supreme Court believed in one another and as well the constitution. All of the members would support the best decision possible not only for themselves but especially for the people. The group had faith in what they thought was best and would try their best to support one another despite disagreements on a topic. All justices were required to “ride circuit”, which means twice a year they all must travel to multiple different areas to make certain they are making an effort to understand not just cases where they are located but all of the world. This task not only benefits the court members but especially the people because this allows for the best visual understanding and relations throughout all sorts of cases that may come up. 

Where does all of this power come from, how does the Supreme Court become so “supreme”? The court gains nearly all of its power and authority from us, the people. The main purpose of the supreme court is to ensure, provide, and protect ALL of the American people to their maximum capability through equality, liberty, and justice. The American people were not always just okay with how much power was given to this group of individuals. After a time, the people realized and slowly became more understanding of the court's power.

The Supreme Court members all meet weekly to converse on whether a case will be chosen or not. The court on average receives  7,500 new cases a year, however, only roughly 100 cases are actually accepted. To put that into perspective, this means there is a 1.3 percent chance of your case being selected. This past year the court only accepted 68 cases between 2021-2022. 

When The Supreme Court receives petitions the “rule of four” is in place. This means that it only takes four out of all nine members to agree to a petition to be reviewed of any sort. Also, this rule the group follows is not law-bidden, this is a stalemate rule that has occurred for so long and is just a conventional practice followed. The jobs of these individuals are not ordinary, it takes an ample amount of time, dedication, and focus.

The issues the judges deal with brought to by the public are issues requiring attention because of their importance and value. When a case is chosen, in court each attorney has thirty minutes to state their case. Once all the court tension and conflict are dealt with, the justices take several days to reflect and vote on the case. When the group's decision is made, then one of the judges must write a paper outlining their opinion on the case providing a clear and better understanding of their choices.