In the sixteenth century, the English colonies in Northern America were already diverse. The New England
colonies were mostly havens for settlers who wanted to get away from Europe and make a living.
Consequently, the pattern there was small farms, worked to provide for the settlers themselves.. In the
southern colonies, such as Virginia and the Carolinas, the climate enabled the farmers there to grow crops
that fetched a good price in Europe, such as tobacco, corn and later rice and cotton. This meant that the
farms in the south were much bigger. They were called ‘plantations’. In all colonies, a form of slavery
existed. Criminals and prisoners of war (Scots and Irish) orphans and sometimes even abducted children
were sentenced to ‘transportation’ to America where they worked as so-called ‘indentured servants’. As a
punishment and to pay for the cost of shipping them to America, these people had to work as slaves for
seven years. At the end of the period, their master was supposed to give them a little plot of land an tools
so they could eke out a living (the idea being that they would never go back to Britain). Many masters
were so harsh that the indentured servants did not survive those seven years.
The planters in the South found that the climate did not suit the indentured workers. . Native Americans
knew the land too well and escaped when imprisoned, or sometimes willed themselves to die. In the
early seventeenth century the planters started importing Africans.
The first African slaves landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.
They were at first also indentured servants, meaning that after a
number of years they were set free and were allowed to start small
farms. The number of slaves imported was small at first. But as the
plantations grew the need for more labour became more pressing
and there was less land available. Using all kinds of arguments,
from Biblical quotes to racist ideas of colour superiority, the states
started making laws that allowed them to hold slaves. Generally, in
the northern colonies, slaves were used as domestics and in trade;
in the Middle-Atlantic colonies they were used more in agriculture;
and in the southern colonies, where plantation agriculture was the
primary occupation, almost all slaves were used to work the
plantations. The slave trade, started by the Portuguese and
Spaniards, was taken over by the English and Dutch.
Slaves were captured or bought, mainly from West-Africa, and
brought to America in slave-ships. The conditions aboard these
slave-ships were appalling, and it was not unusual for a quarter of
the slaves to die during the passage.
Formally, the slaves had some rights. An owner was supposed to
have sick slaves attended to and to take care of slaves in their old age. Slaves were allowed to have
religious instruction and they could marry. But in practice, the treatment of slaves depended on the owner
because nobody bothered. Slaves were branded, their families broken up, women got raped and fugitives
were whipped, tortured or killed. There were a number of slave uprisings, which in turn led to harder
suppression. Even though the slaves came from areas as far apart as Angola and Senegal, and spoke
different languages, a number of common characteristics developed. The slaves had very strong family
ties, and even if many families were broken up. Slave owners realised the slaves would work harder if
they were allowed to form families. Within those families, women had a role more equal to that of men
than existed in white society. The women were field workers as well as mothers and carers, and worked
side by side with their men. The slaves brought with them their music, which gradually absorbed the
church teachings they (sometimes) received. In their stories and songs were many hidden messages. The
central theme of slave religion was delivery, meaning that one day they would have freedom, reaching the
‘Promised Land’ as the Hebrews in the Bible had.
During the 17th and 18th centuries slavery was not criticised much in America or elsewhere. Britain
made huge profits out of its so-called triangular trade (manufactured goods to Africa, sold for a profit,
slaves bought from that profit and transported to the West-Indies and American colonies, produce from
these regions back to Britain).
In the colonies, and, after the War of Independence, in the new United States of America, criticism and
doubts such as there were countered by quotes from the Bible and references to classical authors,
which ‘proved’ that black people were meant to be slaves or that all great civilizations had known
slavery. Later, when the criticism grew, ‘scientific’ and ‘sociological’ arguments were used, black people
were either ‘morally inferior’ or ‘childish and helpless’ or ‘degenerate’.
Some groups, however, such as the Quakers, a sect that established itself in New England, were
against any form of slavery. In the early 19th century the movement for abolition of slavery grew rapidly.
