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In 1850, a document called the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Primarily, this document dealt with the reclaiming of runaway slaves. This law allowed southerners to call upon the federal government to capture runaway slaves who had fled the South and may be living in the North. The Fugitive Slave Act and the laws that went with it only caused controversy in the North. This split the North and South. In reaction to this, some northern states passed laws forbidding state officials to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, which only angered the southern states. Northerners had become aware of the hypocrisy of slavery and became resolved to end slavery. Many abolitionists started to take action to help slaves escape. This major controversy over the runaway slaves sparked the beginning of the Civil War.
Basic rights that Americans held were denied to suspected runaway slaves. One should note that even though some African Americans in the North were free, they could be considered a suspected runaway. Suspected runaway slaves, even if they were free, were denied the right to a jury and held the burden of proof; no longer where they innocent until proven guilty, they were assumed guilty. When Northerners heard that basic rights were being denied to American slaves, they wanted to end slavery immediately. America would appear to be hypocrites if they were denying the basic rights that they had fought for against Britain. This next quote is from a speech given by Frederick Douglas on the fou...
During the early to the mid-19th century, politics had become barbarian like, as it can be seen as a war zone. The arguments between the North and the south had grew, which would continue to separate them farther, and even farther apart. The Civil war was beginning to take shape, and every time a compromise was drawn, the war came closer to the present. For the longest time, slaves would run to the north to seek freedom from their masters, but it also came with a cost that, if they were caught they would have to deal with the punishments, and the wrath of their master. Though as the war grew closer, by the 1850, running away through the underground rail road would no longer be a very viable option due to the fugitive slave law that was put out in the 1850’s. Though the government issued the personal liberty laws that stated that they would not have to report any runaway slaves that they have seen. This made tensions between the North and the South even greater than before which would then bring us to the Civil war.
Those opposed to slavery argued, “The fifth amendment’s due process clause forbade Congress from allowing slavery in the territories. They also held that Congress’s plenary power to regulate the territories authorized it to establish a ‘free soil” meaning no slavery. Still, most states forbid that blacks should know how to read and write, and if they did try, they had white men watching them and beating them if they tried to be taught. Those slaves that were free, got denied for citizenship.
After the American Revolution, slavery began to decrease in the North, just as it was becoming more popular in the South. By the turn of the century, seven of the most Northern states had abolished slavery. During this time, a surge of democratic reform swept the North to the West, and there were demands for political equality, economic and social advances for all Americans. Northerners said that slavery revoked the human right of being a free person and when new territories became available i...
The freed slaves continued to practice few voting rights until 1890, but they were soon stripped of all political, social and economic powers. Not until the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s were the freedoms that were fought for by our Republican forefathers nearly 100 years before, finally seen through to
It should be noted that the Declaration of Independence made it clear that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Although this progressive view was shared by many of the members of the Constitutional Convention, it is clear that the original text of the American Constitution is rather pro-slavery and up to a certain point protects the slave-owners. It is of utmost importance to note that the words slavery/slave are not used in the text of the Constitution.
One item in the Compromise of 1850 was the provision for a stronger Fugitive Slave Law. This new law made it a federal crime to not return a runaway slave to the south. The law also established that any suspected runaway slave was to be tried by a single judge, not by a jury. Also, these judges were compensated by a system that provided them with more money for deciding that the slave was guilty than innocent. This law obviously encouraged people not to harbor runaway slaves, and when they were caught, it provided the judge an incentive to have them returned to the south.
The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
Following the American Civil War, the whole nation was forever changed and was the result of many good and bad things. Although it was a very costly war and was So, the Civil War did define us and made us the good and the bad things we are and led to an extremely significant change because slavery was abolished once and for all and African American rights followed many years later, the Federal Government imposed more power over the states, our country was divided for a while, and it left the nation in debt due to the fact that we fought each other.
