Part C C1. During the antebellum period, slavery was a hot topic. There were two main groups of people, the ones who were pro-slavery and those who were abolitionists. Most of the North were abolitionists and the South were pro-slavery. The basis of these views was that the people in the North were focused more on social improvement while the South focused on personal growth. The South argued that slavery should remain and that it was a “positive good” that was beneficial to society. They continued to justify the morality of it by referencing the bibles passages of slaveholding. Despite their justifications on the good of slavery, the Souths reasoning for owning slaves was built on racism. The Southern white population believed that the …show more content…
Dred Scott and his wife Harriet were both slaves from Missouri and sued for their freedom. Dred Scott’s argument was that his former owner ignored the Missouri Compromise for years and took him into the free state of Illinois and into Fort Snelling in Minnesota. Scotts first case was successful but once it moved on to appeal he continued to lose. Eleven years later he made it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Courts decision was based on whether Dred Scott was eligible to sue since he was black and if being in a free state made him free. The decision was made when two northern justices indicated that they were going to argue in Scott’s favor, angering southerners on the Court. Chief Justice Roger Taney delivered the verdict that Scott would not be free, and that Congress didn’t have the power to bar slavery from any territory. This went against the almost four-decade compromise and popular sovereignty. This reassurance of the courts viewing blacks inferior excited those who were pro-slavery but sparked fear and rage in the North. Fugitive slaves began to escape to other countries and the northern whites became suspicious. Republicans began to use these fears as way to push their antislavery platform. Abraham Lincoln who was strongly against slavery continued to speak out about the issue and Republicans began to be in a state of conflict with the Dred Scott verdict. The Court choosing one side of the issue created tensions and distrust in not only the North and the South but also between the North and the Court. (Norton,
The Dred Scott decision involved two slaves, Dred Scott and his wife, who originated from one of the recognized slave states, Missouri, but they were relocated to settle in Wisconsin, a state where slavery was prohibited. In 1846, Scott filed a lawsuit and “sued for his freedom on the grounds that his residence in a free state and a free territory had made him free.” In 1854, Scott’s “case ultimately went to the Supreme Court.” By landing in the Supreme Court, the justices ruled seven to two against the Dred Scott and his wife for multiple reasons. One main reason that the court specified was that whether African Americans are enslaved or not, they were never recognized as citizens of the United States. Therefore, the justices believed that the case should not have been heard or discussed in the Supreme Court to begin with. The second reason was that regardless of any African American being transferred to a free state, does not necessarily change their social status. Thirdly, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, a compromise that outlawed slavery north of the 36˚30’ latitude line, is unconstitutional because the Congress declared that they had “no power to ban slavery from any territory.” The decision was critical due to increasing the North population’s unease, and their concern that the South will begin to transport slaves to freed states, which will
The South did not seem to have a problem with the system of slavery. After all, why should they? it had been successful for over 200 years. Instead, they saw the North as a cruel society full of the treacheries caused by capitalism. They saw factory work as "wage slavery" while they viewed Southern slavery as "paternalistic" and "benevolent." Slavery, they contended, helped eliminate all class distinctions in Southern society. In the North, they saw, factory owners became rich while their employees lived in a state of poverty. Slavery was the great unifier of Southern society.
Lastly, Dred Scott Case with the United States Supreme court fought freedom for the slaves in the American Legal System. In 1857, the court 's decision denied his plea and determined that no Negro,a term used to portray anybody that was African blood, was or could ever be a citizen. This decision also the reason for the Missouri Compromise, which set restrictions on slavery in certain U.S territories. The Northerners were outraged and the Dred Scott case became a reason to elect president Abraham Lincoln in 1860
... road that could lead only to disaster. Dred Scott might well have been the point of no return”(186). The decision to have Scott remain a slave was claimed with reasons of not being a U.S. citizen with the right to sue and for not being a freed slave to begin with. The North and South were so divided on the issue of slavery that the Dred Scott case was the match that set fire to the already established idea of an explosion of a civil war.
Dred Scott was a slave. His master was an army surgeon who was based in Missouri. In the early 1830's and 1840's his master and him traveled to Illinois and the Wisconsin territory. It was in 1846 that Scott sued his master's widow for freedom. His argument was that the state of ...
