Worksheet # 29          Home Questions Puzzle Links Next

SLAVERY AND THE INDIAN WARS

And to find able bodies to perform all the chores

A most ignoble net was cast to African shores.

A trade in slaves soon grew, and but few did complain

As a shameful racism had been so deeply ingrained.

With whites thinking blacks not meant to be free:

The most terrible injustice marks U.S. history.

As by year 1700 most people arriving,

Came over in chains and only barely surviving.

Women, children and men were treated like chattel,

Alas, not unlike herds of donkey and cattle.

‘Twas a cruelty so sad, it still haunts and still stings

To think that so many could once think such things.

Yet slavery persisted over one hundred years,

Ending only with blood and the shedding of tears.

Since the south built its world on this institution

-- Only war among brothers would provide a solution.

And while slave-holding took root in America’s south,

Conflict with Indians occurred all throughout.

Though hopes did exist for finer hearts to prevail,

Each treaty for peace proved most meager and frail.

As more settlers poured in, in search of new places,

And sadly uprooted Native-American races.

With tribes rudely pushed off their long native grounds,

Savage fighting ensued and wars did abound.

Indeed, it tears at the heart and boggles the mind

How people treat people so cruel and unkind.

But the tale is not done, and there’s purpose to life:

To seek the way past all such hatred and strife.