The general gist of the map is showing how slavery is a path that leads to sin and the devil, while liberty is just and right in the eyes of god. There are two paths being shown, one in the northern states starting from the bible and one in the southern states. Currently, the “tree” of slavery is being chopped down by the axe of the emancipation proclamation while the tree of liberty has grown all the way through to the west coast.
The text along the bottom claims that the spirit of the Plymouth colony contained all the good of man while the evil to Jamestown, much like Eden in the past, and both planted a metaphorical tree – slavery or liberty. God has evidently cursed the tree of slavery to lean southward and begin to die, causing the southern man to repeat try and pull a Cain and Abel in order to keep slavery alive. It them claims those two parties have become the democratic and republican parties of that era, and to “study the history of the united states” to verify the passage’s truthfulness. It functions as a simple duality – one thing is right and just and good, while the other is pure evil and bad and should be gotten rid of, while also drawing parallels to a commonly known bible story and into modern times. Given the claims presented, it would be hard for a God-fearing person of the time to continue supporting slavery, as it has been “proven” that it is a path of sin and damnation.
Lab 1 