First Denmark, then Great Britain abolished the slave trade, and by the 1840s the trade had been
outlawed. The United States government complied, but did not abolish slavery itself. One of the reasons
was, that a man called Eli Whitney had invented a machine called the ‘cotton gin’. This ‘gin’ could
separate the lint from the seed of cotton so fast that the planting and production of cotton became highly
profitable, and cotton soon became the number one export article for the Southern states. To work the
cotton fields, the Southerners felt they could not do without slave labour. There is a great historical
debate about this, whether it is true or not. In the North, thousands of immigrants were coming in,
providing cheap labour for the rapidly industrialising Northern states. Could the South have used
immigrant labour as well? On the other hand, the Southerners pointed out that conditions for the
workers in the North were often worse than those the slaves in the South lived in. A slave cost hundreds
of dollars, by the 1850s as much as 1500$, and so was a costly investment. Historical research has
shown that not all slaves were badly treated. The picture of the plantation overseer wielding a whip all
the time has to be placed beside the fact that a large minority of slaves, maybe 40% were owned by
small farmers who often worked side by side with their slaves and had a stake in keeping them relatively
happy and healthy, as they would treat their farm animals.
Nevertheless, there was cruelty, a good master was judged by the lightness of his whipping, not by the
absence of it, and, most importantly, the slaves were not free. As the abolitionist movement grew, other
differences between the Northern states and the Southern states led to increasing friction. The North
was industrialising, the South remained a predominantly agrarian society. The South was becoming
dependent on the North for manufactured goods and shipping, so the profits from cotton and tobacco
were diminished by what the South had to pay the North.
The South was beginning to feel dominated by the North, and the slavery question was a catalyst for
other, economical and political differences.
What caused the Civil War?
There were many reasons for a Civil War to happen in America, and political issues and disagreements
began soon after the American Revolution ended in 1782. Between the years 1800 and 1860, arguments
between the North and South grew more intense. It was the agrarian (South) versus the industrializing
(North) society. One of the main quarrels was about taxes paid on goods brought into this country
from foreign countries. This tax was called a tariff. Southerners felt these tariffs were unfair and aimed
toward them because they imported a wider variety of goods than most Northern people. Taxes were also
placed on many Southern goods that were shipped to foreign countries, an expense that was not always
applied to Northern goods of equal value. An awkward economic structure allowed states and private
transportation companies to do this, which also affected Southern banks that found themselves paying
higher interest rates on loans made with banks in the North. The situation grew worse after several
"panics", including one in 1857 that affected more Northern banks than Southern. Southern financiers
found themselves burdened with high payments just to save Northern banks that had suffered financial
losses through poor investment.
In the years before the Civil War the political power in the Federal government, centered in Washington,
D.C., was changing. Northern and mid-western states were becoming more and more powerful as the
populations increased. Southern states lost political power because the population did not increase as
rapidly. As one portion of the nation grew larger than another, people began to talk of the nation as
sections. This was called sectionalism. Just as the original thirteen colonies fought for their independence
almost 100 years earlier, the Southern states felt a growing need for freedom from the central Federal
authority in Washington. Southerners believed that state laws carried more weight than Federal laws, and
they should abide by the state regulations first. This issue was called State's Rights and became a very
warm topic in congress.
Another quarrel between the North and South and perhaps the most emotional one, was over the issue of
slavery. America was an agricultural nation and crops such as cotton were in demand around the world.
Cotton was a plant that grew well in the southern climate, but it was a difficult plant to gather and process.
Labor in the form of slaves were used on large plantations to plant and harvest cotton as well as sugar,
rice, and other cash crops. The invention of the Cotton Gin had made cotton more profitable for southern
growers. Whitney's invention revolutionized the cotton industry and Southern planters saw their profits
soar as more and more of them relied on cotton as their main cash crop. Slaves were a central part of
economy.
Slavery had been a part of the Southern way of life for well over 200 years and was protected not only by
state laws, but Federal law as well. The Constitution of the United States guaranteed the right to own
property and protected everyone against the seizure of property. A slave was viewed as property
in the South and was important to the economics of the Southern cotton industry. The people of the
Southern states did not appreciate Northern people, especially the abolitionists, telling them that slave
ownership was a great wrong. This created a great amount of debate, mistrust, and misunderstanding.
