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.…
Northerners, during mid-century America believed in the preservation of the undissolvable Union. When the Constitution was framed in 1787, the founding fathers were concerned about leaving Britain and becoming a Union, as opposed to the issue of slavery that would later prevail. Henry Clay created the Compromise of 1850, which helped solve the problem of slavery in the territories (Document A). This was not included in the Constitut…
The North predominantly relied on trade and mercantilist profit making, whereas the South depended on labor-intense plantation industries that mostly required use of slavery. As the borderline states became the hotbed of slavery debate, the North and the South attempted to reach consent by Missouri Compromise, which is quintessential evidence that depicts the conflict on the practice of slavery. After Missouri was denied from joining the union because of its headstrong persistence on keeping slavery, the North and the South were able to reach a compromise that first accepted Maine to the union as a free state and then accepting Missouri as a slave state. The compromise not only ended up with a geographical line of 33'30'' that dissected the union but also signified the intensifying sectionalism ((F)). Even if Missouri Compromise was able to bring forth a temporary loosening of tension, it was rather an evanescent remedy of sectionalism that only foreshadowed the worsening conflict between the two parts of the…
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 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…
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.…
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. The Constitution was clearly interpreted in different ways. There were many conflicts between the north and south about the issue of slavery in the Constitution. This issue was touched up with the compromise of 1850 (Doc A) and the fugitive slave act. One concept of this compromise was known as “popular sovereignty” where Utah and New Mexico decided to vote on whether they want slavery at the time of statehood application. However, the strict fugitive slave law commanded the capture of any runaway slave. After the fugitive slave law was enacted, many personal liberty laws were created in the North and colored people were…
Writing an essay is difficult as it is but my unwillingness to analyze specific doctrines does not compare to the unwillingness of the government to mend the breaking union during the late 1800’s. Northern and Southern states differed politically, economically, and socially; thus setting the stage for one of the biggest battles in American history. The constitution was intended to be this almighty document that united the states and kept them in balance but tension rose greatly. Even though the constitution is ultimately our most important historical “rulebook” it failed in the 1850’s being the primary cause for a Civil War. For four long years there were battles, trials, and also riots including deceitful ideologies our founding fathers had…
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 American constitution recognized slavery as a local constitution within the legal rights of the individual states. But in the North slavery was not adaptable to the local economy, and to many, it contradicted the vision of the founding fathers for a nation in which all men are to be free. The South considered slavery as a necessary institution for the plantation economy. It was linked to the local culture and society. As the United states expanded, the North worried that the South would introduce slavery into the new territories. Slavery had become both a moral issue and a question of political power." (Kral p61)…
It allowed Missouri to be added as a slave state while Maine was established as a free state to maintain balance amongst the Union. This compromise was later negated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act put in place in 1854. According to Eric Foner, he states, “During the next two years, the Whig Party, unable to develop a unified response to the political crisis, collapsed. From a region divided between the two parties, the South became solidly Democratic... disgruntled Democrats, joined a new organization, the Republican Party, dedicated to preventing the further expansion of slavery” (Foner 512). Passed in 1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act created a more sectional America because settlers could not determine the status of slavery among these territories by themselves. This led to events like Bleeding Kansas which was caused because when it came time to use their popular sovereignty to vote on whether to outlaw slavery or not people from other the states, like Missouri, would cross over the border and cast votes which led to elections being invalidated and having to be done over again on other days. Bleeding Kansas also led to many acts of violence that held political anti-slavery sentiments. However, the actual act itself states that it will leave the states “...created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory Nebraska; and... shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of the admission…" (The Kansas- Nebraska Act). The act had went against the Missouri Compromise because Stephen A. Douglas passed this bill to give territorial governments to Kansas and Nebraska which had allowed them to use popular sovereignty to make their decisions. This negates the Missouri Compromise because it disrupted the balance of admitting every other state as a free state. Also, it…
This bill (known as popular sovereignty) would allow the people of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether they want to allow slavery in these areas. This bill won sectional votes and therefore, became a law in Kansas and Nebraska. This bill of popular sovereignty, cancelled the 1820 Missouri Compromise which had banned the expansion of slavery. This made the Northern States angry because they wanted to end slavery, however now, they feared that slavery would spread in the West. Furthermore, the confrontation from the North made the South slavery supporters angry because they believed that the Kansas Nebraska bill had been approved. The bill also created conflict between the citizens of Nebraska and Kansas. All the conflicting cities and states led to riots (Bleeding of Kansas). This unrest kept on raising between Kansas, Nebraska and North and…
Douglas and The United States Congress. the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed landowners with in Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether to allow slaves within their Land. The Kansas-Nebraska Act also was revoking the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which did not allow slavery within the northern side of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was anti-slavery in the north. He was also against the Kansas-Nebraska Act.…
In conclusion, the Anti Federalist and the Articles of Confederation may have had good intentions for the country, but it wasn’t so good for the people. The Articles of Confederation gave the states too much power so they could do whatever they wanted which caused division in the country because every state had its own currency. When the Constitution was put in place though, it unified the United States by giving the Central Government the power to rule over the states. The federalist and the Constitution were significantly better than their opposites which is why the Constitution is still around to this…
Slavery and the slave trades had started to play an important role in the Southern economy. The south prospered off of slaves because they used them to work on their plantations. In contrast to this, the North wanted to abolish slavery because they though it was brought shame to the Union. Many compromises were made in working toward the abolishment of slavery. These compromises included the Missouri Compromise that made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. It also excluded slavery from Louisiana Territory and lands above a certain northern latitude. Other compromises like the Compromise of 1850 did favor both sides by admitting California as a fee state and abolishing interstate slave trade in favor of the North and also including stricter fugitive slave laws in favor of the South. Although these compromises were made to help the slavery issue, they just further pushed the issue back. During this time, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published. It was a novel that emphasized that slavery was wrong and it ignited much tension between the North and the…