1. Summarize the life experiences of Venture Smith in America. Under what circumstances did he manage to buy his own freedom, and later that of his sons and his wife?
2. How was George Washington established as a slave-owner? What was his attitude toward slavery? How did he become a large slave-owner?
3. How did the issue of slavery relate to the revolutionary struggle with England?
4. How were the "rights" of slave states and slave owners protected at the 1787 Constitutional Convention?
1. Why did it take so long for the United States, compared with England, to abolish slavery?
2. Why did the New England states abolish slavery so much sooner than the southern states?
3. How do you think someone like Thomas Jefferson could reconcile his ideals of inalienable rights with his ownership and treatment of slaves?
4. What do you think of the idea that the United States should pay monetary compensation to the descendants of slaves as partial redress for the evils of slavery?