Historical and Cultural aspect (entry #6)

When Sojourner Truth's first slave narrative was published in 1850 the United States was in a heated battle on the issue of slavery. 1850 was a very important year in U.S history as key political decisions on slavery threatened to further the gap between North and South. The slave based legislation passed at this period was a attempt to appease the South. Despite efforts to reduce tensions between the two demographics, relations between the north and south would boil over to war. Events such as Nat Turners revolt (1831), canning of Senator Charles Sumner (1856), John Brown (1859), Bleeding Kansas (1853-'61), and the election of President Abraham Lincoln would be strong catalysts in South's push for succession.

Sojourner Truth's narrative was published the same year the Missouri Compromise of 1850 was agreed upon. In earlier years of the United States, the balance of slave and free states were fairly well maintained. Whenever a free state entered the Union a slave state would most likely fallow to the south (vice versa). Balance of power between the two divisions was, for the most part, equal. Multiple events occurred that disrupted this balance. As a result of the Mexican war, the United States obtained vast amounts of land from Mexico. There was debate about how the territory would be divided, and which states would be admitted as a free or slave state. In addition, Texas had a land dispute out where its borders were (at the time Texas said its state extended all the way to Santa Fe). Finally, California requested that it be admitted to the Union as a free state (Africans in America).

Henry Clay, U.S Senator from Kentucky, took charge to find out a workable compromise that plagued States and the Federal Government. Clay's compromise called that Texas would relinquish some of it's land (but be compensated with ten million dollars), the territories of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona would be admitted without slave or free state status (giving residence a referendum to decide), and California would be admitted to the Union as a free state. To pacify the pro-slavery political sect Clay proposed The Fugitive Slave Act (Africans in America).

Ironically, the year Sojourner Truth's narrative and her contemporary's, Frederick Douglass, narrative was in circulation to protest equal rights and advocate abolition, a act was passed that strengthened slavery. The law appointed commissioners in every county of the United States to oversee that the law was observed. The commissioners were able to use Federal Marshalls and the military to enforce the law. The law required that runaway slaves were returned to their masters, because a runaway was technically stealing his master's property. Anyone harboring a runaway or aiding one could be fined or jailed. The alleged fugitive was not able to testify on his/her behalf nor was he/she allowed trial by jury. The commissioner would hear the case of the fugitive and the claimant. The commissioner would receive five dollars if he ruled against the claimant, but he was paid ten dollars if he ruled in favor (Finkleman). In other words, the commissioner had a larger incentive to rule in favor of the claimant.

The act obviously received strong opposition from the north, but it was nothing compared to the violence the compromise instilled in the new states admitted into the Union. It was a terrible move for Congress to let the citizens of the territory to decide their status as a free or slave state. The area that would soon become Kansas became a battleground between slave and free states. Inhabitants of the territory were harassed by free state and slave state advocates. Harassing turned to violence as many free state and slave state advocate flocked to the territory to try to push their agendas. Violence erupted throughout the territory as both sides tortured and killed each other. Many would be killed as the whole event would be labeled as Bleeding Kansas. In 1861 after much bloodshed and violence, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state.

Sojourner Truth's narrative was published as tensions between anti-slavery, abolitionists, and pro-slavery positions were severely escalating. Sojourner Truth's argument about the treacheries of slavery only helped to instill the north to push for it's agenda. The publication of Truth's narrative marked the point where the rift between north and south would be miles wide, and the large blood spread between the two sides.

"Bleeding Kansas." PBS. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .

"Compromise of 1850." PBS. Web. 27 Nov. 2009.
Finkleman, Paul. "Fugitive Slave Law of 1850." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass. Ed. PaulFinkleman. Oxford African American Studies Center. Fri Nov 27, 2009. .