Essay on Slavery in the United States and Constitution States
Submitted By Geckodude1
Words: 693
Pages: 3
AP US Essay
Throughout the Pre-Civil war era, conflicts between the north and south began to stir sectional discord and tension that lead to the framing of the constitution, jeopardizing its purpose. Sources of the discord were found under Literature, Polemics, increasing Tariffs, but mainly the Principle of the Constitution on which the governmental power lies within the people. With the basis of this principle conflicting with the views of the north and south ultimately lead to the Civil War. The Principle of the Constitution states that the power of the government lies within the people. This exact principle was based on Popular Sovereignty, meaning that the legitimacy of a state is based and sustained under the consent of its people. During the 1850s, this was an issue. The Kansas-Nebraska act proposed by Stephen Douglas meant that the transcontinental railroad would be moved up north for a terminus in Illinois. Due to the lack of railroad expansions in the south, pro-slavery states did not approve the act, yet wanted something in return. The deal was set in which the railroad was moved up north and Kansas and Nebraska was opened to Popular Sovereignty which repealed the Missouri Compromise and undercut the Compromise of 1850. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise led to the fight for Kansas, which ultimately turned into “Bleeding Kansas”. Pro-Slavery states passed the Lecompton Constitution which contained a win-win policy where if a state passes without slavery, the slave owners are protected by the constitution (5th amendment) as slaves were considered ‘property’. The constitution was killed under Stephen Douglas as he felt that it wasn’t popular sovereignty due to the irregular voting system. The end-results split the Democratic Party and left Kansas in a Territory/State situation. The tension between both sides began to frame the basis of the constitution. Under the same principle, the Northerner’s bewilderment for the Fugitive Law, stating that runaway slaves should be captured and sent back to the south, enraged pro-slavery states. In the north, northerners against slavery felt that the law was unconstitutional and failed to enforce it. In an excerpt, an anonymous Georgian stated that “The framers of the Constitution acted wisely, and embodied in the Constitution all that the South could ask. But two Constitutional provisions are necessary to secure Southern rights upon this important question, the recognition of slavery, where people chose it and the remedy for the fugitive slaves. We hold that the Constitution of the Union does recognize slavery where it exists.” Ironically, the constitution doesn’t recognize slavery, yet slaves were considered “property” hence the failure to enforce the law was unconstitutional. The framers of the constitution emerged from the Southerner’s
Related Documents: Essay on Slavery in the United States and Constitution States
History of the United States II Small banks, small business, and working class tended to become democrat. This was because the government at the time was Republican. In the south (whites) would resent the North for winning the war. Therefore, they were probably democrat. REPUBLICAN: At the time, Abe was president (Republican); this was supported by Big business and Big banks, also, the African American community was probably Republican as well. WHY WAS RECONSTRUCTION SO DIFFICULT:…
of slavery was the primary concern during the 1850s and 1860s. Both the North and South turned to the one document that held them both together: The Constitution of the United States of America. However, even as an instrument of national unity, it soon became the source of discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created. This was due to the fact that the Constitution was too open to different interpretations of both sides, was disregarded, and a state could…
organizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 “We the people of the United States, In order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.” The preamble gives a summary of what the framers believed to be the elements of the envisioned…
end, America was finally united. The United States was finally a single nation instead a company of states with their own establishments. The United States had many problems that led to the Civil War. One of the main causes for war was the social and economic differences between the North and the South. The South was basically a one crop economy because of the invention of the cotton gin. They were very dependent on cotton, and the cotton farming depended upon slavery. On the other hand, the North’s…
end, America was finally united. The United States was finally a single nation instead a company of states with their own establishments. The United States had many problems that led to the Civil War. One of the main causes for war was the social and economic differences between the North and the South. The South was basically a one crop economy because of the invention of the cotton gin. They were very dependent on cotton, and the cotton farming depended upon slavery. On the other hand, the North’s…
The Constitution was set out to place national unity, but soon after its creation it began a sectional controversy across the United States between the North and South on the issue of slavery which caused the union to split. In the documents provided; the sectional discord and tension is expressed through the problem that the constitution created, which was the laws drawn between a free and a slave state and its recognition in state rights. Slavery is always one of the biggest conflicts to arise…
Slavery has been in existence since 1619 in America when the first American slaves were brought to Northern American colony in Jamestown Virginia. They were to aid the production of such crops as tobacco and before the early 1400’s in Europe from the Classical times and throughout the early medieval times. By the 11th and 12th century it had been abolished by the North and Classical style slavery remained in the Southern and Eastern Europe as a normal part of society for trade and thus began to appear…
The view that “by the 1850s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created” is true. This view is supported by the fact that by the mid 1850’s the Union was being split apart by issues such as popular sovereignty, slavery, and secession, which are talked about in the Constitution. An issue like popular sovereignty was talked or written about in many…
mid-1800s, the issue of slavery had literally split The United States of America in half, severed between North and South. The free citizens of our adolescent nation were to soon elect their 16th president. On November 6th of 1860, Republican Candidate, Abraham Lincoln from Illinois won the election by a landslide. Lincoln, like many presidents who came before him, gave his word to approach the issue of slavery peacefully. Shortly after the election, 7 southern slave states sent representatives to…
the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. 2. John C. Calhoun- a leading American politician and political theorist during the first half of the 19th century. 3. Zachary Taylor- 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general. 4. Henry Clay- encouraged United States participation in the War of 1812. 5. Stephen…