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To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

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In "To Kill A Mockingbird", who helped Simon Finch create Finch's Landing?

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Simon Finch established Finch's Landing with the aid of three slaves. After arriving in Alabama, Simon abandoned his previous religious teachings and purchased these slaves, who were instrumental in creating a self-sufficient homestead on the banks of the Alabama River. The slaves' labor was crucial in building and maintaining the settlement, which became prosperous and largely self-reliant, with only a few goods needing to be imported by river.

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Scout's ancestor, Simon Finch, was from England. He left England and travelled to the United States. He eventually found himself in Alabama. It was there that he decided to abandon the religious teachings he had previously followed. Simon seemed to forget "his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels" and "bought three slaves." It was "with their aid [that he] established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some forty miles above Saint Stephens" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1).

The three slaves helped Simon to create a self-sufficient homestead. There was very little that the land did not produce. The items that did have to be brought in, such as blocks of ice and clothing, were shipped by river. These things would arrive by boat on the Alabama River. When they docked at Finch's Landing, the slaves would unload the items. If it were not for the hard work of slaves, Simon Finch would not have been able to build such a prosperous settlement along the Alabama River.

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