The North and South both had opposite opinions about slavery, The South favored slavery because of there agricultural based economy which they needed slaves to attend to their harvests and crops, the North was against slavery because they were an industrialized nation they had no need for slavery. This debate went on and almost resulted
The north and south have been arguing over slavery since 1787 when the constitution was first signed and our government as we know it came to be. Before the westward expansion in new unexplored territory began in the United States, it was understood that the Ohio River and Mason-Dixon line would be the boundary between free and slave states. Westward expansion was a very important thing to the United States during this time. The incorporation of new states in the newer, western territory made slavery a full-frontal concern of national politics. “As the free society of the North and the slave society of the South spread westward, it seemed politically expedient to maintain a rough equality among the new states carved out of western territories,” (Alchin, Linda). Balancing the amount of slave and free states was a significant matter to both the northern and the southern political leaders. When Alabama first joined the Union in 1819, it made the political power between free and slave states completely equal, which made political leaders from both sides happy.
Although the north and south were living completely different lifestyles, abolitionists from north were against slavery and advocated emancipation to slaves in the south. Slavery may not have been the only factor that sparked a disagreement between the north and south but it certainly had an influence on states decisions to remain or leave the Union. The conflict of slavery has been an issue as early as the American Revolution but it became a serious problem around the 1850’s and during the Civil War. The impact slavery had on the Union can be seen in events such as the Richmond Riots which began when the north blockaded the south’s ports, the Emancipation that freed all slaves, and the 13th and 14th Amendment which officially abolished slavery and granted African Americans equal rights as Whites. Unfortunately, the status of African Americans in the United States were not improving and can be seen in the Black Codes which was a step back from emancipation.
Politically, slavery became one of those hot topic issues that politicians usually like to avoid speaking about because the country was divided into two different view points, pro-slavery and anti-slavery, and politicians wanted to be in everyone’s good graces to win come election time. However, when the argument came about weather or not newly inducted states could ban slavery or not, tensions rose in the government. This led to the Compromise of 1850, which allowed for stricter fugitive laws, but allowed California to be free, and New Mexico and Utah to make their decision based on popular sovereignty (the idea that the people of that state should choose). Politically, slavery left a whole mess of confusion for the new states. For example, in the Kansas- Nebraska act a railroad was to be built crossing over two new territories (Kansas and Nebraska) that allowed
As the United States expanded westward, two new territories were carved out and the issue of slavery arose again. The U.S. government let the two new territories decide themselves whether or not to permit slavery. Since it was up to the people to decide the slavery issue, Northern abolitionists enticed anti-slavery supporters to move into the new regions and vote to make Kansas and Nebraska free states. Southern pro-slavery supporters did exactly as the North did to make Kansas and Nebraska slave states. The two sides clashed with one another over this issue and there was literally a Civil War in Kansas.
In the early to mid 1800s, the north and south of the United States weren’t so united. The southern states, which included states such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, believed that slavery was an important factor in the development of plantations. The development of free states and slave states contributed to The Civil War in the way that they were the ones fighting the war. The free states wanted to keep all of the states together while the slave states wanted to make their own laws and rules. While arguing about whether or not to keep the states together as a whole, The Civil War broke out, but eventually the free states, or northerners, won.
The Northerners opposed to versus the South who were States were the only regions in the world that still legalized the ownership of slaves. This angered the Southerners and threatened their way of life. “The election of Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the united states in November of 1860 set the stage for division, secession, and civil war “(Stokesbury 3) the South felt threatened when it came to slavery.
At the end of the Mexican War, lands were ceded to the Union in the West. People from the North and the South were debating over whether or not these lands should have slavery. The solution was pushed by Clay, Webster, and Douglas from the North that would give the new lands the choice to be slave or free depending on a vote. During the mid-1800's, the North was industrializing and populating at a much higher rate than the South which was becoming dependent on the cotton industry. The Compromise of 1850 created more problems than it solved in regards to the enforcement of slave laws, lands in the West, and popular sovereignty.