The differences between the states were marked by a series of conflicts in the 19th century which, in the
end led to the Civil War. The first great conflict was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In the early
19th century the nation grew in size and so did the opportunities for expansion westward so the number
of states was growing. The South, feeling the criticism of abolitionists, wanted to keep the number of
slave states in balance with the number of non-slave states, because in the North, most states had
abolished slavery by that time. Missouri was to be a new state, and the Southern states wanted it to be
a slave state. A bitter quarrel broke out. In the end, Missouri was to be a slave state but only because
the new state of Maine was also added to the United States as a non-slave state. The United States had
bought a lot of territory from France in the so-called Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and the general
agreement was that newly- formed states above 36 latitude were to be ‘free’, and those below ‘slave’.
But sentiments did not follow the agreement, and both abolitionists and pro-slavery groups did their best
to influence the outcome.
The next incident served to strengthen the
Southerners in their beliefs that to free the
slaves would bring bloodshed and disaster
to the south. A slave, called Nat Turner,
managed to organise a rebellion that got
beyond the planning stage. Turner
presented himself as a religious leader,
who, between 1821 and 1828, had a
number of visions which called him to do a
‘great work’, which involved rising and
slaying his enemies ‘with their own
weapons.’
In February, 1831, there was an eclipse of
the sun. Turner took four helpers into his
confidence and started making plans.
On August 13, there was an atmospheric
disturbance in which the sun appeared
bluish-green. This was the final sign, and a
week later, on August 21, Turner and six of his men set out to the household to which Turner ‘belonged’,
where they killed the entire family as they lay sleeping. They continued on, from house to house, killing all
of the white people they encountered. Turner's force eventually consisted of more than 40 slaves, most on
horseback.
At noon, Turner decided to march toward the closest town. The whites had by now been alerted and
Turner’s ‘troops’ fought a short but hopeless battle against the militia. Many were killed. Turner fled and
hid out till he was discovered on October 30. We know so much because his ‘confessions’ were written
down by a doctor while Turner was in jail. Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and
sentenced to execution. He was hanged, and then skinned, on November 11.
In total, the state executed 55 people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. The state reimbursed
the slaveholders for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 black
people, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion, were murdered by white mobs. In addition,
slaves as far away as North Carolina were accused of having a connection with the insurrection, and were
subsequently tried and executed.
The state legislature of Virginia considered abolishing slavery, but in a close vote decided to retain slavery
and to support a repressive policy against black people, slave and free.
Another cause for the hardening of attitudes between the North and South was the so-called
Underground Railroad. This was the nickname for the set-up through which runaway slaves could
escape to free states or Canada (the latter because the free states were obliged to hand back runaway
slaves) Fugitives and the people who aided them used many railroad terms as code words. For example,
hiding places were called stations, and people who helped the runaways were known as conductors.
Food, clothing and shelter were needed, and given by other slaves in the South, and Quakers and other
abolitionists in the North. One of the most famous ‘conductors’ was Harriet Tubman a runaway slave
herself. She returned to the South 19 times and helped about 300 blacks escape to freedom.
The Underground Railroad was a thorn in the side of the slave-owners, and they repeatedly pointed out
that the law was on their side.
In 1793, the U.S. Congress passed a fugitive slave law allowing owners to recover slaves merely by
presenting proof of ownership before a magistrate. An order was then issued for the arrest and return of
the escaped slaves, who were forbidden a jury trial and the right to give evidence in their own behalf.
Under this law, free blacks in the North were sometimes kidnapped and taken South as slaves. For this
reason, some Northern states gave orders not to help recover fugitive slaves.
In 1850, North and South reached a compromise. People who helped slaves escape were fined heavily.
But some Northern states passed personal liberty laws, which sometimes prohibited state and local
officers from obeying national fugitive slave laws. Still, the compromise seemed to work for a number of
years and some historians say it put off war for another ten years. Other historians, however, say the Civil
War started as early as 1854, when trouble arose over the new territories Kansas and Nebraska.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress in 1854. It gave the settlers in those territories the
right to decide in all questions all questions of slavery. It was an attempt to appease Southern
congressmen and was directly contrary to the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The debate in Congress was
long and bitter. But the President, Franklin Pierce, supported the bill, and it became law. The KansasNebraska Act made slavery legally possible in a vast new area. As a result, armed pro-slavery and antislavery supporters rushed in to settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election held there after the
law went into effect. Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were charged with fraud by anti-slavery
settlers, and the results were not accepted by them.
