1850s DBQ
1850s DBQ
Between 1850 and 1861, underlying issues and events brought about discord and tension in the United States. These issues revolved around the radically different views on morality, from the North’s views to the South’s. The tensions stemmed from views and understandings of the Constitution’s purpose and uses being in opposition to the viewpoint of the other territory.
The tensions caused by the differing beliefs were slowly built up since the American Revolution. Slavery, being an established practice since America’s independence and a cause of the Civil War, was not an issue at the time, but was also left unresolved by the Founding Fathers. As time passed on, and as morals evolved, the views towards slavery changed as well. The original belief of slaves as nonhuman/property slowly progressed into slaves being lesser-humans. As beliefs changed, and the acceptance of slaves grew positively in the North, the basis of government became more and more unstable. With differing bases of thought, America’s ability to stay unified couldn’t happen with government trying to please both opposing sides, like found in the Compromise of 1850 (Doc 1). The Compromise attempted to alleviate the slavery situation that arose when California fulfilled the requirements to become an official state. The admittance of California threw off the Great Compromise and the Missouri Compromise. To counter that change, the Compromise made the New Mexico and Utah Territories free to become slave states via allowing them popular sovereignty. To add to the South-positive compromises, the Fugitive Slave Laws (Doc 3) were also employed, thus “balancing” the additions to both territories. The decision was technically correct for the event, as it settled the tension from the California, but in doing so, left the issue of slavery un-addressed and even strengthened slavery. The Compromise of 1850 only brought “compromise” in the regard of the free-slave states ratio, but greatly supported
Between 1850 and 1861, underlying issues and events brought about discord and tension in the United States. These issues revolved around the radically different views on morality, from the North’s views to the South’s. The tensions stemmed from views and understandings of the Constitution’s purpose and uses being in opposition to the viewpoint of the other territory.
The tensions caused by the differing beliefs were slowly built up since the American Revolution. Slavery, being an established practice since America’s independence and a cause of the Civil War, was not an issue at the time, but was also left unresolved by the Founding Fathers. As time passed on, and as morals evolved, the views towards slavery changed as well. The original belief of slaves as nonhuman/property slowly progressed into slaves being lesser-humans. As beliefs changed, and the acceptance of slaves grew positively in the North, the basis of government became more and more unstable. With differing bases of thought, America’s ability to stay unified couldn’t happen with government trying to please both opposing sides, like found in the Compromise of 1850 (Doc 1). The Compromise attempted to alleviate the slavery situation that arose when California fulfilled the requirements to become an official state. The admittance of California threw off the Great Compromise and the Missouri Compromise. To counter that change, the Compromise made the New Mexico and Utah Territories free to become slave states via allowing them popular sovereignty. To add to the South-positive compromises, the Fugitive Slave Laws (Doc 3) were also employed, thus “balancing” the additions to both territories. The decision was technically correct for the event, as it settled the tension from the California, but in doing so, left the issue of slavery un-addressed and even strengthened slavery. The Compromise of 1850 only brought “compromise” in the regard of the free-slave states ratio, but greatly supported