The 1820 Missouri Compromise played a large role in the campaign against slavery. In 1819 Missouri became a statehood and congress considered framing a state constitution, with this a representative attempted to add a anti-slavery legislation with it. This is what started the process of the campaign against slavery. Henry Clay made a large contribution toward this compromise in 1820, with his new ideas on how to settle the conflict between the North and the South, which lasted until 1954.All the compromise’s made from 1820's to the Kansas Nebraska compromise
In 1850, Henry Clay introduced a series of propositions which concerned California as a free state and the fugitive slave law. However, Clay never succeeded in passing his plans due to differences congress portrayed within each other. In September, Douglas introduced Clays plans, but separately, and ended up…… so the Compromise of 1850 was signed. This Compromise admitted California as a free state and enforced the Fugitive slave laws among others. It created tension as northerners were unhappy with the fugitive slave law and the southerners felt threatened due to
One of the main topics of concern for many decades was when new territories want to enter the union, will they be free or slave states? Henry Clay, one of the great compromisers, was able to work all sorts of different compromises on several issues throughout the years. One of his most famous compromises was the Missouri compromise. This allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, and every new state following would be free North of the Mason-Dixon line. This would try to stop the expansion of slavery, and for a short while, it did. During this time period, most Americans believed in manifest destiny, so they expanded westward. As many Southern’s moved west, they brought with them their slaves. Furthermore, they moved to places where slavery made economic sense, for example
During the time around 1850, tensions were rising on the issue of slavery between the North and the South. New states were being admitted to the United States, but the decisions to make them a free state or a slave state were what really mattered. As an example, California was admitted to the Union as a free state, and this angered the south very much because slavery was a very important factor to the South's economy. The Compromise of 1850 was developed to help soothe the tensions on each side. This Compromise had several provisions: California was admitted to the Union as a free state; the territories of New Mexico and Utah were created without restrictions of slavery; the slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.; Congress passed a stricter fugitive slave law. This compromise showed just how important slavery was to each side, and it gives us a good idea of why it could be important as one of their goals during the Civil War. With slavery in mind, it brought about ideas of succession to the South. Because the South was scared of Lincoln abolishing slavery, they thought it would be a wise decision to secede from the Union. In fact, Lincoln had no plans of abolishing slavery, but stated that it should not spread to the territories. The South basically misunderstood and decided to secede anyway. The reason slavery was so important to the South, and lead them to break apart from the Union was that it
The north and south have been arguing over slavery since 1787 when the constitution was signed and our government came to be. Before the westward expansion began, it was
The reason it divided the nation was the Southern politicians objected to the new territories entering the Union as Free states, and felt like they were not being heard on their sides of the issue, in return the South decided to secede from the Union. War with Mexico added new territories to the Southwest, slavery expanding became more serious than ever. Henry Clay made a series of compromises in an effort to fix the space between the north and south states. Congress eventually passed the Compromise of 1850. This Compromise added California to the Union as a free state, allowed the territories of New Mexico and Utah to decide the slavery issue for themselves. The Kansas-Nebraska Act granted residents of these territories “popular sovereignty,”.
Cotton was the king of the South. It was bringing in large amounts of money as the textile industry in the North grew. Slavery was vital to the economic well-being of the South, and when the North began to question the “peculiar institution” of the South the wall of civility between the two sectionalized areas began to crumble. Due to the growing issue of slavery in the 1850s, the United States of America was in a state of total disarray and turmoil. The tension that had always existed between the North and South over the matter of slavery was no longer ignorable. As the United States expanded to the West, the status of slavery in the new states erupted in a violence that could no longer be controlled by sectionalism. The peace treaties that had worked in the past became Band-Aids over stab wounds. Southern states began to leave the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America and war was declared as the South fired onto the forts of the North. The Civil War was caused directly by the issue of slavery; the fugitive slave act in the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Bleeding Kansas prove that slavery was the key factor in the eruption of the nation.