Constitution Essays (2863 words) - Slavery In The United States

Constitution When the Constitution of the United States was first created in 1787, its purpose was to unify our country. However, by 1850, the United States had become 'source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created.' What happened during the 63 years after it was first established to 'contribute to the failure of the union it had created?' One must look at what the Constitution promoted to make the country unified and what it did to make it disunified. Compromises such as 3/5, the Missouri, and the tariff of 1850 all helped to unify and shape our country. However, compromises such as the Fugitive Slave Law, Popular Sovereignty, and the slave trade all led to disunify our country. The large populous states naturally wanted the number of representatives in the new Congress to be based on population. The Virginia Plan provided that there would be two houses of Congress and that in each one representation would be based on population. Li ke many other ideas that have made history, it was remarkably simple. Why not divide the Congress into two houses? In one house (the Senate) each state, regardless of population, would have the same number of representatives. In the other house (the House of Representatives) each member would represent the same number of people. 'Quite appropriately this came to be called the Great Compromise. Other major compromises came on slavery and on the control of commerce. The southern states, where the slaves were really treated as property, still wanted the slaves counted as people for the purposes of representation in the New House of Representatives. Some delegates argued that if one kind of property was counted for representation, other kinds should be too. This issue was resolved when slavery and taxation were linked. It was assumed that Congress would raise money by levying direct taxes on the basis of population. That would mean that if all slaves were counted for the purposes of rep resentation, then all slaves would be counted for taxation. Southerners decided that they were willing to lower demands. By the three-fifths compromise it was agreed that three fifths of the number of slaves would be counted both for representation and for levying direct taxes. It unified the nation in a way because it allowed the slaves to vote for government. The 3/5 Compromise helped unify our country because it allowed the slaves and white men to come together and vote. Though they only counted as 3/5 of a person, it was something. It would be years the first time in history that slaves would be able to vote for government officials. One sectional interest in America was more sensitive and more explosive than all of the others, slavery. Unlike other economic issues, slavery was a great moral problem. In the days of the Founding Fathers, people presumed that slavery would eventually die out. The price of tobacco was so low that many plantation owners were finding the use and care of slaves unprofitable. But the cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, soon changed their perspectives on slaves. Plantations would prosper if only they could find the workers to work, to plant, to cultivate, and to gin the cotton. Black slaves seemed the obvious labor supply, and slavery began to seem necessary for southern prosperity. At the same time planters were eager to get more land and began moving westward. Over 60,000 settlers had crossed the Mississippi and into the Missouri River. St. Louis was a bustling city and the center of western fur trade. Although most of the settlers in Missouri were from the states north of Ohio, where slavery was prohibited, there were some from slaveholding states. They had brought with them 10,000 slaves. When Missouri requested to be allowed to enter the Union, it opened up a heated debate whether or not the expansion of slavery would be allowed there. It was all a matter of power. If Missouri came in as a slave state, it would tip the polit ical balance in the South's favor. Missouri was the first part of the Louisiana Purchase to apply for statehood. When the request came to enter the Union, there