The anti-slavery settlers held another election, however pro-slavery settlers refused to vote. This resulted
in the establishment of two opposing legislatures within the Kansas territory. Fighting ensued between the
pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, which were led by John Brown. The territory earned the nickname
"bleeding Kansas" as the death toll rose. Federal troops were sent in to stop the violence and end the antislavery legislature. Another vote was cast, with the same result as the first vote. Congress refused to
make Kansas a state. In the long run anti-slavery settlers outnumbered pro-slavery settlers and a new
constitution was drawn up. Just before the start of the Civil War, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a
free state.
Yet another conflict rose after the Dred Scott Decision The decision, which was made in 1857, declared
that no black--free or slave--could claim United States citizenship. It also stated that Congress could not
prohibit slavery in United States territories.
Dred Scott was an African-American slave. He had lived in free states for a long time, because his owner
was an army doctor who travelled around. Scott took his case to court when his master died and he was
re-sold. Scott claimed he should be a free man as he had spent so much time in free states. The case
went all the way up to the Supreme Court, because many people wanted a clear decision on whether a
slave could become a free man and a US citizen. But the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, stating that
neither a slave nor a descendant could ever be a citizen. The ruling served to turn back the clock
concerning the rights of African-Americans, ignoring the fact
that black men in five of the original States had been full
voting citizens dating back to the Declaration of
Independence in 1776. Another effect of the ruling was that
it stated that Congress could not stop slavery in the newly
emerging territories and that the Missouri Compromise of
1820 to be was unconstitutional because it robbed slaveowners of their ‘property’ without due process of law. In the
North, the ruling was seen as proof that the South wanted to
extend its influence and ‘take over’ the Union. The lawyer
and politician Abraham Lincoln was one of the opponents of
the ruling and it set him on a course of action that would
take him to the White House.
Abraham Lincoln was a simple man who had taught himself and, after having had all kinds of jobs,
became a lawyer and even a Congressman. He retired from Congress after one term, concentrating on
his lawyer’s practice. The Dred Scott case led him to come out again and oppose Senator Douglas for a
seat in the Senate. He made a very favourable impression during his campaign. Lincoln was not in favour
of abolishing slavery altogether. He found the institution morally wrong, but believed it would die out
because of economic changes. He predicted that by 1900, the problem would have resolved itself. His
view was that slavery should be contained where it was, and not be allowed to spread further in the
growing United States. His failure to see how much the South’s prosperity at that time was tied to cotton
and thus to slaves, and his refusal to debate his views with Southerners (he said that he had made his
views quite plain in speeches) made the South very wary of him, while actually he posed no threat to the
status quo.
In 1859, a radical abolitionist from Kansas named John Brown raided the Federal armory at Harpers
Ferry, Virginia, in the hopes of supplying weapons to an army of slaves that would revolt against their
southern masters. A number of people were taken hostage and several killed. Brown was cornered with
several of his followers in a fire engine house, first by Virginia militia and then by Federal troops sent to
arrest him and his raiders. These troops stormed the building and captured Brown and several of his men.
Brown was tried for his crimes, found guilty, and hung in Charlestown. Though John Brown's raid had
failed, it fueled the passions of northern abolitionists who made him a martyr. It was reported that bells
tolled in sympathy to John Brown in northern cities on the day he was executed. This inflamed passions in
the South where southern leaders used the incident as another reminder how little the South's interests
were represented in Federal law, labeled as sympathetic to runaways and anti-slavery organizations.
After the Raid at Harper’s Ferry events started following each other rapidly. Lincoln was suddenly seen as
a good Presidential candidate in the North, and as the arch- enemy in the South, who thought him to be
more radical than he actually was. After Lincoln’s election in 1860, civil war became inevitable. Abraham
Lincoln is often referred to as "The Great Emancipator" and yet, he did not publicly call for emancipation
throughout his entire life. Lincoln began his public career by claiming that he was "antislavery" -- against
slavery's expansion but not calling for immediate emancipation. However, the man who began as
"antislavery" eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in those states that
were in rebellion. He vigorously supported the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery throughout the
United States, and, in the last speech of his life, he recommended extending the vote to African
Americans.
