Ceila: A Slave--论文代写范文精选

51due论文代写网精选代写范文：“Ceila: A Slave”  这是一个关于奴隶西莉亚的故事。奴隶制度无疑塑造了美国的发展，这是一个核心因素，北方工业和南方农业之间关系十分紧张。在美国内战前的几年里,反对奴隶制的联邦呼声越来越强,奴隶制的争论变得激烈。

Ceila, A Slave Critical Assessment of Celia, a Slave Slavery is undoubtedly one of the most significant issues that shaped the development of the United States. It was a core factor in the growing tensions between the industrial North and the agricultural South. For many years, the population remained relatively passive to the question of the righteousness of slavery, but in the years preceding the Civil War, anti-slavery alliances grew stronger and the debate over slavery raged across the nation. This was a time when the nation itself was expanding, and at the heart of the slavery debates was the question of whether or not new states would allow slavery. 

Slavery in the new state of Kansas was under heavy debate, and this debate bled over into the political scene of Missouri, the slaveholding state in which the story of Celia, a Slave takes place. Celia, a Slave is a book written by Melton A. McLaurin which details the events surrounding the murder trial of Celia, an adolescent slave girl. While telling the story of Celias life and tragic end, the story also illustrates the broader political backdrop of the era. Melton A. McLaurins book Celia, a Slave brings to light the moral questions of slavery which dominated the political debates of Antebellum America. Celia was only fourteen years old when she was purchased by Robert Newsom in 1850. 

 Robert Newsom was a well-respected Missouri farmer and a healthy sexagenarian who had outlived his wife. Newsom sexually abused Celia from the very beginning, starting with a rape on the way home from her purchase. Newsom had a cabin specifically constructed for Celia behind his home. For five years Newsom abused Celia on a regular basis, resulting in at least two children. Celia was also involved in a relationship with George, another slave on the farm. George grew tired of Celias relations with Newsom and told her that he wanted nothing to do with her if she did not tell him to leave her alone. This prompted Celia to approach Newsom and demand that he leave her alone. He refused, and paid her a visit that very night. When he tried to rape her, Celia struck him twice over the head, killing him, and burned his body in the fireplace. At first she denied the murder, but then confessed to the act. George aided in the investigation by pointing to Celia as well. Celia was brought to trial for the murder, and was provided with court-appointed defense attorneys. Celia was given a thorough defense, which was based on two laws in the state of Missouri. 

 One law protected women from unwanted sexual advances, and the other allowed slaves to fight for their own lives. Despite the honest effort by the defense, the judge threw out almost all of the defenses argument for consideration by the jury. As a result, Celia is found guilty. Her case is appealed to the Supreme Court unsuccessfully. She is hanged for the murder of Robert Newsom at age nineteen. In this book, McLaurin uses one specific microcosm, the Newsom farm, to illustrate what life was like as a slave, and what little control one had over his or her life. He writes, The sexual vulnerability of female slaves was not simply a metaphor that forcefully conveyed the power of slaveholding men. It was a reality of life under slavery (117). 

 Celia is a victim not only of constant sexual abuse by her master, but also of the law. The law in Missouri stated that slaves could not testify against whites, thus preventing Celia from stating her case to the court. She had no defense other than that which is given to her by whites, and even when defended, her defenders fell under scrutiny by other whites. McLaurin uses Celias case to expose the paradoxical nature of the people versus property debate. There are clearly many was that Celia is unquestionably a human being, regardless or skin color or status. Even though considered property, the fact that slaves could walk, think, speak, and bear children made their denial of human rights all the more unacceptable. Aside from the obvious human factors, McLaurin shows that Celia is intelligent, as she is able to successfully destroy Newsoms body. 

 Had Celia been able to testify, she might have been convincing enough to elude execution. The state of Missouri stripped Celia of the most basic human rights and supported the notion that she was the property of another human being and not one herself. McLaurin describes slavery as a system that regarded humans as property to be used for whatever purpose their owners might wish (117). Another issue that McLaurin emphasizes is that of gender. Celia is presented with a double-sided challenge; not only is she black, but she is also a woman in a male-dominated society. At this time, even white women were to an extent viewed upon as the property of their husbands. Free women, however, were protected from men other than their husbands. McLaurin writes, One of the essential differences between slave and free women was that free women were protected from sexual assault by the law (117). 

The defense was placed at a disadvantage by the fact that white women were not protected from their husbands, because had Celias action been ruled justifiable, she would have essentially been given even more rights than a white woman. McLaurin explains, [Acceptance of the defenses argument] would have given more protection to slave than free woman, because it would have allowed slave women the right to resist the sexual advances of any man, including masters and husbands, since slave marriages were not afforded legal status (117). 

