The Constitution certainly contributed to the failure of the union it created. The document was originally formed with the intention of unifying the newly formed United States of America. Since then, the Constitution was effective in protecting the rights and ideals of the people. But by 1850, the Constitution had become a point of sectional disunity and had influenced a split both politically and ideologically between the North and the South. The writers of this document can in part be held responsible for the tension it caused. Although the Constitution was very effective in its early years, the writers had made the mistake of leaving several important issues open and unresolved, causing the eventual disunity over these issues. The Constitution ultimately contributed to the failure of the union because of the issues that were not resolved, and therefore caused controversy in the years leading up to the Civil War.…
The other main reasons are the control of the government, economy, states' rights, abolitionism, and the election of 1860. Although the focus revolved around slavery a lot of the tension that led to the war was from how the South felt it had no power when it came to making decisions. “As new states were added to the Union, a series of compromises were arrived at to maintain an equal number of “free” and “slave” states” (Hickman 1). However; as new states were added they were all being declared “free” states without the South having any say in the matter. Fearing they were losing power the South turned to the states' rights argument, stating that the federal government didn't have the right to change the laws of slavery in states whom already own slaves (Ayers). Things grew worse during the abolitionist movements which called for an end for slavery, whether it be immediate or gradual. This caused many disputes among the people which often led to biblical disputes (Hickman1). Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin should the cruelty of the Fugitive Slave Act and gave support to the abolitionist movement. The election of 1860 was the final straw. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as president, they feared all was about to change. “The North with its growing population and increased electoral power had achieved what the South had always feared: complete control of the government by the free states”(Hickman 2). After the election the South immediately began to discuss seceding from the Union. The secession of the South was the ultimate leading factor for the North to go to war, in order to keep the country united…
At the time of the Civil War, I personally believe the Constitution supported slavery more than it did to oppose it. The opposition of slavery existed, in some forms, among supporters of the Constitution. It seems few though were willing to risk the union for it. The slave states were aware of this and used it as a power in the Convention. In a way, it seemed it was a threat to break up the union. The slave states made it clear that their support for the Constitution was dependent on the absence of any apparent threats it brought to slavery. The slaves were considered property and the constitution protected that. By allowing southern states to count each slave as 3/5’s a person, but also not giving slaves the right to vote, guaranteed that…
Howard Zinn states that the Constitution only addresses how slaves were to be counted in terms of population, and did not fully settle the idea of slavery. As a result of their avoidance of addressing slavery, it became one of the main issues that led to the civil war. Over the years slavery was a topic of controversy in the North and the South. In fact, the Founding Fathers did not want a balance, except one which kept things as they were, a balance among the dominant forces at that time.…
By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally viewed as a document for national unity, had become a source of regional disagreements and tension that eventually resulted in the failure of the Union. The Constitution never outright mentions slavery, and created an unsolved problem that later resulted in compromises and the failure of the Union it formed.…
The old constitution contained flaws that the new constitution filled in. In 1861 slavery was a hard issue to address because the South relies on them so heavily. The southerners could not accept the abolishment of slavery since their mindset was still that the negroes were inferior to white. South was against abolishment of slavery and the North was for abolishment of slavery. When Thomas Jefferson wrote “All men are created equal” even he, himself owned hundreds of slaves. Even though he knew it was wrong to have slaves he ignored that fact and slavery remained. 1861 the President Lincoln’s Inaugural and the Cornerstone speech, was seen by the majority of religious white that believed that the South was in the wrong. Both of these documents were the items needed to make peace throughout the…
Document H, President Davis’s message to southern confederate shows that the constitution doesn’t include information on the idea of separate and independent states, and is unable to prevent “the rise and growth” of states. Due to this reason and many others, there was nothing in the Constitution that was unable to stop the southern states from succeeding from the union. Furthermore, the constitution also contains amendments that gives states powers not explicitly expressed in the constitution, contributing to their succession and the justification of slavery. Document H is bias because President Davis is the president of the southern states that succeeded from the union, therefore is pro-slavery and a states rights advocate. Additionally, in Document I, Lincoln’s message to congress shows that the succession was done in logical order and there is not much in the constition that provides Lincoln with the power to prevent the succession. However, there is nothing that gives the southern states greater power than the northern states, especially the power to “lawfully destroy the union itself.” Lincoln’s message is bias towards the southern states because he was a president elected on anti-slavery in the new territories and many views, contrary to those of the south, which cause him to condemn their act of succession. Lastly, Document B, Emerson’s address on The Fugitive Slave Act blatantly asserted that the union is unable to remain unified, if an immoral law is enacted. This statement truly shows that the constitution became a source of sectional discord and tension, contributing to the failure of the…
