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The Three Great Compromises
The United States of America was founded on the basis of compromise, but what does compromise really mean? According to the Webster's New World
Dictionary compromise means "an adjustment of opposing principles". Political systems use compromises in daily life. The Three Great Compromises that occurred early in this nation's government were the Connecticut Compromise, the
3/5 Compromise, and finally the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise. Were it not for these compromises the United States could still be governed under the
Articles of Conferderation.
The Connecticut Compromise was the most important compromise in the history of the U.S. government. The representatives from each state were going to change the government totally, from powerful state governments to a powerful central government, which they vowed not to do when they declared independence from
England. Rhode Island was so disgusted with the idea of changing the government that they did not even come to the meeting. Finally after all the debating and each state getting their say, they "compromised" on a plan where they would have two governmental houses, one being the House of Representatives and the second being the Senate, with the Senate being the stronger of the two houses. The
House of Representatives was based on each state's population, that is the more people in the state the more representatives that state would get. The Senate said that regardless of the state's population each state would get two representatives all with equal say.
The 3/5 Compromise was mainly about slaves. The issue in this compromise was should slaves be counted for determining representation for each state? The
North did not want them to be counted because they were considered possessions, not citizens, and that meant less representation for them. The South, on the other hand, wanted them to be counted because that meant that they could pass laws more beneficial to the South since they would have more representation. So they "compromised" and said that each slave counted 3/5 of a person.
The final compromise was the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise. The issue here was should Congress be able to regulate trade and should the United States continue with slave trading? The North felt that Congress should control trade and put an end to slave trading. The South was fearful of Northern jealousy of
Southern agriculture trade with England, and the South was also wary of Congress
The North had a very different opinion of the American way and made it exceedingly clear with the formation of numerous abolition societies, effectively abolishing slavery across the northern region and allowing blacks to live as productive members society, rather than its the property. Even one of the most prominent slave holders of that time was forced to rethink the legitimacy of slavery. “Seeing free black soldiers in action undermined [George] Washington’s racial prejudice and ultimately his support for slavery itself” (Finkelman 18). The productivity, societal and political benefits, and military empowerment made available by freed slaves challenged the South’s sense of racial supremacy, thus they began to establish a defense against the complete abolition of
The United States began to dissatisfy some of its citizens and so the concerns of sectionalism, or the split of the country began to arise. There was a continuous riff between the south and the north over a few issues, a major one being slavery. The south argued that the slaves were necessary to support the southern economy. According to document A, the south were angry that the north was creating taxes that hurt the southern economy, thus increasing the need for slavery since they had to make up for the expense of the taxes. The south felt that the north was able...
The Connecticut Compromise resolved this issue by forming the two houses that we have today. In one house, the Senate, every state is represented equally regardless of population. In the lower house, the House of Representatives each state receives one representative for a set number of people. This satisfied all of the states and helped resolve one of the greatest conflicts while writing the Constitution. Another conflict that arose was with the counting of slaves in the census used to set the number of representatives per state. This was resolved under the Three-Fifths Compromise which stated that every slave would be counted as 3/5 of a person, although these slaves were given no voice or rights.
...ecause they feared that Slavery would soon be completely abolished. These tensions eventually led to the civil war where the North won and slavery was ended although there were still slave like laws in place after.
The Three Fifths compromise states that a slave be counted as three-fifths of a person. Therefore, the population of the southern states equaled the population of the northern states. Now that the populations were balanced, the south and the north sent the same amount of representatives to the House of Representatives. Pro-slavery southerners felt as if the north still had an advantage, but it was actually the south that had the advantage in the Senate and the House of Representatives.... ...
their income and with Lincoln wanting them to free their slaves, which would cause them to lose profit; the Southerners did not want him to...
...ld not protect the interest of the Southern states. Coupled with the hostilities, lack of votes for Lincoln from the South and disregard for the constitutional protection of slavery is a justifiable reason from the Southern leaders to secede from the Union.
...ves were property, instead of people, and they could now spread slavery through the United States. The result of this case helped to widen the schism forming between the North and the South. Therefore, social factors that divided the North and South helped cause the Civil War.
The South did not want to lose slavery and wanted future territories to have slavery. Compromise is impossible to achieve. Going back to the quote, "The 1850's was a time of attempted compromise when compromise was no longer possible. " During the 1850's compromise was attempted by both the North and South and failed. It failed because both sides wanted different things, and this made compromise impossible.
Those who were against the expansion feared that it would heighten the slavery issue and threaten the Union. Mainly, the North was known for its anti-slavery movements and chose not to cooperate until slavery was finished. However, the South encouraged the practice of slavery by stating that it was a “white southerners” source of a labor force. Nevertheless, on the upside of...
Even though the South had a great advantage of agricultural economic control, they had to depend greatly on the North for manufacturing because of their poor transportation. When the option of westward expansion came to be, the South could see it as an opportunity to expand their agricultural economy to make up for their dependence on northern manufacturing. However, the North realized the danger of the South wanting to expand westward. The South’s economic power could grow and with their agriculture, would also come their slaves, but would slavery be allowed
...nt to the south to free the slaves from their masters and the Underground Railroad that secretly moved slaves from safe house to safe house until they were in Canada, tremendously angered the South. They realized that they needed to fight in order to get the independence they wished for, so then there could therefore do what they wished. Politically, the North further split the views on issues and developed more laws against slavery in the South. Socially the North strengthened their own cause in the because of things like Uncle Tom's cabin; that lead to Northerners forming the Underground Railroad. Economically, the South was crushed with protection tariffs that emptied out southern pockets. The North most definitely contributed to the Political, Social and Economic issues that divided and angered the country in the time before 1861; eventually leading to Civil War.
Since the beginning of their new nation, the United States had many differences between the Northern and Southern states. During the Constitutional Convention they disagreed on how to determine their representation in the house based on population; the Southerners wanted to count their slaves and the Northerners did not, which lead to the three-fifths compromise. Later in the Convention there were concessions given to the South, which left the Northerners feeling uneasy, such as: a guarantee that the slave trade would not be interfered with by Congress until 1808 and slave owners were given the right to recover refugee slaves from anywhere in the United States. While many Northern delegates were disappointed with the rights given to the South, they felt it was necessary for the good of the Nation. This was necessary to form a strong central government and union between the states.
The Secession of the United States was the cause of thr Civil War. The Southern Confederates were furious that the Northern Union for trying to abolish slavery. When Lincoln was elected president, he tried to once and for all abolish slavery in the North as well as the west. He tried to contain slavery to its geographical area to keep it from spreading anymore north, but the South erupted in rebellion and eventually went to war against the North in the Civil