Equality was another matter. He did not say they had a right to
complete equality with white American citizens. In the September 18,
1858 debate, Lincoln said:
I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favour of bringing
about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black
races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favour of making voters or
jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry
with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a
physical difference between the white and black races which I believe
forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and
political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do
remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I
,as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position
assigned to the white race.
Lincoln maintained before secession that the federal government did
not possess the constitutional power to end slavery in states where it
already existed and backed the Corwin Amendment to affirm this
principle.
Despite reassurances, many Southerners, who were Democrats, were afraid that Lincoln was not
sympathetic to their way of life and would not treat them fairly. The growing strength of the Republican
Party, viewed by many as the party friendly to abolitionists and northern businessmen, and the election of
the party's candidate was the last straw. Southern governors and political leaders called for state
referendums to consider articles of secession. South Carolina was the first state to officially secede from
the United States soon after the election and they were followed by six other Southern states. These
states joined together and formed a new nation which they named the Confederate States of America.
They elected Jefferson Davis, a Democratic senator, as the first president.
Lincoln could not abide that. For a while a waiting game ensued. In his inaugural address, Lincoln restated that he had no intention of abolishing slavery but that secession was impossible. Still he did not
want to use Federal troops unless attacked. It is important to remember the war started over secession,
not over slavery. It would take till 1863 before Lincoln finally promised the slaves freedom.
On April 12, 1861 the Confederate States of America attacked Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The fort
sits at the entrance to Charleston Harbor and was manned by Union troops who flew the United States
flag. The bombardment lasted many hours and the fort was heavily damaged, though no one was killed or
injured. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort and its garrison to the Confederate commanders.
Now that open conflict had started, President Lincoln responded with a call for volunteers from states still
loyal to the Union, to enlist and put down this treacherous act of rebellion. Alarmed that Lincoln would do
this, four more Southern states seceded and joined the Confederacy. The war that President Lincoln had
tried to avoid began anyway. War talk was on everyone's lips and sharp divisions took place, even among
families and neighbors.
At first, no one believed the war would last very long. Some people said it would take only a few months
and the fellows who volunteered to fight would come home heroes within a few weeks. No one realized
how determined the South was to be independent, nor did the South realize how determined the North
was to end the rebellion. Armies had to be raised in the North and the South, and every state was asked
to raise regiments of volunteers to be sent for service in the field. Many young men chose to enlist and
volunteered for military service. In the South, men readily went to war to protect their homes and save the
Southern way of life. Most did not believe that the government in Washington was looking out for the
South's interests and they were better off as a new nation where the states would make up their own laws.
Many were happy to be called rebels because they thought they were fighting against a tyrant like their
forefathers did against the British during the American Revolution. Northern men volunteered to put down
the rebellion of southern states and bind the nation back together. Most felt that the Southerners had
rebelled without good cause and had to be taught a lesson. Some also felt that slavery was an evil and
the war was a way abolish it.
No one knew how terrible war really was and how hard life as a soldier could be. They did not have
television or radio to communicate the terrible things that could happen. Politicians did not communicate
either, which was one of the main reasons for the war and misunderstandings between North and South.
The armies were raised and marched off to war. It was only after many battles and many lives were lost
that the American people realized how horrible war really was. The soldiers communicated with their
families and loved ones and told them of the hardships they endured and terrible scenes they had
witnessed.
The fighting of the American Civil War would last four long years at a cost of 620,000 lives. In the end
the Northern states prevailed- the country remained united, the Federal government was changed forever,
and slavery came to an end.
The Civil War was (and to some still is) a most painful episode in the history of the USA. Brother fought
against brother, sometimes literally. When the war began, each side thought victory would come soon.
The North was much stronger on paper, but the South had a long history of military tradition, the better
generals and more trained and motivated men in the beginning.
At the beginning of the war, the North had 4,5 million soldiers, the South 1 million. The South, which called
itself the Confederate States or The Confederacy had no navy and no arms industry to speak of. Sheer
bravery and superior strategy kept the South going for four years. Southerners were traditionally used to
carrying arms and had sent many men through military colleges. Southern cavalry was superior. The
Southern army mainly fought on home ground, and could live off the land. But the North had more men,
more supplies and could blockade Southern ports.
In the first half of the war the numerically superior Northerners were surprised time and again by the
tactics of the Southern general Robert E. Lee and his right hand ‘Stonewall’ Jackson. The battles of Shiloh
and Manassas were huge defeats for the North.
