ipl-logo

The Constitution Dbq

918 Words4 Pages

The Constitution was made to be the document that would bring together the states to form a Union but as time went on, it was obvious there were many things separating the North and the South. The Constitution did do its job in helping to keep the Union together for a time but as a series of growing conflicts began to arise in the 1850s, it encouraged a growing split between the two and brought to light that it wasn't just the Constitution that was causing waves. The Constitution did become the source of sectional discord and tension that ultimately led to the failure of the Union. It was a prevalent ideal in the North that the ocuntry was an indissovable Union. When the Constitution was made, the points written were more conerning the breaking …show more content…

This Act was not included in the Constitution so the issue was forced onto the government to try and solve, which would later cause some exceeding tension with decisions made. Popular soverignty was big on the deciding factor in whether or not slavery would prevail in the states. While a majority of the Northern states and new decided on not having slavery due to the decision as a whole, the South was unhappy with this and asked for tighter laws to persecute runaway slaves. In reference to the Fugitive Slave Law, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, "As soon as the Constitution ordans an immoral law, it ordains disunion...The Union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted" (Doc D) which highlights the fact that what the politicians had done was against the moral insight of most of the country. Yet another citizen, William Lloyd Garrison who was active in the abolitionist movement, stated " “The Constitution which subjects them [slaves] to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support” …show more content…

Howeverm, in Doc C we see that even in the northern states, they hunted down their own citizens to throw them into the life of slavery even if they were born free due to the fact that they could get money just for doing that. In cases like the Dred Scott case, he fought for his freedom which he was so blatantly denied in the court of law where the Constitution should have protected him as such. Congress tried its best to decide which way was the best to go and even when they tried to get reform on slavery, President Jefferson Davis was unhappy with the idea that congress was trying to assert their power over the states and mentioned that he thought the government was supposed to be an area where independent states could come together (doc H). This led the the seceding of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. It was true that at this point, President Buchanan (doc G) felt that he had no real power to force the states to stay in the Union because he could not find the authority in the Constitution. This was another issue because as the Constitution did not say those who joined the Union had to stay, it left the door open for seceding. The Union tried very hard to keep the South as they made a series of compromises like the Crittenden Amendements, which would allow them the ability to keep slavery

Show More
Related
550 Words | 3 Pages

The problems lied in the misinterpretation of the clauses that were present in the Constitution, that “was made by the people and for the people; and to the people, while also stating that, “the sovereign power in [the] confederacy, we appeal from this decision. They understand the charter of their liberties, we hope, full well enough to rebuke and defeat, at the polls, this effort to give the whole country up to the domination of the slave power.” This quote supports the political lens as the start of the Civil War because the Constitution is being referred to as an entity, and shows that slavery was a product of legal disputes and restrictions of protecting those who were not looked upon as valuable or human. Lastly, a drawback of this piece of evidence could be the writer is not a witness, nor a Judge of the Supreme Court, so he cannot recount all the factors that were taken into consideration during the

Read More
347 Words | 2 Pages

During the Constitutional Convention, in the summer of 1787, several divisions arose among the delegates. There were differences between the northern vs. southern states, merchants vs. farmers, free vs. slave states, large vs. small states, and east vs. west. However, the main division of the Constitutional Convention was the Virginia Plan vs. the New Jersey Plan, essentially the large states vs. small states. The primary objective of the meeting was to somehow find a balance of power without leaving any one group or person with absolute control.

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

On account of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court decided that they didn't have the ability to constrain President Jefferson to convey the commissions that he had solicited Secretary from State James Madison to not convey to the "midnight judges" designated by John Adams just before his term as president finished. Despite the fact that the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Supreme Court the ability to issue writs of mandamus, Article III of the Constitution did not permit the Supreme Court. By settling on this choice, the Supreme Court initially showed its energy of legal audit; to upset a government demonstration since they trust it is illegal. Some would contend that the force of legal audit makes the legal branch too capable, while others

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

The United States Constitution is one of most know historical document in the whole history of the United States. However when the constitution was made was it truly made to help build a better union, or really just a certain group of people? The United States Constitution was hypocritical at the time it was written, because it did not establish Justice for the workers because the government never paid back the bonds they promised, it did not help form a better union by making farmers pay in currency, and for sure did not secure the blessings of liberty for slaves or their posterity. The United States Constitution was hypocritical on the fact that it did not establish Justice to the workers of America when it was made. The workers of America had fought in the Revolutionary War for a government they believed in.

Read More
372 Words | 2 Pages

The Constitutional Convention in 1787 held many problems however, they were resolved. The Constitutional Convention had two questions. How would they strengthen the national government without taking any power from the states? and, How would they balance the interests of both the wealthy and those that aren’t wealthy? 55 men agreed to make a compromise, and therefore the Constitution became a bundle of compromises.

