EconomyDakota McFallPd. C-D

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EconomyThe prosperity or earnings of a place.

New Orleans, like most waterside cities, was founded because its close proximity to the Mississippi river provided much economic benefit.

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In earlier times, the rapid methods of transportation that we use today were unavailable, forcing people to travel manually by land or by water. Naturally, rivers quickly became a popular method of transport because they were not only faster, but required much less energy than travelling across land. A location by the river facilitates the shipment of cargo, boosting the city’s economy.

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Like many people in the early 1800s, Huck and Jim used the Mississippi River as an easy and quick way to travel. But instead of for business purposes, they were escaping from were they were. Huck was escaping from his abusive father, and Jim was an escaped slave seeking refuge in the northern states.

Steamboats played a major role in the 19th Century development of the Mississippi River by allowing the large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up and down the river.

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Some other businesses and sources of income in and along the Mississippi River were fishing, hunting and trapping animals, and simply as a tourist attraction, since people wanted to see the great river.

Mark Twain, author of the very popular but disputed book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was a steamboat pilot himself. He goes by the alias of Mark Twain, meaning tow fathoms (twelve feet) deep. His real name was Samuel Clemens.

Picture from The Official Website of Mark Twain

“When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman. We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns; the first negro minstrel show that came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of life; now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboatman always remained.”

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Steamboats are still used today, but, because of modern technology and the development of faster, more efficient forms of river transportation, they are mainly used as tourist attractions.

Slavery played a huge role in the economy of the United states from 1619 until 1865.

Slavery

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American slaves were Africans forced into work. They did physical labor, such as planting, harvesting, and taking care of crops and many other jobs that needed done around the house.

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Like Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many slaves attempted to run away from their owners to the free states of the north.

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One of the most prominent themes in the book is racism and slavery.

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Jim-Well, den, dey ain't no sense in a cat talkin' like a man. Is a cow a man? – er is a cow a cat?"

Huck-"No, she ain't either of them."

Jim-"Well, den, she ain't got no business to talk like either one er the yuther of 'em. Is a Frenchman a man?"

Huck-"Yes."

Jim-"WELL, den! Dad blame it, why doan' he TALK like a man? You answer me DAT!"

Huck-I see it warn't no use wasting words – you can't learn a nigger to argue. So I quit.

Mark Twain was not a racist. He only wrote about what he experienced furing his times, and those times included slavery and racism.

“It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a negro; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way.”

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“I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creedPrejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a humanBeing, and that is good enough for me; he can’t be any

worse.”

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“I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market. Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.”

Works Cited PageTwain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994. Print.

Michele Lee. “Mississippi River: Economic History” Mission 2010 New Orleans. 2005. 12-19-12

“Mark Twain” Wikipedia. December 5, 2012. 12-19-12

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Race Quotes Page 1" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Dec. 2012.