The Controversial Decisions of the US Government in History

The Controversial Decisions of the US Government in History In 1804 the United States takes formal possession of what is now

Missouri. In 1820 After fierce debate, Congress admits Missouri as a

slave state. The question of Missouri statehood sparks widespread

disagreement over the expansion of slavery. The resolution, eventually

known as the Missouri Compromise which allowed Missouri to enter the

union as a slave state along with the entrance of the free state of

Maine, preserving a balance in the number of free and slave states.

The Compromise also dictates that no territories above the 36o 30'

latitude can enter the union as slave states. The neighboring state to

Missouri, Illinois had entered the union as a free state in 1819,

while in subsequent years Congress admits Arkansas as a slave state

and Iowa as a free state.

In Slave states and free states, which had previously respected one

another's laws on slavery, become increasingly hesitant to enforce

those laws as the argument over the expansion of slavery becomes

increasingly heated. Shareholders express a particular opposition to

legal precedents that permit slaves to demand their own freedom after

being transported to places (whether other states or foreign

countries) that prohibit slavery. At this time the issue of slavery

was a major concern. The Mexican War provided the United States with a

lot of new territory, and the question of the future of slavery in the

territories was on everyones mind. The people of the North who were

against slavery an...

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...ericans realized that these two ideologies, both

quick to defend their side, both distrustful of the other side, could

not coexist in the same nation.

After the trial Scott was bought by his lawyer. Unfortunately Scott

died 9 months later at the age of 59. The real issue that should have

been examined was the Preamble to the constitution were it is clearly

stated that all men are created equal. How the justices could over

look such an issue was clearly wrong. The Supreme Court has made many

other controversial decisions, often taking on in some opinions too

much legislation which lacks democracy the element that the

representative republic of the United States is supposedly based upon.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berger, Raoul. Government by Judiciary: The Transformation of the

Fourteenth Amendment , Harvard U. Press, 1977.