Motivations and Justifications

​Race and Coerced Labor Part II: Motivations and Justifications

By Isiah Jones

Open Ended

If a country's founding principles are 'liberty and justice for all,' what would you expect its laws about owning people to be? Why might there be a contradiction between a country's ideals and its actual practices?"

What is the difference between a “motive” and a “justification,” as the author uses them in this article? Use one example of each from the text to support your answer.

Exit Ticket

SWBAT analyze the economic motivations and religious/scientific justifications for slavery to explain the contradiction between the system of slavery and Enlightenment ideals of liberty.

Objectives

Race and Coerced Labor Part II: Motivations and Justifications

 Key terms:

motive: the real reason
justification: the excuse
Contradiction: A difference between two ideas about something that means they cannot both be true

Profit: A financial gain

Open Ended

What contradiction does the system of slavery in the Americas highlight?

INDEPENDENT/GROUP WORK SLIDES

1. Read your assigned section.

2. Identify the 2-3 most important sentences that explain either the motivations or justifications for slavery.

3. Be prepared to share your findings with the class.

• Section A: Read from "What were the motivations for using enslaved labor?" to "...the same system of slavery." and answer questions 2-3

• Section B: Read from "What were the justifications for using enslaved labor?" to "...scientific research has proven them wrong." and answer questions 4-5

• LEFT SIDE of Room: Section A Experts → MOTIVATIONS (the real reasons)

• RIGHT SIDE of Room: Section B Experts → JUSTIFICATIONS (the excuses)

SPEAKERS & Listeners - Your Job

STAND UP & SHARE:

1. Answer your guiding question

2. Read 1 sentence from the text as proof

3. Explain what it shows

SECTION A QUESTIONS:

• What was the principal motive for using enslaved labor?

• How were the people in William Clark’s 1823 painting Cutting the Sugar Cane, Antigua economically related to Harewood House in Leeds?

SECTION B QUESTIONS:

• In what ways did people use religion to justify slavery?

• In what way did people misuse science to argue in favor of slavery? Were these arguments sustained by evidence?

LISTENERS - Your Job

FILL IN YOUR CHART:

MOTIVATIONS (Real Reasons)	JUSTIFICATIONS (Excuses)
Text Evidence: _________	Text Evidence: _________
Their Answer: _________	Their Answer: _________

✰ STAR surprising or important info

• Answer Questions that were not assigned to you

• Ask questions for clarity

SECTION A QUESTIONS: Motivations

SHARE:

1. Identify the 2-3 most important sentences that explain the motivations for slavery.

SECTION A QUESTIONS:

• What was the principal motive for using enslaved labor?

• How were the people in William Clark’s 1823 painting Cutting the Sugar Cane, Antigua economically related to Harewood House in Leeds?

SECTION B QUESTIONS: Justifications

SHARE:

1. Identify the 2-3 most important sentences that explain the justifications for slavery.

SECTION B QUESTIONS:

• In what ways did people use religion to justify slavery?

• In what way did people misuse science to argue in favor of slavery? Were these arguments sustained by evidence?

Open Ended

What was the principal motive for using enslaved labor?

Open Ended

In what ways did people use religion to justify slavery?