The Issue of Slavery in the New Colonies

639 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: slavery during colonial america

Before the South seceded from the union, from 1850-1861, the issue of slavery in the new territories and in the Union was debated between the North and the South, they had turned to the Constitution for answers, but because it was written to be vague that it did not provide much help other than fueling the debate further. Slavery wasn’t directly mentioned in the constitution, which made it very difficult to determine the Constitutions stand on slavery. In the territories that the Union that acquired, whether slavery would exist or not was another issue of debate, since the expansion of slavery was once again not covered in the Constitution either. In some territories like Kansas popular sovereignty was used to determine if it would be slave or free. In 1850 the Compromise of 1850 was passed as well as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which made it harder for African Americans to escape the institute of slavery.
In the Constitution the word slavery was never directly mentioned. The Northerners used this to support their cause of emancipation for the slaves, saying that the Constitution had never been designed to protect the institute of slavery. (Doc. E) However, the South also used the Constitution to defend the slave system. The Southerners had claimed that the Constitution protects the rights of a citizen’s private property, Fifth Amendment. Since the White Southerners viewed the Black slaves as chattel, slaves were valuable property to them. They said that the Northerners demand to emancipate the slaves was a violation of their rights to property. (Doc. B)
By 1850 the United States had achieved their goal of manifest destiny, however there was a slight problem, would the territories that they had acquired be free or slave? Cal...

... middle of paper ...

.... C) Ralf Waldo Emerson had said that the Fugitive Slave Law was an immoral law which it was his duty to break, and that an immoral law, such as this one, should be met by civil disobedience. (Doc. D)
Before the secession of the south, the issue of slavery was dividing the Union. Since the institute of slavery was not directly mentioned in the Constitution, both the North and South claimed that the Constitution was in their favor. The North claimed it did not protect the institute of slavery, while the South said that it protected a citizen’s property, which they believed that the slaves were. From the Compromise of 1850 the Utah and New Mexico territories were left up to popular sovereignty to determine if they were slave or free. While the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made it increasingly more difficult for escaping former slaves to hold on to freedom in the North.

Show More
Related

  • Gibbons V. Ogden

    333 Words  | 1 Pages

    The loose interpretation of the Constitution by Chief Justice Marshall had greatly infuriated and scared the Southerners because if the government could regulate interstate commerce, then it could one day regulate slavery; it's technically commerce. Therefore, states such as South Carolina passed the Negro Seamen Act, which was later struck down unconstitutional, greatly hit the issue of slavery. South Carolinians had great bases for their beliefs because of the recent Denmark Vesey uprising.

    Read More

  • Lincoln-Douglas Debate

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery was the belief that the expansion of it to Free states and new territories should be ceased and that it eventually be abolished completely throughout the country. He believed simply that slavery was morally wrong, along with socially and politically wrong in the eyes of a Republican. Lincoln felt that this was a very important issue during the time period because there was starting to be much controversy between the Republicans and the Democrats regarding this issue. There was also a separation between the north and the south in the union, the north harboring the Free states and the south harboring the slave states. Lincoln refers many times to the Constitution and its relations to slavery. He was convinced that when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution their intentions were to be quite vague surrounding the topic of slavery and African-Americans, for the reason that he believes was because the fathers intended for slavery to come to an end in the distant future, in which Lincoln refers to the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. He also states that the men who wrote the constitution were wiser men, but obviously did not have the experience or technological advances that the men of his day did, hence the reasons of the measures taken by our founding fathers.

    Read More

  • Celia, A Slave...

    1459 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The American constitution recognized slavery as a local constitution within the legal rights of the individual states. But in the North slavery was not adaptable to the local economy, and to many, it contradicted the vision of the founding fathers for a nation in which all men are to be free. The South considered slavery as a necessary institution for the plantation economy. It was linked to the local culture and society. As the United states expanded, the North worried that the South would introduce slavery into the new territories. Slavery had become both a moral issue and a question of political power." (Kral p61)

    Read More

  • The Pro-slavery Constitution

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    The two factors that shape the Constitution as being pro-slavery: the necessity of the slaveholders to protect their private property by the means of the law and the limited support of the North for the abolition at the time of the drafting of the Constituti...

    Read More

  • The 1787 Constitutional Convention

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    There was no significant desire among most delegates to abolish slavery during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. In addition, the focus of the convention was on forming a more perfect union, not dealing with the issue of slavery (Dolbeare, 71). Also complicating things was the concern among some delegates that putting too much weight on the issue of slavery might cause the unification process to fall apart. This resulted in the Constitution containing a series of compromises regarding slavery, and blatantly avoiding the issue of slavery.

