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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 4: 1800-1848 335 Views


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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 4: 1800-1848. The "separation" that the American Colonization Society advocates for is...what?


Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by separation anxiety,

00:07

every pea pod's greatest fear.

00:11

All right, take a look at this excerpt.

00:13

All right. No argument is necessary... [ mumbles ]

00:17

All right, and the question:

00:18

The separation that the American Colonization Society

00:22

advocates for is... what?

00:24

And here are your potential answers.

00:26

[ mumbles ]

00:29

All right. Well, what exactly is the separation...

00:33

mentioned in the question? Hmm?

00:35

Well, if you look at the last of the excerpt - right here -

00:38

it says that "those who are now free

00:41

should be provided with the means of attaining... happiness,

00:45

which... they can never be likely to reach in this country."

00:49

Hmm.

00:50

So the American Colonization Society

00:52

was basically saying

00:54

that, should slaves be freed,

00:56

people had a responsibility to help them adjust to their new life.

01:01

Well, let's see which answer points to what exactly their plan was.

01:05

So was the separation referring to A -

01:08

freeing all slaves from the bonds of servitude?

01:11

Well, it definitely seems like the American Colonization Society

01:13

is advocating for the end of slavery.

01:17

But by saying that slaves can never be likely

01:19

to achieve happiness in this country, it seems like

01:21

racial discrimination was influencing their thinking.

01:24

[ oh, snap! ]

01:26

So, it probably isn't A.

01:28

And, in fact, that kind of discriminatory thought would also

01:31

B - establish sanctuaries

01:33

in the North for escaped slaves.

01:37

So let's keep looking.

01:38

Did the separation refer to C -

01:41

giving slaves reparations

01:43

including arable land?

01:44

Well, remember that piece of the excerpt,

01:47

"can never be likely to achieve happiness in this country"?

01:50

Well, it seems like the American Colonization Society

01:53

wouldn't want to grant land to freed slaves in America.

01:56

So that knocks out C, as well.

02:00

Which must mean that it referred to D -

02:03

repatriating slaves back to Africa.

02:07

Unfortunately, one of the major problems with slavery was

02:09

what would happen to the nearly four million African Americans

02:12

if they were freed.

02:14

Because slaves were largely illiterate,

02:16

some abolitionists were concerned with what

02:18

kinds of jobs and opportunities would be available

02:20

to a large population suddenly flooding the work force.

02:23

One of those abolitionist groups,

02:25

the American Colonization Society,

02:27

advocated a return to Africa,

02:29

so they recruited and funded Black colonists

02:32

to colonize Liberia.

02:37

Yeah. So the correct answer is D.

02:39

And actually, Liberia's capital,

02:41

Monrovia, is named after our fifth president, James Monroe,

02:45

who was in office when the country was founded.

02:47

Good thing it wasn't our sixth president.

02:49

QuincyAdamsovia is a bit of a mouthful.

02:52

[ cow moos ]

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