Liberty is the free will do to do as one pleases; liberty was challenged in the nineteenth century in America. A new president and the fourth amendment by President Abraham Lincoln challenged liberty. The freedom of black people in America was guaranteed and they were no longer slaves after the great Civil War between the Northern states and Southern States.
The three-fifths compromise
The three-fifths compromise was one of the most controversial topics when the constitution was being drafted in 1787. The complex arose when a determination was to be set of the number of House Representative for each State. It became an issue when it was realized that other states are much bigger than others are, and needed more House Representatives. The number of House Representatives in each state was to be determined by the population of the states, the main issue was on who was eligible to be counted in the population census. The three-fifths compromise delegated that all the slaves in the southern states were to be included in the census and should be counted as three-fifths of one white person. The population of slaves would be three-fifths in total of white people when apportioning House Representatives. The three-fifths compromise had two outcomes; the first outcome was that, it greatly increased the representation and political power of those states that owned slaves especially the southern states. The three-fifths compromise made the southern states gain enough power at the political level; the southern states would then get control in presidential elections, due to their large representations in the House. (Michael, 2015)
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Missouri Compromise of 1820
It was a heated debate in 1820 when Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state. The issue became a heated debate because the country at that point was divided equally eleven states in the north that did not support slavery and the eleven states in the south that supported slavery, admission of Missouri, slave state would be a bigger issue among the states in the North. The Missouri compromise would threaten the balance that existed between the North and the South. To keep the peace and balance in place the Congress agreed to grant Missouri’s request as a slave state and at the same time, it would admit Maine as a free state. The Missouri Comprise would later postpone the debate over slavery and its expansion into new territories. The Missouri compromise also helped in postponing the Civil War. Both the Northern and the Southern States later criticized the Missouri Compromise. The Southern States criticized it because it established the principle that the Congress could make laws regarding slavery, the North condemned it for accepting in the expansion of slavery. (Weinberg, 2015)
Compromise of 1850
In an attempt to seek a compromise in 1850, Senator Henry Clay introduced resolutions that could help avert the crisis that existed between the North and the South States. The resolutions would aim at admitting California as a free state; both Utah and New Mexico were to be determined by the popular sovereignty within the question of slavery and hence settling the dispute of boundary between Texas and New Mexico. The purpose of the Clay’s Compromise was to maintain a balance of power and peace between the North States and the South States. The admission of California as a Free State would ruin the balance. The Compromise had two major outcomes; the Congress passed a new act that was called the Fugitive Slave Act, the act would allow the Federal Government to take responsibility for runaway slaves. The Compromise of 1850 would then abolish the slave trade in Washington. The Compromise would later create a major discord, creating a demand for popular sovereignty and states like Kansas territory wanting the same. The Compromise of 1850 though played a critical role in maintaining the balance of power that existed.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Citizens in Kansas and Nebraska were allowed to decide on whether they wanted slavery or not. This was propelled by the Compromise of 1850. The U.S Congress passed the Act and thereby creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska legally. It became a controversial topic since the Act allowed those territories to decide for themselves about the slavery issue. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was established to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slave trade in the North of 36 and 30 latitudes. The northern states held the Missouri Compromise as a valid and long-term agreement since it was against slavery, this caused a little tension. The southern states, on the other hand, were obligated to support slavery thereby the Act received a hearty approval. The Act resulted in bloody conflict between opponents while voting and the Act resulted in the formation of one new political party, the New Republican Party.
Dred Scoot Decision
Dred Scoot was a black slave who resided in the Northern States of America where slavery was prohibited. It hence become difficult to rule whether he was a free person or a slave. The case presented to the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was not entitled to his freedom no matter the part of the country he was at. It was ruled that African Americans were not American Citizens and that the Missouri Compromise that had declared all territories in the west of Missouri non slave states was not constitutional. This particular decision was faced with rejection from the Northern states and pushed the country closer to a Civil War. The decision by the Supreme Court was hence regarded as the worst decision that the Supreme Court has rendered. The Dred Scott decision acted as a whistleblower to the Northerners who believed that the slave trade was tolerable in the South. (Hagan, 2010)
Three reasons why slavery was incompatible with our political and economic system
Slavery was incompatible with the political and economic system because it hindered the development of a region in so many ways. Looking at the Southern States, these states lagged behind in terms of industrialization. The Northern states were busy developing their states with industrialization the Southern states focused on the slave trade and hence it hindered development, they remained to be farmers with large fields of lands. Slavery was bad for politics, we had states that supported slavery and others did not support slavery, it all comes down to when Abraham Lincoln was elected as president. The president hailed from the Northern states of America, and during the Civil war, the Northern States easily won the war because of the support they had received from European countries who also did not believe in slavery at that time. Slavery was again not ideal for the economic system because the other half of the country did not participate in this kind of trade so the currency, profits, and losses were all shared among the 11 states that supported slave trade. (Fearon & Laitin, 2015)
List five driving forces that led to the Civil War
The Missouri Compromise was one of the triggers of the Civil War. The Missouri Compromise that would allow Missouri being admitted as a Slave trade and Maine being admitted as Free State threatened the existence of a balance of power and peace between the Northern States and The Southern States. The Dred Scott decision was also a trigger of the Civil war, the decision threatened to recast the political landscape that had prevented the Civil war from happening. The Supreme Court rendered the Missouri Compromise obsolete and this really angered the Northern States and the fact that slaves were mere properties. The Abolitionist Movement that viewed slavery as not only a socially unjust activity but also a morally wrong activity. We also had the Election of Abraham Lincoln, the Federal rights, and the States rights.
References
Fearon, J., & Laitin, D. (2015). Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. American Political Science Journal , 4-10.
Hagan, H. (2010). The Dred Scott Decision. Georgetown Law Journal , 355-370.
Michael, T. (2015). THE THREE-FIFTHS CLAUSE: A NECESSARY AMERICAN COMPROMISE OR EVIDENCE OF AMERICA’S ORIGINAL SIN? Journal of American History , 23-30.
Weinberg, L. (2015). Unlikely Beginings of Modern Constituion Thought. Journl of History , 49-58.