 McLaurin demonstrates that in a time in which all women, regardless of race, were oppressed to some degree on the basis of gender, the fact that Celia was both a woman and a slave made it twice as unlikely for her to achieve McLaurin spends a significant amount of time in this book discussing the broader political situations of the time. These discussions serve to illustrate the context of Celias trial, and to highlight the moral dilemmas that were faced. Senator Stephen Douglas had recently repealed the Missouri Compromise with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the possibility of the expansion of slavery into the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Senator and Missouri resident David R. Atchinson sought to make Kansas a slave state. Proslavery Missourians were manipulating the political scene in Kansas on a mission to see slavery triumph. 

 McLaurin writes, Atchinson immediately set about to enhance his reputation as Missouris leading proslavery advocate by using his supporters to control territorial elections in KansasThe Missourians swept proslavery legislators into power in Kansas (66). This intervention on the Missourians part enraged those who opposed slavery. With heavy presence of both the proslavery and anti-slavery sides, the debate over slaverys morality in Missouri boiled to great proportions. In Missouri, the debate acquired an even more strident, threatening tone, and eventually plunged the state into violence that threatened its citizens with civil war, writes McLaurin (62). Incidentally, Celias trial and the decision by Judge Hall took place in the midst of this fiery situation. McLaurin explains, Hall also probably understood that the trial held at least some potential to contribute to the ongoing national debate over slavery (81). McLaurin provides no direct explanation as to Halls attitude toward slavery, as he writes, Halls views about slavery are unknown (81). 

At first Hall appears to be against slavery, as he appoints Celia with competent defense attorneys who give her the best possible defense, but our perception of his views are turned completely backwards when he makes it virtually impossible for Celia to escape execution by not permitting the jury to consider many of the defenses key points. With McLaurin unable to provide Halls views toward slavery with the resources available, this judgment McLaurin has a limited base of evidence available with which to write this book, however he makes successful use of what he has. The majority of McLaurins knowledge of Celias trial comes from file 4496 of the Callaway County courthouse, State of Missouri versus Celia, a Slave. Other primary sources include census reports, marriage records, and books published at the time. McLaurin also uses articles from many different newspapers of the time, including the Examiner, Liberator, and New York Times. 

 While the bulk of McLaurins work comes from studying these primary sources, he also consults secondary sources, written generations after Celias time. McLaurin is able to answer many questions with the use of this evidence. First of all, we know the pattern of abuse that takes place on the Newsom farm. We know of the children Celia bears and her relationship with George that ultimately drove Celia to murder Newsom. While the question of Georges involvement can be considered open-ended by the reader, McLaurin directly blames George for driving Celia into her situation: It was Georges male ego that placed Celia in the quandary that let to Newsoms death and her arrest, conviction, and execution (139). Also, through his research, he is able to tell us what the laws were and how they were traditionally interpreted. For example, McLaurin quotes historian Eugene Genoveses observation: Rape meant, by definition, rape of white women, for no such crime as rape of a black woman existed at law (111). 

McLaurin is also able to give an in-depth scope of both the local and national political scene, as previously mentioned, as well as giving the slave owning status of virtually every man involved in the trial. Still, some questions remain unanswered. McLaurin is at a disadvantage because a transcription of the trial does not exist verbatim; only summaries exist. From a transcription of the trial we would gain a deeper insight that might reveal certain things said in the testimonies that might have compelled the judge, and consequently the jury, to act in the manner in which they did. Also, McLaurins research does not fully reveal the personalities and interactions of those involved, which will always affect to a degree the course of human events. This is not to McLaurins discredit, as such information would be impossible to define with the evidence available. Such are the limitations of a case-study approach such as this. McLaurins book Celia, a Slave is a well-written work which explains in detail the course of Celias trial. 

 Although not every question raised achieves closure, many fundamental themes are addressed. Historians such as McLaurin, as well as history students, must accept that with history comes uncertainty. McLaurin makes splendid use of his limited resources. Although thorough, McLaurin could improve his work by including in the book some of the newspaper articles of the time which he used. This would enable the reader to feel more connected to the events, and aid more to place the reader in historical context. However, the lack of independent primary sources does not detract from McLaurins own writing. Celia, a Slave, by Melton A. McLaurin, is a wonderful addition to the study of slavery and African-American womens Bibliography: McLaurin, Melton. Celia, a Slave. University of Georgia press. -X

51Due网站原创范文除特殊说明外一切图文著作权归51Due所有；未经51Due官方授权谢绝任何用途转载或刊发于媒体。如发生侵犯著作权现象，51Due保留一切法律追诉权。

更多论文代写范文欢迎访问我们主页 www.51due.com 当然有论文代写需求可以和我们24小时在线客服 QQ:800020041 联系交流。