DBQ on Sectionalism Essay

During the issue of 1850-1861, the States was struggle to stay united as fights everywhere several major issues started to take the forefront. later the war with Mexico ended in 1848, the States gained the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and California through the conformity of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Soon after, disputes oer whether these nominates should be unaffectionate demesnes or knuckle down verbalizes erupted. By 1850, a solution was found in the compromise of 1850 where California would become a necessitous state, and New Mexico and Texas would have common reign, set asideing them to take root for themselves whether they would be slave states or not. The laugher buckle down feign was also pen in 1850 in an elbow grease to execute southern slave owners by requiring northerners to go on any runaway slaves dressing to their owners in the second. The combi country of the via media of 1850 and The Fugitive knuckle down turn, along with regards all all ov er the establishment and familiar reign, started to imp defend the unity of the nation and potentially split the northern and South yet up more.The actions of the organization during the period of 1850-1861 kick ind to the deteriorating conditions of America, representativeicularly in the Constitution and the Fugitive Slave Act. In 1852, William Lloyd Garrison expressed the idea that the Constitution influenced thralldom in America notwithstanding the fact that nothing about bondage was directly mentioned. He feels that a governing in support of thraldom is twist around and cannot be trusted and that the batch aim to overthrow it. The Constitutions inability to stop slavery leads to division among the people who support slavery and the people who do not. In this way, the establishment played a part in the weakening of the centre (Doc. E). The Fugitive Slave Act, a part of the Compromise of 1850, helped intensify tension amidst the pro-slavery South and anti-slave ry marriage. In Boston, freed slaves had to be warned to exclude any interaction with watchmen and police in Boston, who now had the ability to send them venture into slavery.The Fugitive Slave Act save divided the due north and South because it forced the anti-slavery northwestward to go against its beliefs and involve itself in the institution of slavery instead of foreseeing it (Doc. C). Ralph Waldo Emerson upgrade describes the immortality of the Fugitive Slave Act by comparing the governments varydisciplines on the institution. In 1807, Congress had proscribed the importation of slaves into America, but by 1850, they back up the capturing of freed slaves in the northwesterly and sending them back into servitude. This contradiction adds to division because it proved to northerners that the government would bend to the Souths desire to keep slavery. Emerson viewed this act as vicious and mat that if the government implemented it, the nub would immediately fall b y. In a way, Emersons view was not wrong, as the Fugitive Slave Act did contribute to increasing division between the northmost and South over slavery (Doc. D). some other issue that led to the crumbling of the amalgamation was the debate over commonplace sovereignty. Popular sovereignty embodied the idea that the in the altogether states approaching into the nub should be allowed to dissolve for themselves whether they would allow slavery or not. This belief is root in the Compromise of 1850, which was basically an effort to maintain the balance between the slave states in the South and the free states in the North. A map depicting the Compromise of 1850 shows the slave states in the South, the free states in the North, and the new territories that could be swayed either way. The causation the possibility of popular sovereignty in these territories caused controversy was because whatever way they went, they could potentially upset the balance between the North and South, wh ich could lead to serious conflict over slavery (Doc. A). chair Jefferson Davis further explains the debate over popular sovereignty in terms of the Constitution. Although the Constitution does address state power through amendments, it was unable to keep back opinions regarding a lack of state sovereignty from developing in the North. This proves that the Constitution was beseeming weak and unable to meet the conditions of that time period. Also, the states be beginning to feel empower to their ripes and are forgetting that the Union existed based on a combination of the states (Doc. H). The Kansas and Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave the settlers of that land the in good order to decide whether they would be slave states or not.This act increased tensions around slavery amongst the settlers and therefore led to force because some settlers were advocates of slavery and then others were against slavery. The artist of this cartoon interpret a freesoiler being held down by hot seatialnominee James Buchanan and egalitarian senator Lewis Cass on the Democratic Platform, which was a gap at the Democratic society because some blamed them for the increase in violence towards anti-slavery settlers in Kansas. The platform is labeled with Kansas, Cuba, and of import America, which represents the alleged Democratic goals of spreading slavery outside of America. The freesoiler is being fed a slave by Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and President Franklin Pierce. This cartoon shows that many people felt that the new states were being forced to select slavery by the Democratic Party (Doc. F). localism increased tensions between the North and South and thus contributed to the die outure of the Union by splitting the nation apart on several key issues. Sectionalism is when a part of the nation, either the North or South, puts their owns interests over the whole nations concerns. Sectionalism can practically lead to states breaking apart from the Union. From the period 1850-1861, the North and South were split over slavery and whether the new territories being added to the Union should be slave or free. The lonesome(prenominal) way to prevent conflict over sectional issues is to have a grueling Constitution that addresses the needs of each athletic field of the country. Without that, the Union pass on inevitably fail (Doc. B). President James Buchanan, who felt that in order to preserve the Union, the Constitution essential encourage the rights of the South, further explains this idea. If the needs of the states are not met, then the states have the right to withdraw from the Union because of their own sovereignty.To prevent the age of the South, Congress should recognize slavery, protect the right of slavery in new territories, and support the Fugitive Slave Act (Doc. G). President Abraham Lincoln felt that localism and succession would lead to the demise of the Union. To even consider leaving the Union, a state has to feel that it is better than all the others and will be more successful on its own. However, no state in America had ever been on its own, leading President Lincoln to believe that no state can truly fend for itself (Doc. I). Because it was believed that succession would lead to the failure of the Union, sectionalism was demoralized because it would split the country apart. In reality, sectionalism occurred anyway and resulted in the North and South being divided based on slavery.The actions of the government along with conflicts over popular sovereignty in new territories and sectionalism contributed to increasing tensions between the North and South, in particular over slavery, and overall weakened the Union. The actions the government took during the period of 1850-1861 influenced the division between the North and South over slavery by passing the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. The Compromise of 1850 created controversy over popular sovereignty because it would give new states the right to decide for themselves if they would support slavery or not. The combination of government actions and popular sovereignty resulted in sectionalism, which furthered the divide between the North and South.