Preview

Did The Constitution Cause Disunity In The Southern States

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
638 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Did The Constitution Cause Disunity In The Southern States
The United States Constitution was ratified in 1787 to make a stronger and better central government. Although it was hard to get it ratified, especially in the southern states, it was meant to keep the country together and to be the extreme law of the land. This document, although nearly perfect, did not mention slavery at all, as William Lloyd Garrison states in document B. This, to some extent, caused the nation to rip apart, but it was not the only thing that did. Although some people believe that the constitution caused disunity among the union it was not the constitution itself, but many different factors like the compact theory and slavery which angered either the north or the south.

The compact theory started in the revolutionary ages

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Slavery was very prominent in the south, and in order to please southern states, the founding fathers allowed slave trade to continue until 1808 (which wouldn't be in effect until 20 years after the constitution was ratified). Some of the framers themselves owned slaves, however they understood this was not a good thing for the country. They had to appease the south, because if they just banned slavery then the south would have not ratified the constitution. The founding fathers began to see tension between abolitionists and proslavery supporters, thus fearing a division between the two. The framers attempted to create early unity between the two, however it crumbled leading to the civil war.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This led to the discussion of constructing a stronger central government that could have the ability to provide stability to states during times of rebellion. The US Constitution was drafted after a great deal of compromises on the issues of states representation, direct election, and slavery. The final version created a central government that would have a bimodal legislature, with the senate having equal representation elected from state legislatures and the house having proportional representation elected directly from the people. On the issue of slavery, slaves for the purposes of state representation in the house were considered three-fifths of a white man and importation of new slaves would continue in America for a minimum of another 20 years. In order to give support for ratifying the new Constitution, the federalist, people that supported the new Constitution, promised and later pass a Bill of Rights that protected the rights of US citizens from government…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year of 1787 the rights and liberties of citizens of the United States would be changed for eternity. The Constitution was signed to create a democracy by which the United States was governed to protect against tyranny (cruel or unjust powers). Before the Constitution, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no chief executive or leader, no court system, and there wasn’t even a way for the central government to force a state to pay taxes. So, how did the Constitution guard against tyranny? Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and big states v. small states are all ways that protect the people of the United States and the Constitution against tyranny.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and institute a new government." (Declaration of Independence 1776)…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by delegates who went to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The convention was supervised by George Washington. It established fundamental laws, America’s national government and the basic rights for American citizens. In America’s first government document which was the Articles of Confederation.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Following the failure of the first attempt at governing the new independent country, the United States, delegates of the Constitutional Convention, including people such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison, took it upon themselves to completely scrap the Articles of Confederation and begin drafting a new constitution from 1787 to 1800. This later became the American Constitution, a complete revision of the power of the government, representation of states, interstate commerce and foreign trade, and issues revolving around slavery. Although slavery isn’t directly stated into the newly drafted constitution, African American and American Indian slaves influenced the drafting of the constitution through compromise between the Northern and Southern states on issues relating to politics and economics.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States (U.S.) Constitution is the source of all government powers and provides limitations on the government that protect the natural rights of U.S. citizens. Prior to its creation, the 13 original states comprising the U.S., were united under the Articles of Confederation. These articles entrusted a Confederate Congress with the authority to wage war, mediate disputes between states as well as set weights and measures. However, the Confederate Congress was completely funded by individual states, did not have the authority to raise funds itself and all decisions required a unanimous vote of approval from all states. It was far from a perfect government. These limitations along with the historical tendencies high ranking officials have toward greed and abuse of power rendered this Congress ineffective, spawning a collective desire for reform. (Whitehouse.gov, 2017) In 1787 delegates from 12 of the 13 states convened in Philadelphia to draft a new Constitution. Their goals were to design a government that could provide fair treatment to its citizens, keep peace amongst the individual states as well as with outside nations, defend our country from enemies, and to set a standard for living comfortably, well, and free. To achieve this, the government was split into three separate branches and power divided amongst them.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 25 of 1791. Federalism wanted some kind of centralized government and the anti-federalists were willing of a centralized government only if a bill of rights were to be adopted which secured their rights and gave limits on government power. Alexander did not agree with the BOR because he believed that people were going to take advantage of those rights not included in the BOR. James Madison proposed 12 amendments but 2 were dismissed and 10 were ratified. After the Declarations of Independence was ratified congress decided to build a Constitution a factor that influenced that decision was shays rebellion which were the farmers who didn't want to pay there debt making and made riots. Congress believed they needed to strengthen the government therefore the Constitution was created as well as the Bill of Rights which was enacted to protect against giving the central gov too much power and limiting the power of the federal government of the U.S and protected the rights of all citizens. The final form of the constitution was…

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq 1987

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It is known that the union did not last, for there was the Civil War. If everyone could agree on what the constitution implied, then there probably would not have been a civil war. From several of the documents, there are arguments about what the constitution states. (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 indicates that the constitution can be interpreted differently, and when used with other documents, it can be incongruous.…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1787 the Constitution was written and submitted to the states for ratification, this leading to months of fierce debate. Some states welcomed the new Constitution but others were fearful of it. They were afraid that this would be just like being under the control of Great Britain, which they just broke free from. But the rest of the states saw this as a good thing and very necessary for America to strive.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the creation of the Constitution it gave people rights as a US citizen and stet the foundation of how the government would move there for. The Constitution change the requirements of ratification from an unanimous vote from each colony to nine vote to…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the United States and guarantees certain basic rights for its citizens which was signed on September 17,1787. The Constitution is something people at the time wanted to ratify the constitution, but not all them wanted to ratify it. Alexander Hamilton was one of the people who wrote series of events, letters, and essay to persuade the people to ratify…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The US constitution, at first, was only to protect the nation. After the Articles of Confederation failed, the founding fathers wrote the US Constitution. This only outlined the powers of the state and how it functioned. The original US constitution didn’t address individual freedoms nor rights and instead set about the foundation for a strong…

    • 56 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, yet there was a struggle for its ratification that went on until 1790. Members of Congress believed that the Articles of Confederation, the first government of the United States, needed to be altered while others did not want change. After the Revolutionary War, there was a need for strong state centered governments, rather than a strong central government based on their experience as a colony. However, an investigation of the historical record reveals that the Articles of Confederation were not meeting the needs of Americans, and the need for a new Constitution was desired. This desired Constitution created a huge dispute and argument between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays