Mark Small

Shortly after Washington was sworn as the first President, the French Revolution began. The Terror gained its name, in part, from the deaths rendered by the guillotine. 11/29

During WW I the Czar was overthrown in the Russian Revolution. After WW II the Chinese Revolution erupted. Each of these revolutions occurred as the result of centuries of oppression. 12/29

This country has functioned under The Constitution for over 230 years. The greatest Constitutional crisis occurred as a result of an evil memorialized in The Constitution. The Framers compromised on slavery ... 13/29

- although neither “slavery” nor a derivative of that word appears in the original Constitution - as a price to secure Southern States in the Union. 14/29

The monetary value of people held as slaves was enormous. Despite the Declaration of Independence’s claim that all “men” are created equal, the States of the Confederacy only gave up ownership of people only after The Civil War. 15/29

The modern Republican Party had been formed in 1854 and was a major force in Reconstruction. As a result, States formerly of the Confederacy embraced the Democratic Party. For decades the Democratic Party relied upon the “solid South.” 16/29

Until 1954, and the SCOTUS decision in Brown v. Bd of Education of Topeka I, discrimination against former slaves & their descendants, particularly in Southern States, was extreme. People were lynched, murdered by other means, and beaten. 17/29

1960s: viol against black ppl continued, but several pieces of Federal legislation were enacted to protect civil rights and voting rights, particularly in the South. President Lyndon Johnson said the Democratic Party had lost the South for a generation. 18/29