The South was built politically, culturally, and economically on slavery. In the Antebellum South, the most important factor was not wealth but power. One theme of the Antebellum South was white supremacy and slavery ensured this through the control of labor which also worked as a system of racial adjustment and social order. Slave ownership elevated the status of the wealthy planters and this allowed the institution of slavery to be accepted due to the paternalistic culture of the South. This paternalistic master-slave relationship was important for slaveholders to maintain their power. The wealthy planters set the tone for the Southern society which maintained this idea of white supremacy through the exercising of hegemony. This infatuation
Slavery, an immoral action in which African Americans were forced to work under harsh and inhuman conditions without pay and treated as property, occurred for 245 countries years in the Unites States. In modern day this in no longer an issue that is widely dealt with on a daily bases unlike during the 17th to 19th where it was a common day to day thing that at first many would overlook. It was such a huge issue especially during the 19th century in which it caused major political controversies due to the separation of sides based on it if was constitutional, immoral, and support the to help slaves.
In 1857, the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case went before a pro-slavery United States Supreme Court. Scott claimed that he had lived as a slave in free state and territory. The high court’s decision was that he was a slave and that the law assuring that slavery would not be allowed in the new territories of the United States was unconstitutional. Because of the court’s decision, it helped accelerate the Civil War. Because of the Supreme Court’s decision, the Northerners tha...
Constitutionally the North favored a loose interpretation of the United States Constitution, and they wanted to grant the federal government increased powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states themselves. The South relied upon slave labor for their economic well being, and the economy of the North was not reliant on such labor or in need of this type of service. This main issue overshadowed all others. Southerners compared slavery to the wage-slave system of the North, and believed their slaves received better care than the northern factory workers received from their employers. Many Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. Southern leaders had constantly tried to seek new areas into which slavery might be extended (Oates 349).
Saiba Haque Word Count: 1347 HUMANITIES 8 RECONSTRUCTION UNIT ESSAY Slavery was a problem that had been solved by the end of the Civil War. Slavery abused black people and forced them to work. The Northerners didn’t like this and constantly criticized Southerners, causing a fight. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln to free all the slaves in the border states. “
Slavery is a societal institution based on ownership, dominance, and exploitation of one human being by another and reciprocal submission on the part of the person owned. The owner may exact work or other services without pay and virtually without restriction and can deny the slave freedom of activity and mobility. Slavery is one of this country's most debated topics. In America's history slavery and economics go hand in hand. Most people think that the ban of slavery was a human rights issue in the south, where in fact it was a major economic one. The issue of slavery has been debated between the North and South since before the colonization of the thirteen colonies. It has been the instigator of many events throughout the history of the states. The North and the South obviously had very different views regarding the subject.
Slavery today is a large concern to many people, just as it always has been. Any type of slavery is considered immoral and unjust in today’s society and standards. However, before the Civil War, slavery was as common as owning a dog today. Many in the United States, particularly in the South, viewed slavery as a “positive good” and owned slaves that were crucial to their business and income. However, the Civil War then changed the lifestyle of many southerners in a negative way. After the Civil War, slavery was abolished and any man owning a slave was required to let them free and view them as an equal. This was a difficult thing to do and eventually led to a downfall and destroyed economy in the southern United States. Abolishing slavery hurt the country economically and socially at the time and slavery was socially acceptable.
Political events including the Dred Scott Decision and the States’ Rights Doctrine before the Civil War increased tensions between the North and South. These conflicts resulted from contrasting ideas about slavery, states’ rights, and political parties: the North was mostly Republican, opposed slavery, and preferred a unified nation under the federal law, while the South was mostly Democratic, proslavery, and supported greater rights and power for states. According to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the Supreme Justice during this time, “the Act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning property of this kind [slaves] in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore void” (Dred Scott v. Sandford). Since the ban of slavery in the northern part of the western territory was deemed unconstitutional and lifted by the Dred Scott Decision, an attempt to settle the issue of slavery, the North f...
...ers mobilized in 1860 behind moderate Abraham Lincoln because he was most likely to carry the doubtful western states. In 1857, the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision ended the Congressional compromise for Popular Sovereignty in Kansas. According to the court, slavery in the territories was a property right of any settler, regardless of the majority there. Chief Justice Taney's decision said that slaves were, "...so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The decision overturned the Missouri Compromise, which banned slavery in territory north of the 36°30' parallel.