Conflict Between 1820 And 1860 Dbq Essay

In the time period between 1820 and 1860, slavery was an ongoing issue in America. To resolve this issue people turned to compromises and documents. Overtime the south began to lose respect for the North leading to a need for separation. The North begin to wage a war on slavery, in the process is regarding their constitutional duties. The conflicts residing between the North and South along with the government's inability to control the issues made compromise impossible. Over time, the South had developed different values than the North ,always operating as a separate system. This led to the south’s separation from the North. It began with the secession of South Carolina. Being around the time of the second great awakening, people begin

In the declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention , it was stated “that every american citizen who retains a human being an involuntary bondage as his property is a man stealer”, and that “slaves ought instantly to be set free”(Document B). Because of this, they also claimed that “congress has a right... to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several states, and to abolish slavery and those portions of our territory which the constitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction”(Document B) .The North was no longer tolerating slavery in any part of the union, which led to turmoil between the North and the South. Also, in the past, the North was known to evade established compromises regarding slavery. Among individuals and the legislators of the North, there has been“a disinclination to perform fully their constitutional duties in regard to the return of persons bound to service with escaped into the free states”. This directly violated the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required all escaped slaves to be returned to their masters. The North was willing to go to any lengths in order to provide freedom for slaves. The North was not willing to settle for anything but liberty, leading to further conflict between the North and the South. This resulted in an inability to compromise the issue of

It was a problem that has spread so far that everybody had an opinion. First, the Gag Rule was issued, which stated that a house could not consider any antislavery petitions. “Petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers relating in any way or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon”(Document C). This left little to no room for the government's involvement in the issue of slavery. However, the government never really had a say on the issue. The ideas that were presented in politics resided in the minds of the people. In every avenue of society, Abraham Lincoln questioned the motivation of people's actions. “In politics, in religion, and literature, and morals, and all manifold relations in life... Is this the work of politicians?”(Document G)” He claims that it is the “ same mighty, deep-seated power that somehow operates on the minds of men, exciting and stirring them up”(Document G). Slavery was an issue for everyone not only the government and when everyone is involved, the issue cannot merely be resolved through politics. It is also shown in Document H the results of the election of 1860. Although Lincoln got the majority of the votes in favor of the North's decision, the South continued to disobey. This just enhanced the fact that