    Read More

  • Sectionalism And Slavery

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery was a political, economic, social and moral issue that divided the citizens of the United States. Sectionalism is “loyalty or support of a particular region or section of the nation, rather than the United States as a whole” (“Sectionalism and Slavery). Slavery was a main factor of the sectional issue, dividing the country into North and South to the extent that it led to the Civil War; the main conflict was that southerners supported slavery and northerners opposed it. Because of the differences in history, economics, etc. in the states slavery was a main factor in the sectionalism between the North and South. The questions were whether rights of slave owners would be protected throughout the country, whether new territories would

    Read More

  • Thomas Pownall: The Cause Of The Civil War

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    An issue that divided the nation was slavery and the constitution. This issue divided the nation along sectional lines. In order to insure the nations population southern voters agreed on the three-fifths clause. The three-fifths clause allowed three-fifths of slaves to be counted for as a representation in selecting a president. (Norton, A People and a Nation, 172). With the clause, the Constitution was able to get rid of future slave rebellions and riots. Slavery was the very thing that shaped the South’s social structure. It was the reason for economic growth, and was the main topic of political issues. If they gave too much freedom to slaves by being represented in the clause, there would be much needed focus on making sure a rebellion didn’t happen. Because of the Constitution, many argued that having slaves was a right to property. In the end, the Constitution was used in many arguments to support and oppose slavery at the same

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America Essay

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.

    Read More

  • Slavery As A Positive Good

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1838, in my Resolutions Upholding Slavery, I shared that we, the states, entered the Union under the Federal Constitution. We did this because of its view of increased security and its natural, political, and social advantages (Resolutions Upholding Slavery). Before this, we were free, independent and sovereign States, and since we have given the Union its power under the Constitution, the States should retain the power to choose slavery or not. Also, since slavery existed before and during the formation of the Constitution, and we give the Union its power, it is the Unions job to uphold the slave system. If they abolish slavery they are favoring the North, if they impose slavery on everyone they are going against the choice of many Northerners to not own slaves. The Constitution states the equality of rights among the people and if they take away or impose something on either the Southerners or the Northerners, this destroys that equality, and thus destroys the Union itself (Resolutions Upholding Slavery).

    Read More

  • Slavery in the South

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery thus became an increasingly Southern institution. Abolition of slavery in the North, begun in the revolutionary era and largely complete by the 1830s, divided the United States into the slave South and the free North. As this happened, slavery came to define the essence of the South: to defend slavery was to be pro-Southern, whereas opposition to slavery was considered anti-Southern. Although most Southern whites did not own slaves (the proportion of white families that owned slaves declined from 35 percent to 26 percent between 18...

    Read More

  • Slave States Vs Free States Dbq Essay

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    The South believed that it was their right to sustain slavery whether or not they please to as the government was built on the sovereignty of states. They believed that their rights were and the idea of popular sovereignty were being violated because of the supremacy of the constitution applied by the North. In document I, Stephen Douglas states, “This government was made upon the great basis of the sovereignty of the states, the eight of each state to regulate its own domestic institutions to suit itself; and that right was conferred with the understanding and expectation that, inasmuch as each locality had separate interests, each locality must have different and distinct local and domestic institutions, corresponding to its wants and interests.” According to Douglas, the South believed the constitution benefited only the north and this created tensions and sectional

    Read More

  • Dbq Missouri Compromise

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the American Revolution, slavery had been put into question various times. The North and South always had opposing views on the topic. Once territories wanted to join the union, the argument of slavery filled the minds of Americans. The South wanted more slave states, while the North wanted slavery to be vanquished. Many times, the North tried to negotiate settlements, like the Missouri Compromise, for the sake of a united nation, yet the South never thought it was enough. Once the argument went too far with “Bleeding Kansas”, there was no looking back. The South wanted to leave the union in order to create its own pro-slavery nation. The North didn’t want slavery, but at the same time thought that secession was unconstitutional and the

    Read More

  • First 10 Amendments Essay

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery was an issue that would become extremely important topic when it came to the concern for the future of America, but the Founders knew that slavery was not going to be around forever due to its controversy. The Constitution reflects this belief in its wording for the long term effects it would foresee to have on the country.

    Read More

  • The Need For Slavery In The American Colonies

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Farming, sewing, and taking care of livestock were just a few responsibilities that were left to slaves during the 1600's. White families received all of the benefits from the work done, yet they rarely had to lift a finger, unless it was to correct a slave. Today's generation reads about slavery and regards it as morally wrong. While I agree that slavery was one of America's greatest wrongdoings, it paved the way for America as we know it today.

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery is the main issue in the 17th and 18th century and was used in economic foundations of Colonial America. It all started with the first colony Jamestown, Virginia which was established in 1607 then the famous and widely used crop tobacco was raised in 1612 also in Virginia. The year 1619, 20 Africans were brought to Virginia on a Portuguese slave ship and they wanted to buy food but they didn’t have any money so they sold the slaves to the settlers of Jamestown. The plantation owners were desperate for work so the slaves were used to work their tobacco fields. From the 20 African slaves some were either going to be chattel or indentures slaves to their owners. Eventually it was all going to change from going to indentured servitude to

    Read More

More about The Issue of Slavery in the New Colonies

Open Document