Prospectus: A Whole New World

Since the beginning of time, humans have had a struggle for power over each other.  This can be plainly seen in the text of Exodus, where the Egyptians oppress the Israelites into slavery out of fear for their numbers.  And, in most all cases, there is a dictator who refuses to allow the oppressed their rights as humans, such rights as the most basic freedoms we as Americans enjoy today.  In the Exodus text, it is the Pharaoh who issues the order to enslave the Israelites.

Many of the oppressed seemed to give up hope and began to believe that the oppression has the best they deserve.  It’s just as Morgan Freeman’s character, “Red,” says in the movie Shawshank Redemption of the walls surrounding the prison: “These prison walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them.”

Enter Moses. 

The long lost son of the oppressed returns the land of Egypt on a mission from a higher power to take his people to a land where they will be free!  This has its own challenges, like the Pharaoh being unwilling to let his free labor go.  And once he finally frees the people, he realizes he has to provide for them in the wilderness, where resources are few and far between for one person, much less a whole nation.  Because of this, Moses has to deal with the people constantly complaining and saying how it would be better that they were in Egypt, enslaved, solely for the fact that there was food and water there.

Throughout the course of this paper, I will take you on a journey through time.  We will begin back when America was a wilderness, the promise land sought by those who were oppressed, simply wanting to worship their God as they saw fit.  First, we will look into the struggles they faced every day in Europe trying to worship their God and how the local powers did everything they could to prevent that.  Then, we will look into the people who made the Exodus into the Americas possible, how they convinced the local powers to allow it to happen, and how these heroes kept the people’s morale up when faced with impossible challenges, like staying alive in the wilderness, and securing the Promised Land from the natives, either peacefully or through arms.

Next, we will visit America during the time of her revolution from England.  While the people didn’t actually move anywhere, the transition from being completely controlled and micromanaged by a power hungry king to governing itself is more than enough of a transition for a nation.  We will look into the people who made this possible, how the people were disgruntled at times, and how these problems were solved.

Lastly, we will look in to the struggles of the slaves as they gained their freedom from their overlords and become equals with their fellow citizens.  We will look at those who fought to first break the bonds of slavery and then at those who made it possible for them to finally be seen as the equals they were.

Throughout these topics, we will also look at how religion provided the people with hope and a will to continue through to their eventual freedom.  In terms of resources, I will use Exodus, mostly parts during the liberation from Egypt and times of struggle in the wilderness.  Also, I will use American history text to fill in the gaps of who, what and why people felt the need to liberate themselves and how they went about securing their freedom.