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Apush Dbq Compromise Of 1850

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When the Constitution was created to establish national unity, the makers did not outline the subject that would plague a source of discord between the North and South, slavery. Whereas, the Constitution under loose and strict interpretations manifested the divide between the union and confederacy. In consideration to the South heavily relying on “Cotton King,” as their source of income, slavery had become relied upon within their society, and they were unwilling to relinquish their labor force. This eventually brought the South into a defensive stance over “slave labor” as the North began to visibly oppose the injustice after Uncle Tom’s Cabin became a phenomena throughout the North and abroad depicting slave life. Therefore, the tension …show more content…

Thus, the Compromise of 1850 became a temporary band-aid to the issue as the North received California as a free-soil state and the South agreed because of the stricter Fugitive Slave Code (Doc A). This obtained free-soil state assisted in the sectionalism growth in the United States as the power in government tilted towards northern favor from emerging free-soil and the previous Missouri Compromise boundaries for slavery. While the southern states were in desire of obtaining new slave territory, but their inability to expand slavery into their purchased territories tipped the equilibrium between the two (Doc B). Since the constitution outlined property, the southerners felt strongly about their deemed rights over their slaves because they were viewed as property. These emotions tie similar to the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, where the Supreme Court extended the clause of slavery into any territory because slaves, like Dred Scott, were claimed as property and the government was incapable of robbing a person of their property. Consequently, claiming any state can have slavery within its borders surprised the South and brought discontent from the …show more content…

Thus, the South desired their lifestyle to be left alone, and if refused, the Constitution would be violated in one portion, which provoked the mentality to succeed from the union (Doc G). While the South argued for the right to own slaves since the idea of property is linked to the constitution, the North used the Constitution to prove that slavery was unconstitutional. Proven through the strict interpretation of the Constitution,as the word ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not written anywhere within the Constitution. Therefore, these slaves are not protected by the government, and the Union does not stand with these Slaveholders (Doc E). In regards to differing viewpoints between the Confederacy and Union, the Constitution was bound to break under the pressure of slavery. Since the Union deemed the Constitution against the peculiar institution and the Confederacy claimed that the Constitution advocated their

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As a result of the Compromise of 1850, which defused the quarrel between the free Northern States and the slave Southern States, the territories acquired during the Mexican-American War were determined to be free, slave, or dependent upon the principle of popular sovereignty. California was admitted as a free state, the Utah and New Mexico territories were to be determined by popular sovereignty, the Texas-New Mexico boundary was solidified, and slave trade was terminated in Washington, D.C., making it easier for the South to recover fugitive slaves (Document A). As stated by an Anonymous Georgian in “Plain Words for the North,” everything the South could ask for was embodied in the Constitution, but two provisions were necessary to the South’s success – “the recognition of slavery where the people choose it and the remedy for fugitive slaves” (Document B). The North saw popular sovereignty and the remedy of fugitive slaves as deceptive encouragement of immoral and unconstitutional activity (Document C). But, southerners viewed the North’s assumption of ownership to be unconstitutional.

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Slave trade has a great impact on American history. The book “slave nation” by Alfred W. Blumrosen gives an insight of slave labor during the civil war. This book also shows how slavery united the colonies and sparked the American Revolution. The book begins with the explanation of the founding of the republic and Somerset case impact on the republic. This book also explains how and the reasons Thomas Jefferson made few changes in the declaration of the independence.

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I agree with what you have stated in your post. The Compromise of 1850 was a very important event that helped lead up to the civil war.   The result of the compromise was 15 free states and 16 slave states. I also found that California was the first free state admitted as a free state and that the rest of the Mexican belongings were decided by popular sovereignty, which was a vote of the people of the territories.

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The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

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When it came to slavery however, Southerners attempted to justify it through the Constitution while Northerners

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The United States Constitution of 1787 was created in order to build a strong infrastructure for our country to pave a pathway for the future people in charge of the law. The topic in which the constitution was pro slavery or anti slavery was highly controversial for a number of reasons. This topic put the government into many debates though its constitutional convention as the word slavery itself was never said in the actual document. Even Though it was not said, it was clear that the ones in power were biased toward the slave owners in the country based on the provisions that were made. It may be debated as something in between as nothing was explicitly stated, but the three-fifths compromise stating that enslaved persons were not three fifths

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It is true to say that by the 1850’s the Constitution went from an instrument of unity to a source of tension, and lead to the failure of the union. The Constitution originally helped maintain peace, but when issues over slavery appeared, it failed to provide the guidance the union needed. Because of differing interpretations of the Constitution and the multiple conflicts, it lead to disunion. Because not everyone could agree on what the constitution implied, it led to the failure of the union. Document E states: “The words ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not to be found in the Constitution, and therefore that it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system, it is sufficient to reply..