Read More
446 Words | 2 Pages

The Constitution is a document written in the late 1700's that is supposed to outline how the government should be run, but in that process, the founding fathers had to make many compromises for it to be finalized and for all the states to agree. The main thing that caused there to be so many disagreements was slavery because some states wanted it to continue while others didn’t, which caused them to have to make compromises. The constitution protected slavery because the compromises that were made caused the southern states to only speed up the process of the slave trade instead of outlawing it right away. The reason behind this is that the biggest compromise that was made was that the slave trade couldn’t be outlawed by Congress until 1808, which caused the southern states to trade more slaves at a more rapid pace.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

In America in the 1840s and 1850s the north were growing industrially and relying on factories while the south was still rural and all about agriculture the two were growing apart. There became the debate over slavery and the north saw it has morally wrong while the south saw no problem with it. In the 1860s the south finally seceded from the union when Lincoln became president. In effort to try and help with issues there became many compromises like the compromise of 1850. While some believe the civil war started over “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” there is historical evidence that shows that the real causes for the secession of the southern states and the starting of the civil war to force them back into the union, were overwhelmingly the caning of

Read More
144 Words | 1 Pages

Madison used his political eloquence to keep the House of Representatives uneasy over the question so that secession could be kept away from. He made sure that no constitutional termination was passed and that the board’s final recommendation hid slavery out of federal control. Ellis concludes that neither franklin nor Madison’s intervention discouraged the course of history. The slavery debate finally moved from congress to churches halls where it remained until civil war. Slavery, an underlining theme throughout this chapter, takes center stage in this chapter.

Read More
400 Words | 2 Pages

Therefore, freeing the slaves was not important. All men aren’t created equally as shown in these times. The belief that slavery was wrong, was not strong enough for the the Constitution to overcome. Mr. Freehling said, “The only way Africans could be free was if they were sent back to Africa”.

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

America’s founders created the constitution in order to create unification and order in the United States. However, there have been controversy surrounding the interpretation of the constitution, this has caused debate over many issues within the country. These issues and the lack of wartime policy within the constitution directly lead to the Civil War, which was one of the worst alterations this nation has faced. The Missouri compromise, the Dred Scott decision, and Bleeding Kansas were controversial issues surrounding the constitution that directly lead to the Civil War.

Read More
947 Words | 4 Pages

The assembling of the Constitution was a long and hardening process for the framers to take on their own during the summer of 1787. That being said nothing good is created without a little dispute. Although by the end of the Convention they had established the Constitution, there were still some unsettling ideas that needed to be set straight for the people. These deference's in ideals separated the United States people into the Federalist (supporting the ideas of the Constitution fully without any changes), and the Anti- Federalists (persons who wanted an established and undeniable writing that the rights and liberties of the people were secure among other things). These strains of the people were necessary in order for our Constitution to

Read More
1713 Words | 7 Pages

After the civil war the country was divided into two distinctive parts, the Union States (northern part of the country) and the Confederate States (southern part of the country). The Union States took the stance of

Read More
774 Words | 4 Pages

During this time, the U.S. was split into two sections, the majority of the southern states had seceded from the United States, banding together as their own country known as the Confederate States of America who were fighting the war to keep slavery legal. The northern states maintaining their commitment to the United States were fighting the war to end slavery. The Transcontinental Railroad was going to open up the territories west of the the Missouri River and allow the creation of more free states. Fearing the loss of influence of slave states, the congressional representatives of the south opposed the railroad on financial grounds.

Read More
700 Words | 3 Pages

The Southern and Northern states were in a huge dispute over whether to continue slavery or stop it for good. It would do no good for states with slaves to keep materials to themselves, for that would defeat the whole purpose of the Constitution because the colonies needed each other to benefit as one. “If the Northern states think about their interest, they will not oppose the increase of slaves because they will profit by selling the goods that slaves produce” (Stanford RHL). The representatives decided to keep slavery and no matter how much some debated against this outcome, those men had to realize the importance of the work the slaves helped with, without it America would slowly lose its ability to survive. In twenty years, the founders would not know whether or not they will still need slaves, to make everyone happy, they decided to continue the slave trade for 20 more years, after that no more slaves would be brought into America.

Read More
487 Words | 2 Pages

In retrospect, the history of the antebellum America is quite fascinating. During this period, the young republic faced several challenges. One of the most serious ones was the slavery issue. Reading the related materials, people might understand that the Founding Fathers had actually pondered about the solution to the issue; however, they did not pursue it because they foresaw possible turmoil in American politics. Unfortunately, the issue kept simmering until it reached the boiling point which resulted in the disastrous Civil War.

Read More

More about The Constitution Dbq

Open Document