San Jose State University History Essay

I have an assignment about the 13th Amendment. I am supposed to impersonnate Ebon C. Ingersoll. I have some examples attached. there follows the guidelines:

In your first speech, you will address

“higher law” theory. In this, you are in direct conversation with

the roles of William Seward and Thomas Pendleton. William Seward has argued that the cause of

abolitionism is responsive to a

“higher law” than the Constitution: the natural law right of all men to

be free and equal. Thomas Pendleton holds that an equally higher law limits the ability of Congress to

attack slavery (see

“Speech of James A. Garfield” attached). Your paper should expose Pendleton’s

argument as a variation of states’ rights theory, the idea that state sovereignty and state control over

slavery preceded the written Constitution, permeated the environment in which the Founder’s wrote

the Constitution, and thus forms an immutable intellectual and philosophical foundation that cannot

be changed. The attached “Speech of William Seward” and

“Speech of James A. Garfield will serve as

inspiration for your paper. You must not copy these speeches as your paper.