But neither side had
the opportunity or the
strength left to finish
off the other. In 1861
and 1862 Lee tried to
carry the war to the
North, in order to get
international
recognition for the
South. Indeed, many
foreign observers
attended the war and,
certainly in Britain,
which had fought the
US briefly in the
beginning of the
century, there were
those who would have
liked to help the South
finish off the Union.
Cotton interests played a role as well. But the longer the war lasted, the clearer it was that, in the long run,
the North must win. The South was effectively blockaded at sea, and its campaigns into the Northern
states were repelled. The turning point of the war came in 1863, with the battle of Gettysburg.
In the second half of the war the South's fate was decided when the North cut them off from the coast and
the Mississippi. Losses on both sides in the war were high, the fighting barbarous. Some battles now
seem a prelude to the First World War. Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle which signalled the end
of the South's invasion of the North.
The Northern generals Grant and Sherman were both ruthless in their own way. Grant was prepared to
sacrifice huge numbers of soldiers because he knew the South would not be able to keep up a war of
attrition. Sherman rode across Georgia and Carolina, burning and looting and thus depriving the South of
food and home bases. It was the first ‘modern’ usage of the ‘total war’ concept and Sherman’s name is still
cursed in some parts of the South. When the Southern army had lost its mobility and its spirit, Lee
surrendered in Appomatox.
By the end North and South had lost 650,000 men, one in every 10 combatants. The war had seen the
first use of trains as a strategic weapon, of observation balloons, the newly invented machine gun, new,
repeating rifles etc.
The victorious North tried to reorganise the burnt-out South. The Southern elite was not about to let that
happen and quickly adopted measures against negro equality the black codes: no vote, segregation, no
place in jury, no right to give evidence). Other restrictions meant they could not leave the place they
worked, or tied them to a certain boss for a year. Radical reformers cried out against these measures and
pressed for less reconciliation. In 1866 the 14th amendment emancipated negroes as citizens with the
same rights in court. Southern governments were abolished, and new ones voted in, in which negroes
took place as well.
In the following period, later called Reconstruction, Northern interests ruled in the South and created
much resentment. Carpetbaggers came to profit, helped by Southern Scalawags. It was a period in which
the North tried to reform the South politically and economically.
By 1877, however, the republican governments had been driven out, and much protection for negroes was
removed. Although theoretically equal, in practice they were economically still dependent. They were kept
in debt through the share-cropping system. Black freeholders were threatened and sometimes killed by
the Ku Klux Klan and others. These had the silent support of the rich and the open support the poor
whites who could not stomach negro emancipation. It would take till WW 2 until a new phase in black
emancipation started.
GO DOWN MOSES (Traditional)
When Israel was in Egypt's land
Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt's land
Tell ol' Pharaoh
To let my people go
Thus said the Lord, bold Moses said,
Let my people go,
If not, I'll smite your first-born dead,
Let my people go.
No more shall they in bondage toil,
Let them come out with Egypt's spoil.
The Lord told Moses what to do,
To lead the Hebrew children through.
O come along Moses, you'll not get lost,
Stretch out your rod and come across.
As Israel stood by the waterside,
At God's command it did divide.
When they reached the other shore,
They sang a song of triumph o'er.
Pharaoh said he'd go across,
But Pharaoh and his host were lost.
Jordan shall stand up like a wall,
And the walls of Jericho shall fall.
Your foes shall not before you stand,
And you'll possess fair Canaan's Land.
O let us all from bondage flee,
And let us all in Christ be free.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What kind of song is Go Down Moses?
Do you think that the song is simply a re-telling of the Bible
story about Moses and the flight from Egypt? Explain.
Listen to the following two songs. What do they have in
common?
What side does the narrator in both songs belong to? What
seems to be the attitude towards the war and its results?
We need not always weep and mourn,
And wear these slavery chains forlorn
1.
2.
3.
4.
What kind of song is Go Down Moses?
Do you think that the song is simply a re-telling of the Bible story about Moses and the
flight from Egypt? Explain.
Listen to the following two songs. What do they have in common?
What side does the narrator in both songs belong to? What seems to be the attitude
towards the war and its results?