Marley

GRACE SANDERS
Today: I had tea with my mother.

=Status Updates:=

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1850- My brothers are flipping over a new fabric called “genes”, They are very heavy duty pants and the gold miners in California are buying them up, we can only assume that the pants will stay with the working class of society. =====

1851- My brother is in uproar about the new law in Maine prohibiting alcohol; he can hardly believe that this is a law.

1852- I was looking at the news today and to my surprise I see a small story about a women by the name of Emma Snodgrass, she had been taken to court for wearing men’s trousers. I could never go out in pants but I believe that she should have the right to dress as she wills it as long as it is not offensive to her stature.

1853- In Austria, there is a new law banning Jews from owning land … seems a bit like how we have it here dosnt it?

1854- The new land of Kansas and Nebraska has been on debate of weither to be a free state or a slave state. Congress has decided to approve the Kansas-Nebraska act which allows the state to vote about being a slave state or a free state.. I have a feeling this is going to turn out very bad.

1855- As I thought, the Kansas-Nebraska act was not a good idea. Aboliniost and dead set slave owners are running to the new states to claim land and vote on the states soil status, free or not?

1856- A large wreck not far from our hometown. A large train accident happened this year over 60 people died. I t was terrible and just a little fact of how we still ride with the devil when we ride the train.

1857- The poles are in Kansas has been fighting over being a slave state or not. In an overwhelming vote, Kansas approved its self as being the free state.

1858- “A house divided against itself cannot stand” Abraham Lincoln. No truer words have been spoken, our states are slowing crumbling at the thought of the obvious and impending war.

1859- Organ is now a free state, it’s not much of a surprise but by now tensions are boiling in the South.

1860- Our 16th president is now in office his name is Abraham Lincoln. I can hardly express how excited I am. He has such amazing plans for our country!

= = =NOTES:=

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I see my children play in the streets with the other children and cant help but look at the black children and a tear comes to my eyes. I once had a very close friend who used to tell me about her time as a slave. She would describe to me everything, the work, the cruelty, and the abuse. She had run away with her mother when she was only 8 years old. That was what she told me the most of. Of her running away of the fear that surrounded her as her and her mom would hide, the threat of dogs and white men ever present. I remember her dearly during this time because she was truly a close friend of mine. I also remember my mothers face as she yelled at me for spending time with a “nigger”, though I remember even more clearly the site of Akeela being dragged away as the slave catchers found her and her mother and took her though the streets back to the South. Slavery has always been a part of society and not until recently people have really begun to see it for the truly cruel thing that slavery is. Slavery is a group of humans, yes I said humans not 3/5 of a human a full human being who are treated as dirt. Slavery is disgusting and if I were a man I would go out and fight in this war. My husband does not feel as strongly as I do and I don’t believe he should have to go to fight even if I do agree in the war, and I do believe in the war. Slavery only exists because we followed the ways of those before us, we enslaved those who we saw as less then us enslaved them because they were a different color, because they were not catholic, but really it was because we needed a reason to put down people who were different from us.=====

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**“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Indpendence.** ======

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Brilliant, a huge piece of our history. Sadly, the line, “All men are created equal” is more of a pick and choose of who is treated equally. This is what we are fighting for: the ability for all to be equal and for the oppressed to do what they wish. We sending our men to go fight for the common belief that, “all men are created equal” it is my greatest wish that we will win this war. Though when you see how our country is being ran now you would hardly believe that we fought a war for the ideals stated in The Declaration of Independence. Now we are fighting because the ideals the most intelligent men in the United States at that time had written, were denied. I see a war being fought for the slaves but I don’t see a war being fought for I. Well “I” being me and my fellow women, who are also being oppressed, we are here to have the children and nothing else and even my husband who lets me be more of myself then most husbands allow their wives. I dream of a time where all men AND women are created equal. I turely hope we can have that but the future is bleak and grim. All men are created equal but they are not treated equal. The creators creations are opressing each other, denying them their unalienable right such as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."=====

Note 3:

I have a very near and dear sister who decided to come down from New York and see me for a week or two. She and I were talking about the Fourth of July festival. Half way through, she suddenly gasped. She ran to her suitcase and pulled out a newspaper article about a black man named Frederick Douglass, he used to be a slave but was able to buy his freedom, She threw the newspaper in my face, the tile was, “What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July” It was the title to a speech made by Fredrick Douglass. I read it and was awed by the way he spoke held so much power even on paper. I was surprised he was even allowed the things he was saying about our country, our country, which was truly only like a child at the young age of 70 and our country, which was supposed to hold a new future for all. While I celebrate the day of freedom with my children their faces covered in blueberries and their hands stained red from the cherries or raspberries, I look at them with so much joy that they can be free. Though slave mothers in the South look at their children on the fourth of July and have to realize that this could be the last time that they see the round face of their childs youth, of the innocence in their eyes. They see that and I can only imagine have to stop themselves from crying because while I am celebrating the freedom that our country had won, they have to explain why the white part of America was the only one who gained anything from the Revolutionary war. Fredrick Douglass finshes his speech with “ Until that year, day, hour, arrive, With head, and heart, and hand I’ll strive, To break the rod, and rend the gyve, The spoiler of his prey deprive- So witness Heaven! And never from my chosen post, Whate’er the peril or the cost, Be driven.” I pray that this year, day, hour, arrives.

=Pictures:=

[[image:Photo_212.jpg width="320" height="240"]]Two beautiful sisters
Silly faces Moose! Look how nice my wedding ring looks here. Making faux nervous faces Big happy smiles! Too cute <3 Scared faces The happy older sister and the grumpy younger one =P Fish faces to end the day with

My Family Album: My mother and my father My son dressing up like a little war boy My aunt Marigold who is in a hospital for her "visions" My mother after my fathers funeral A picture of my elder sister Lidia, she refuses to speak to any of our family since she moved to the South the live with her husband a slave owner. My Husband William <3 My friends and I in my backyard. My three brothers had all decided to go into the railroad business. The two furthest to the left are Charlie and Devon, Spencer is the older one posing up front with the shovel.

Citations: [] [] [] [] [] [] [[http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1850_1860.htm|http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1850_1860.htm

]][[http://www.storyhavenstudio.com/images/civil%20war%20ladies.jpg|http://www.storyhavenstudio.com/images/civil%20war%20ladies.jpg

]][[http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Diamond.jpg|http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Diamond.jpg ]][[http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/cwimages/portraits/index.html|http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/cwimages/portraits/index.html ]][[http://www.goodart.org/fwcharl.jpg|http://www.goodart.org/fwcharl.jpg ]][[http://www.lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org/USER/Matlocks.jpg|http://www.lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org/USER/Matlocks.jpg ]][[http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/26navvie.htm|http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/26navvie.htm ]][[http://www.lavera-photo-stories.com/index.php?p=1659|http://www.lavera-photo-stories.com/index.php?p=1659 ]][] [|http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-194.jpg][]