The History of Slavery

We read a really fabulous book this week: "Amos Fortune: Free Man", by Elizabeth Yates.

We've begun to near the start of the Civil War with our Truthquest History. I've looked forward to this topic for quite awhile since I learned absolutely nothing about it in school. All I've ever known I learned from movies like "Gone With the Wind", and the mini-series "North and South" (Can I just say, Patrick Swayze!). We know the north wore blue, the south wore grey. I was taught the north was right, the south was wrong. I was taught that it was all about slavery...evil people keeping slaves.

I remember very clearly reading a forum post about this war, and "hearing" very angry voices. This puzzled me a bit, and like a train wreck, I stopped to "watch". I was mortified to learn that not everyone thinks as highly of Abraham Lincoln as we always have. Gasp. I also learned that many people refuse to call it the "Civil War", but the "War Between the States". Lastly, I was shocked with declarations that this particular war was not about slavery. What could they possibly mean? As a rather entrenched northerner, I wandered. Indoctrinated? Most assuredly.

Michelle Miller, author of Truthquest, has done a fabulous job with her dialogs proceeding each area of study. Though not really that close to actually studying the war, (we probably won't get into the war until fall) she has laid the ground work for the growing un-rest. Issues of states rights are new to me (in regard to the North/South conflict).

She has also begun to show us just how entrenched in slavery this nation had become. To her credit, she speaks generally of various types of slavery. Including Biblical. That really has given us "Ah-ha" moments. As we've studied God's Word and learned about Biblical principles of self-government and "conscience as our most sacred of property" we better understand the idea that we are all slaves to sin and we often choose slavery, rather than a freedom that may be more costly. We reflect on the Israelites and their flight from Egypt; their constant turning from freedom of Godly worship to slavery of having things handed to them (compromise) and even today, we look at our country and the many loss of liberties that will eventually choke us and enslave us.

So as we read the book by Elizabeth Yates, we marveled how this slave turned free man, found his freedom in honoring God. We read how he described so many white men as being slaves to their money, their drink, their hatred, their thoughts. So many kinds of slavery!... I hadn't realized that this book was a true story. I highly recommend it!

As we've read further, and are getting more into this part of our nations HIStory, certain things have begun to make more sense to me. For instance, how a nation could actually turn guns on one another. The weird part is, I can kinda imagine it happening again. Hmmm. I look forward to studying this topic further and getting an even better picture of the truth.