When the Constitution was drafted, the men who drafted it were very particular in the way they approached the issue of slavery in our country. They carefully avoided it by only mentioning it or referring to it indirectly. They did not use the term "slave" but referred to everyone as "persons". It is rather ironic that neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence, the two documents most known for establishing and declaring freedom and equality for men, never even mention slaves or slavery in a direct way. The founding fathers drafted the Constitution with the approach that the goal was to unite the nation. That is why they neither put an end to slavery nor condoned it in the Constitution. Some of them owned slaves. That along with the fact that they were trying to set up a national government with unity as a goal gave them the idea that if provisions to end slavery were to be made at that time, the southern states would not follow with ratifying the Constitution. Ultimately the framers tip toed through the issue and tried to advocate equality while avoiding the topic of slavery.…
Slavery created a unique problem for the nation. Though slavery was abolished in the north slave owners in the south argued the importance of slavery for their state’s economic prosperity. One problem is the nation had nothing set forth in the constitution that could guide them to a national solution. The founding fathers had not only wished to create a strong country but also emphasized the importance of state’s sovereignty. It was this idea of state’s being responsible for their own decisions and laws…
The Constitution was never explained to how it was meant to be interpreted, which cause many disagreements, which ultimately started sectionalism, which is the loyalty to interests or views in one’s region of a country rather than the views or interests of the country as a whole. Sectionalism kick started the idea of sucession from the union, which started the bloodiest war on american soil, the Civil War. The misinterpretation on the views of slavery was the biggest argument as shown in multiple documents, (Document E), “To the Argument, that the word ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not to be found in the Constitution, and therefore it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system, it is sufficient to reply, that no such words are continued in the instrument, other words were used, intelligently and specifically, to meet the necessities of slavery.” This basically means that the constitution could have many interpretations on the basis that no “right” interpretation was ever stated.There were many feuds between documents following the Constitution such as the Compromise of 1850 as show in in the map of (Document A) where the country is broken into 2 parts, not unified because of slavery, along with the Fugitive Slave Law, (Document…
The Constitution can be interpreted in many different ways, which leads to sectional discord and tension. For many reasons, the South did not like what the constitution said. There were many conflictions with the compromise of 1850, map shown in (Document A) and the fugitive slave act. Certain Northerners were against slavery and the fugitive slave act that they even posted warnings for the slaves. (Document C). This fugitive slave act also helped drive the tension deeper into the United States.…
The Civil War was an extremely messy and complicated event in American History. While there are several factors that led to the Southern states to secede from the Union, it is historically impossible to pinpoint the last bullet fired. Moreover, in academia there is a barrage of opinions on what was the deciding factor for the Civil War; one thing it is evident is that there was animosity between both sides since the inception of the United States. Additionally, one has to examine the proposed amendments to the Constitution before the Civil War to notice that the jargon used never used the word ‘slavery.’ For instance, in February 1861, Representative Thomas Corwin proposed his and amendment that barred his last name to the 36th Congress that guaranteed the seceding states that the federal government would not intervene with the particular domestic institutions; however, the word slavery was never used in the document. Stipulating that the amendment had passed, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution would have been unconstitutional, and the banning of slavery would never have occurred.…
The Constitution allowed slavery to continue even if “all men are created equal” because they profited from the slave;s work, accepted the disagreements to build a strong government, and people saw that building a nation is more…
The U.S. Constitution foes not recognize or advocate slavery, thus many Southerners felt that as the minority in the country (Lincoln was able to be elected without one electoral vote from the South) their rights were in danger of being violated. The theory of "popular sovereignty," a favored one in the south, which gave new territories their right to choose whether to allow slavery also led to disunity, as it placed states rights above federal laws and statutes. Furthermore, the South believed the Constitution to be a compact between states, as opposed to a federal government of higher power than those of the states, and thus, they felt that if this compact was broken, Southern states could secede legally and peacefully. Before secession, the South even attempted to exert their power as states within a union, and did so by stating that unless an amendment was added to the Constitution which formalized the legality of slavery the South would leave the…
Slavery is one of the main disputes that were not compromised. Northerners thought that slavery was wrong while southerners thought that slavery was needed. Northerners wanted to end slavery as quick as possible. Slavery goes against god's law and should be amended (doc B). Parties such as Pinckney Committee tried ending slavery Doc C). Slavery not only affects politics but the life-style of U.S citizens (doc G). The Issue on slavery is one of the reasons why the United States had a civil war. Slavery is a necessity to the south because a great deal of the South's economics is farming. The dispute on slavery cause for an impossible compromise.…