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The Constitution Dbq

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The Constitution was made to be the document that would bring together the states to form a Union but as time went on, it was obvious there were many things separating the North and the South. The Constitution did do its job in helping to keep the Union together for a time but as a series of growing conflicts began to arise in the 1850s, it encouraged a growing split between the two and brought to light that it wasn't just the Constitution that was causing waves. The Constitution did become the source of sectional discord and tension that ultimately led to the failure of the Union. It was a prevalent ideal in the North that the ocuntry was an indissovable Union. When the Constitution was made, the points written were more conerning the breaking …show more content…

This Act was not included in the Constitution so the issue was forced onto the government to try and solve, which would later cause some exceeding tension with decisions made. Popular soverignty was big on the deciding factor in whether or not slavery would prevail in the states. While a majority of the Northern states and new decided on not having slavery due to the decision as a whole, the South was unhappy with this and asked for tighter laws to persecute runaway slaves. In reference to the Fugitive Slave Law, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, "As soon as the Constitution ordans an immoral law, it ordains disunion...The Union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted" (Doc D) which highlights the fact that what the politicians had done was against the moral insight of most of the country. Yet another citizen, William Lloyd Garrison who was active in the abolitionist movement, stated " “The Constitution which subjects them [slaves] to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support” …show more content…

Howeverm, in Doc C we see that even in the northern states, they hunted down their own citizens to throw them into the life of slavery even if they were born free due to the fact that they could get money just for doing that. In cases like the Dred Scott case, he fought for his freedom which he was so blatantly denied in the court of law where the Constitution should have protected him as such. Congress tried its best to decide which way was the best to go and even when they tried to get reform on slavery, President Jefferson Davis was unhappy with the idea that congress was trying to assert their power over the states and mentioned that he thought the government was supposed to be an area where independent states could come together (doc H). This led the the seceding of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. It was true that at this point, President Buchanan (doc G) felt that he had no real power to force the states to stay in the Union because he could not find the authority in the Constitution. This was another issue because as the Constitution did not say those who joined the Union had to stay, it left the door open for seceding. The Union tried very hard to keep the South as they made a series of compromises like the Crittenden Amendements, which would allow them the ability to keep slavery

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