Pros And Cons Of The Constitution

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Recommended: Assess the importance of slavery as a cause of the American Civil War

The framers of the United States Constitution had to debate and compromise on many of the amendments that make up our constitution for what the forefathers thought was for the greater good, the unity of the thirteen colonies. The Constitution of the United States helped build this country into a nation that is not ruled by a hierarchy or even by the majority rule and gives a voice to many of its citizens. The constitution helps to limit the federal rule over individual states. Before the start of the American Civil War, which started in 1861, the different views over the rights of slaves and other black Americans came to a head. There were many states that believed that their individual rights and state’s rights were being infringed upon. This caused them to take drastic action such as trying to secede from the United States.
For almost 75 years there had been a struggle on both sides of the slavery issue. …show more content…

In the issue of slavery, some states believed that it was the states, not the Federal Governments, decision to allow or not allow slavery within the its state lines. Since the constitution did not explicitly grant the Federal Government domain over the allowances of slaves it was up to the individual states. The states’ thought that their rights were being infringed upon by the Federal Government because they were not enforcing laws that returned their property to them. In addition there was also fear of more restrictions or even abolishment of slavery in the near future caused states, such as South Carolina, to try and separate from the United States. South Carolina stated that “failure of one of the contracting parties, to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other”. This argument from South Carolina in their declaration of secession won support from other states that would soon followed

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