Slavery in the territories essays

Slavery in the territories essays It has been said that the institution of slavery caused The Civil War. In the years leading up to Americas bloodiest war, the new territories the United States acquired began to get enough citizens so that they may become states. The question that ripped Congress and this country apart was whether or not these new states would be admitted as free or slave states. You see, until these states appeared there was a fragile balance of fourteen slave states and fourteen free ones. Admitting a state either way would cause a shift in power in the Senate, and who ever won could basically run the country. The first position to be discussed is that of the South. The South obviously believed that it was their right to take slaves into the new territories. As John C. Calhoun said it, there could be no compromise on the territorial issue. (67). The South felt that not being able to bring slaves into the colonies deprived them of their equality with the other states, the North in particular. They felt that the North was trying to dominate them, almost making the Southern whites slaves, The North is determined to convert all the southern population into slaves...The North and South are now completely separated. (70). The South felt that there was nothing wrong with the institution of slavery. It was their way of life and the means by which they made their living. Jefferson Davis said it best to exemplify the Souths feelings. To the abolitionists he said, They called slavery a sin. By which standard did they measure it? Not by the Constitution, which recognized property in slaves. Not by the Bible; that justifies it. (219). As is seen by that quote, the South felt justified in their use of slaves. They saw it protected by the Constitution, a document written by possibly the most respected men in American history, and a document held nearly in the same ligh ...