AP US History assignment on slavery?

No need to answer all of them.. I'm just completely stuck and don't know what to write at all. If I knew examples I could take it from there.



What are the potential biases in each one and the problems such biases would pose for a historian who wanted to use them to write about slavery in the American South before 1860?



a. A speech made to an abolitionist society by a slave who escaped to the North in 1854.

b. A book written by an English aristocrat's wife about her travels throughout the south during 1848.

c. Oral interviews recorded in the 1930's with black people who had been slaves.

d. The diary of a plantation owner's wife, written in the years 1824-1855, her husband owned the largest plantation in Louisiana.

e. The ledger book for a county in South Carolina, kept for tax purposes, that recorded all sales and purchases of slaves and the value of each slave, covering the years 1830-1860.





Thanks in advance.



And if you're that "Diogenes" guy AGAIN, chill out. I didn't specifically ask you again so just ignore my question. If it was that simple, I would've done it by now. I'm a junior in high school, not a genius and I honestly need help so please let it be. If you're not going to help, then don't post an ignorant answer anyways. Looks like I am one of "those" people and apparently you must be too if you answer THIS one as well.AP US History assignment on slavery?
There are biases in most primary sources - a historian needs to distill as much truth and accuracy as they can from all primary sources.



a: The speech was likely written by someone else,probably an abolitionist with no firsthand experience of either slaveowning or being a slave.The speech is unlikely to be complimentary about slavery,and some aspects may be exaggerated or evn completely falsified for effect.



b: She's likely to have stayed only with rich families,and her book could be influenced by her contact with them and their views,which were unlikely to knock slavery as an institution.



c: Memories can fade or be misremembered sometimes,particularly the further back one goes in time when talking about one's past.



d: She's unlikely to criticize a system that has made her family obscenely rich - she's far more likely to justify slavery as beneficial to the enslaved.



e: Would be quite a good source,as it's just a financial and economic record,with no axes to grind and no points to make.It's disadvantage is that it's only for South Carolina,so can't be projected onto other states or into other years.

miata

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