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Many other states followed forming the Confederacy. Document Seven describes a message to Congress by Lincoln. He states that the southern states have created a clever deception, that states could peacefully withdraw from the Union without their consent. He goes on to say that many of the states succeeding have never been a state outside of the Union. Thus by them asserting a claim of state rights, without never being a state outside the Union is blasphemy and is just another attempt to destroy the Union.

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Another issue was whether the constitution protected slave or if they were counted as a person, if so the constitution would needed to abide by all the states since it was the supreme law of the

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Many Northerners, specifically Republicans, viewed the Supreme Court’s decision, which denied Scott’s freedom and believed African Americans to be non-citizens of the U.S. as a clear support for the system of slavery. The ruling shocked and angered Northern abolitionists and those against slavery who saw it as a major defeat in their struggle against slavery. Northerners were frightened as they thought that the Court’s ruling disturbed the fragile balance between free and slave states since it implied that slavery may spread to other areas, going against their attempts to stop this from happening. In addition, slave states no longer had to honor the “Once free, always free” rule meaning slaves who were seized to regions were freed- even if they came back to the state of Missouri which is a slave state, but that was opposed therefore, the federal government and the courts could not be expected to provide slaves with any

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The rise of the conflict leading up to the Civil War can be mapped out, which proves it was not completely about slavery. Popular opinion of republicanism helped to partially divide the nation. Republicanism was prominently found in the North; it consisted of self-improvement, equality, and social mobility. Republicanism and slavery was not a viable mixture. Northern states began to question the concept of slavery; slavery was renowned in the South, so many northerners began to question the South’s virtues (author).

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In the first draft of the Constitution, it obeyed with proslavery delegates who wanted the Constitution to stop the government from regulating the slave trade in the Atlantic because they believed it would have a terrible effect against slavery. Once this first draft was published, antislavery northerners protested and proposed that the government should have the power to regulate and even abolish slavery after 1808. Having even the first draft of the document state that the government would not have rights over slaveholders in the south reinforces the claim of the Constitution being a proslavery document. The reason they changed the first draft is that of the uproar it was causing with the Northerners who were antislavery. If there was no backlash, this section might have been kept the same and unchanged, but because of the backlash, the Constitution was forced to change which in the end decided to compromise for each side of the spectrum vaguely.

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During the time of the writing of the constitution, most of the southern colonies were dependent on slave labor to produce cash crops, while primarily northern colonies wished to end slavery. This difference caused contention between the colonies when determining slavery in the constitution. A compromise reached, the constitution did not outright address its stance on slavery when it created the ⅗ clause, determined the importation laws of slaves, and the creation of the fugitive slave clause, the constitution continued to allow slavery in the United States. While the constitution neither promoted nor abolished slavery, the ⅗ clause in the Constitution integrated the counting of slaves as a part of representation in government.

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The early to mid-nineteenth century was headlined by sectionalism, which ultimately led to the American Civil War. Some of the events and issues within that time period that led to that major event include abolitionism, sectionalism, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the election of 1860. Before the 1820s, abolitionism was more of a regional issue than a national issue. During the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, many states in the North began implementing gradual emancipation laws which caused slavery in those states to become nonexistent within a few decades. The issue of abolitionism started to attract national attention in the early 1830s during the Second Great Awakening.

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The compromise allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, and the territories acquired in the Mexican American War to be determined free or slave through popular sovereignty. This compromise also called for stricter enforcement of fugitive slave laws, as slaves were considered property, and under the Constitution must be returned to their owners. This created tension between Northern and Southerners, especially since the North wanted nothing to do with the institution of slavery, even if it was just returning slaves. The Southerners were also angered that slave trade was ended in Washington, for they felt it was an attempt to end slavery. The Compromise of 1850, while it prevented the war for several years, failed to accomplish significant changes.

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