1. “Who can blame slaves for being cunning? . . . It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.” Recent scholarship on slavery has stressed the way that slaves resisted the oppressive institution of slavery. Based on your reading of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is there evidence that slaves were able to resist their oppression through cunning and deception or were slaves psychologically defeated by the brutality and dehumanizing effects of slavery? As you construct your argument, be sure to define what constitutes resistance, submission and rebellion. You may also want to consider under what circumstances resistance was possible and under what circumstances it was not, the limits and possibilities of resistance, and/or whether gender played a role in resistance. Whatever your argument, be sure to support your interpretations and conclusions with concrete evidence from both texts

china unilaterally claims the entire south china sea as sovereign territory, then builds artificial islands to bolster its claim. it suddenly activates an air defense identification zone over the east china sea, and threatens to down any aircraft that does not report its position. it builds roads into indian territory, then redraws the maps to show that it is actually chinese territory. the people's republic under president xi jinping is quickly becoming the bully of asia.

c. the passage of the fifteenth amendment

the covenant that god made with abraham was a unilateral (one-sided) promise from god to abraham.   apart from anything abraham did, god was promising that he was going to bring about a great nation from abraham's offspring, and that the messiah (meaning "the anointed one") would come from abraham's descendants, as one through whom the whole world would receive favor from god.   as god promised abraham, "through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed" (genesis 22: 18).

the "new covenant" was announced by jesus of nazareth, who had asserted that he was the "son of david" (and descendant of abraham) that fulfilled those promises to abraham.   when jesus introduced the sacred meal that we now refer to as the lord's supper, as told his disciples in reference to the wine they drank, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (luke 22: 20).   this "new covenant" through jesus was also a unilateral (one-sided) covenant.   he gave himself in sacrifice for all people, without conditions attached.   as his friend and apostle john later wrote, "he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 john 2: 2).

so the covenant with abraham and the "new covenant" ushered in by jesus are, in essence, connected as one covenant -- because jesus was saying he was the one promised to abraham that fulfilled that covenant and brought blessing to the world.