American Revolution Dbq

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Ever since the settlement of colonies began in 1607, there have always been distinct differences between the North and South. However, it was not until the late 18th and 19th centuries when those differences began to drive the two regions apart, leading up to the Civil war in 1861. I believe that there were a multitude and variety of developments that caused this war, including how the colonies evolved after settlement and the American Revolution, the institution of slavery, and Congress’s lack of involvement in slavery issues. In the time between settlement and the American Revolution in 1765, the colonies experienced a lot of change and development. Virginia was the first colony and was founded by the Virginia Company of London in 1607 with …show more content…

Focusing back on the north colonies, although the Puritan settlers sought their religious freedom and their lives were largely centered on their practice, younger generations were not as devout as the older generations. As decades passed, new ideologies began to form in the colonies, many of which were influenced by two major movements that were occurring in Europe at the time. The Enlightenment and Great Awakening encouraged the change of ideologies in the colonists while they were under salutary neglect. They learned from The Enlightenment (including the Scientific Revolution) that they can not only discover and learn the laws of nature, hence the rise of calculus and Newton’s laws, but they might even be able to alter and defy them. The Great Awakening brought back religion in the colonies, and more denominations formed. The ideological movements are significant because they inspired many colonists to questions why things were the way they were and how they could be different. More specifically, they wondered what it would be like to be completely free from England and form their own independent nation. Due to the salutary neglect during the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, the …show more content…

At the time, Congress followed the gag rule, which did not allow any discussion or consideration of slavery. However, they were forced to break their silence when Missouri applied for statehood… as a slave state. This was pivotal because free states currently had control over Congress, but if Missouri was allowed to join as a slave state, slave states would have a slight majority and control the Senate. To appease both sides, the Missouri Compromise was enacted, which allowed Missouri to join the Union as a slave state and Maine to join as a free state, and it outlawed slavery in the rest of the western territory above the 36’ 30” line. Some politicians spoke out about this compromise, including Thomas Jefferson who described this compromise as doing nothing more than “holding the wolf by the ears,” because they feared what the future may hold and if the new nation would survive if worse came to worse. However, Congress continued to try and keep both sides relatively happy as the US acquisitioned land from Mexico and passed yet another compromise. The Compromise of 1850 was a 5 part legislation that forced the slave states to accept minority status in Congress given that the free states agree to protect slavery where it was already established. However, neither side liked this compromise for several reasons. Firstly, the free states benefitted from four out of the five clauses of

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