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 in the discussion of the 19th Century. Those in the North did not have much use of slavery, but those in the South depended on it. By looking at the map in Document A, it shows how the line was cut between the North and South. It also shows that Utah and New Mexico were open to popular sovereignty, so the choice stood by the people as to whether or not slavery was justified. In the southern areas the map shows that the area was strictly a slave state or territory and the north was entirely free. This map interprets the way the Compromise of 1850 went about. In the compromise the South was able claim their land as slave states but the North could remain Free states. The people of the South were not allowed to bring their “property” to the north, but if their slave were to run away to the North, the fugitive was to be returned to their master. (Document D) The morality of this time was also brought up in the discussion as well. Why is this even considered slightly okay? These people are not property and they were being treated like such in the South. (Document D) In the South it was a complete different story though, they believed that what they were doing could be justified as right. They saw it as the constitution was written in their favor because the framers did so by recognizing slavery where it already existed. By this time the North and South were completely split; once this law was passed the people in the north posted fliers that warned the colored people of the Fugitive Slave Law, warning that police officer and watchmen were “kidnappers.”(Document C) This action was just another reaction that the north had to the constitution and