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. This act required that authorities in the North had to assist southern slave catchers to retrieve and return slaves to their owners. Southerners favored this act because they saw no slavery in the territories to the west, by the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act it would help preserve slavery in the south. This act allowed southern slave owners to get their slaves back when they escaped to the North that is why this act was important and critical to southern survival. The view of this act by the North was the opposite, especially from those who were black, they feared this act. The blacks in the North were terrified that this act would make it so they could be ushered back to the south even if they were innocent. This led to the creation of resistance groups in the North.
This concept was later expanded upon in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson and became the motto of American democracy: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. However, the founding fathers and their influential Enlightenment Era philosophers often referred to blacks as “savages” and “inferior humans”, denying them these “inalienable” rights. It is through this manipulation of language and human understanding that African Americans were denied the most basic elements of freedom. The Constitution itself is highly influenced by Enlightenment thought and meant to serve as the mark of an egalitarian republic. However, it includes no mention of the word “slave”, yet directly condones the foreign importation of slaves for at least 20 years after its ratification. This is evidence that African Americans were marginalized in their aspirations for freedom, strictly because their subjugated position in society benefited
Approximately 400 women fought on the battlefront during the American Civil War. (History.com Staff) The Civil War was a war fought on American soil between the Union, the North, and the Confederacy, the South. As the War began, most people believed it would be won and over quickly. However, the Civil War was long, difficult, and the deadliest war in American History. Women, both in the North and South, played tremendously important roles in the American Civil War.
Even after declaring slavery illegal Jim Crowe laws restricted the freedoms of anyone that wasn’t white. America kept Japanese people in concentration camps under the guise that they were a threat against or safety and freedom. It was easy to justify taking someone else’s freedom away by making sure America knew they were attacking ours. America a nation built by immigration was also plagued by some of the most racist and unjust immigration laws. Freedom may be guaranteed in America but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t
“It was their challenge to the system of slavery, their actions in defying slaveholders by fleeing to the North and Canada, that prompted fugitive slave laws in the first place.” Congress passed the Compromise of 1850 act in order to ease the tension between northern and southern states. The act promises to grant the Fugitive Slave Act, to the pro-slavery state, while accepting California to the Union as a free state and “the abolition of the slave trade in the nation’s capital.” The Fugitive Slave Act “denied fugitive slaves a right to a jury trial and required northern citizens to assist in their recovery” which angered the anti-slavery group in the North. However, this act did not ease tension between the states, but further damage the relationships between them. This act prompted southern states to leave the Union on 1852. The expansion into the western territories played a large part in the conflict because the conflict first arose when deciding whether or not these new territories should become free states or slavery
“We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If the confusion has not yet set in, then give it a moment. This nation, the United States of America, prides itself on being far superior to all other nations because here in America we are free men. We set ourselves on a pedestal above Great Britain because the Declaration of Independence clearly states that everyone inside the parameters of our country will be treated as equal as the same individuals neighbor. Yet for nearly three centuries, our nation was full of individuals, including our forefathers, who “owned” people that were regarded as less than themselves simply due to the fact that the pigments in their skin did not allow them to fall within the Caucasian race. The very legal document that had the word “Independence” written within it’s name and blatantly stated that it is obvious that no human is greater than any other because we were all made by the same god for the same reason, is the foundation of a nation that used innocent lives as fuel for slavery. It wasn’t until some educated individuals finally stood up and realized how incredibly wrong these two concepts are when put together. It is said that when the former slave Frederick Douglass
The lost cause is the defeat of the Confederacy in the civil war. The southern White’s lost everything thing they own. They lost their houses, most of them were left in debt, a lot of them died, and poverty their biggest curse. Some people thought it is their own iniquities against God that have brought these consequences on them. Others thought denied these as God’s judgment but see it as the south journey to salvation. However, most Americans begin to preserve the memory of their failed cause and reexamined their resistance to slavery and decision to secede from the union. Despite these moments, the focused-on reconstruction or rebuilding of their religion. This brought hope for the future.