Differences To Division Of The US Nation - Research Paper Example

DIFFERENCES TO DIVISION OF THE US NATION Before American Civil war the United s of Americawas divided into two kinds of states i.e. Slave states of South and Free states of the North, slavery was legal in the former and it was either prohibited or eliminated in the later states. Slavery was one of the main reasons of Civil War which was a bloody combat between the two types of states and led to death of thousands of soldiers and massive destructions in United States. Slavery was finally abolished in 1865 b y 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Slavery was first introduced in states during early seventeenth century whenfirst African slave was brought in North America and it was practiced until the mid-19th century when America started its expansion towards west and movement for abolition of slavery was growing in the North. This growing movement provoked such points which could tear the whole nation apart. It was this time when the Compromise of 1850 comprising five laws which dealt with the issue of slavery was passed in 1850. The balance between free and slave states of the US was disturbed in 1849 by the request of California to join Union as a free state. It could lead to start of crisis between North and South and in order to avert it Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolution to seek a compromise and avoid the clash. Slave trade was abolished in Washington D.C, the Fugitive slave act was amended and California joined Union as a free state. The compromise of 1850 was mainly introduced by Senator H. Clay of Kentucky who proposed it in many resolutions during January of 1850 and delivered a speech in defense of his proposal in which he said that slavery was not introduced by law and every state had the right to do whatever was considered right by them. In order to maintain the balance and to please both kinds of states California was introduced into the union as a free state, an act setting the boundary dispute between Texas and Mexico was passed which established a territorial government in Mexico, a territorial government was created in Utah and in these states the question of slavery was left open. This compromise settled many disputes for the time being and secession of South was delayed for a decade but later many disputes were created and the compromise did not work anymore and war broke out which finally led to division of the nation into two. The Fugitive Slaves Act was proposed as a part of the Compromise of 1850 and its main purpose was to track the slaves who had runaway to North or the Free states, to capture them and to return them to their respective southern owners. Highly trained government officials were given duty to issue warrants against the runaway slaves and to return them to the south, these officials not only tracked down many slaves but also beaten brutally and whipped. Many slaves who were tracked down and claimed to be free were not given a chance of fair trial by the jury. Many of these slaves moved out of the country and still thousands were captured again. The strict enforcement of this law proved to a major flaw in the history of America as it was highly opposed by many states in the North. These states reacted against the law in order to protect the black citizens of America and to protect the fugitive slaves from brutal and harsh treatment by the government officials. They authorized it for themselves to protect these slaves and forced the government officials by personal liberty law that they should have an authentic proof that the person they track down as a slave is actually a slave and in case of denial by the person he should be given right to make an appeal in front of the jury. This made the identification of slaves easy in many states that the person identified and proved to be a slave was sent to his or her respective state but it caused more trouble and disagreements in other states. These conflicts continued to mount for a decade and finally resulted in out-break of the war which continued till 1865 and finally led to guaranteeing rights of freed slaves. Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel which was published in 1852. It helped fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1950s to abolish slavery, to end African slave trade in US and to set the slaves free. The issue of slavery continued to create problems between two parts of America and then a theory of popular sovereignty was introduced by Stephen Douglas, according to which a state was given the right to decide where or not slavery was allowed in their region by voting. He himself was not a slaveholder but his wife was and he was of great influence in Compromise of 1850 and tried to maintain an even balance between free and slave states and creation of Utah and New Mexico was also under this theory. The climax of this theory was reached in 1854 by Kansas-Nebraska Act. The problem started with the issuing if votes for both pro- and anti- slavery voters, each of whom flooded to the state of Kansas in order to protect their goal in bringing slavery up or down respectively and it paved its way to the brutal war of 1861. It was seen as a triumph of slave power in these states where the rich slave owners could buy best land and it was bitterly condemned by the anti-slavery forces. It paved way to creation of new Republican Party in order to stop the growing effects of slavery. These differences continued to rise until the war separated the nation into two thus, the Compromise of 1850 succeeded in ceasing the differences for one decade but it did not work more afterwards. Works Cited "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875." N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2013 "Compromise of 1850 (United States History)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 29 July 2013. Read More