Stephen Douglas, an advocate of popular sovereignty, and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican candidate, were both running to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. These two men met in a sequence of seven debates before they battled for office of presidency in the election of 1858. Slavery eventually became the main issue discussed repeatedly in each of the debates, due to the Mexican War adding new territories left to be assessed as free soil or not. During this time, the Compromise of 1850 was a temporary fix to the sectional issues for the states that made the decision to participate in the extension of slavery. However, the Missouri Compromise of 1854 brought the issue back up again. Because of this, Stephen Douglas campaigned for popular sovereignty which he later became known for. Popular …show more content…
Stephen Douglas, a supporter of popular sovereignty, had difficulty trying to answer the question. If he said the people could not exclude slavery, then his famous "popular sovereignty" was a null, void issue and of no effect. If he said yes; then he would be defying the Dred Scott decision. Douglas, astute and creative, answered yes, the people of a territory could exclude slavery from the territory before the state constitution was written. He explained that slavery could only exist if the local legislature passed regulations protecting slave property and could lawfully avoid slavery without actually banning it. Douglas won the Illinois senate seat with his answer that later became known as the Freeport Doctrine. The only drawback was that his answer further alienated the South which led to him being stripped of power in the Senate and also contributed to the division of the Democratic
Sectional Tensions Gadsden Purchase: The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty made in 1853 by James Gadsden of South Carolina. Gadsden was appointed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to secure a chunk of Mexico for a railway route. He was able to negotiate land along the southern tips of current day Arizona and New Mexico, the northern border of Mexico, for $10 million from Spaniard Santa Anna. The land Gadsden had managed to obtain would have made making a southern railroad much more simple than cutting through more northern mountains.
Leslie Chihuahua United States History to 1877 11/13/2015 11:00-11:50 AM Missouri Compromise was an agreement from the House of Representatives to reach a median to keep slavery out of Missouri after all the tribulations it had caused before it became a state. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House made important decisions in order for Missouri to be admitted as a state that could impact American history. In 1819, slavery was a resourceful profit to slave owners and this sparked a sectional controversy in the country over the efforts to expand slavery into the new western territories. The country had 22 states, eleven free eleven slave, and the line between them were distinguished by the northern and western boundaries of Pennsylvania and the Ohio River. (Txt.
This act made any official who did not turn in a runaway slave liable to pay a fine; therefore, truly enforcing the law and safeguarding southern property. This also made every Northerner responsible for turning in runaway slaves. In Stephen Douglas’ “Speech Defending the Compromise of 1850” he stated, “Congress, after a protracted session of nearly ten months, succeeded in passing a system of measures, which are believed to be just to all parts of the Republic, and ought to be satisfactory to the People. ”7 Douglas believed by making this concession, the south would remain a part of the union.
Joseph Montesino Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election on November 6, 1860 without the support of a single southern state. Abraham Lincoln proposes banning slavery in all the American territories to stop it spreading. The Crittenden Compromise was proposed as a constitutional amendment by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden on December 18th, 1860 to assured the continuation of slavery in states where it already existed, in hope of preventing the First State to secede from the Union. Two days before Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration, the Crittenden Compromise failed and was rejected.
He was forced to choose between two sides of himself; one side which hated slavery and secession, the other side which loved his state. It was a difficult
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
In 1850, The United States seemed to be divided with the acquisition of territory following the US victory in the Mexican War and bring back concerns about the balance of free and slave states in the Union. There was a strong feeling in the North against allowing enslavement to spread to new territories and states. In the South, it was deeply offensive. So, the dispute played out in the US Senate. There were some important figures such as Henry Clay of Kentucky who would represent the West, Calhoun of South Carolina represented the South and finally Daniel Webster of Massachusetts who would speak for the North.
He was from Illinois and served as a senator in Illinois. Douglas was also a strong proponent of popular sovereignty. His impact on freedom stemmed from several compromises he was involved with. He grew up in poverty and lived a complicated life. Douglas earned the nickname “Little Giant” from his actions and character.
Abraham Lincoln, Frederic Douglass, were one of the most appealing well-known speakers, people who did believe that slavery was morally wrong and devote their lives to fight for freedom. However, there are several differences between the view of the Constitution’s position differences between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Kansas-Nebraska Act indicated that the recognition of slavery should be determined by the decision of these residents (popular or squatter sovereignty). This act itself conflicted heavily with the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, which was essentially seen as the admittance of slavery anywhere in the country. This act made a political issue of confrontation between North and South.
Due to the fact that the South had more of an agricultural economy, the Southerners thought that the states should have the right to decide whether residents could own slaves, rather than the federal government. In 1846 a congressman from Pennsylvania named David Wilmot introduced a bill to the House of Representatives called the Wilmot Proviso. This said slavery would not be allowed in any western territory acquired from Mexico. Of course most of the politicians from the North loved the idea, while the politicians from the South did not. The Missouri Compromise on March 3, 1820 (also called the Compromise of 1820) was the first major legislative compromise that was passed to draw a line between slave and free territory.
So in order to try and stop slavery from spreading into the newer areas and territories the government forbid slavery. However in this new region the law about slavery being forbidden was just looked over. The territories did not abide by it by no means. They continued to have slavery with the government doing nothing about it. (The constitution: Evolution of a government.
The Republican party’s presidential candidate was John C. Fremont, although he had little political experience, he was considered a national hero. He was a strange choice for the Republicans as he was Southern born, an ex-Know Nothing and ex-Democrat but Republicans believed he was an excellent candidate. However the Republicans had no support in the South, if Fremont won the election it would have pushed Southerners toward secession. Therefore, the elections were important because if the Republicans had won the elections it would have dismantled the
Douglas, was an important election that would, and did, go down in history. Lincoln had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, created by Stephen Douglas, which lead him into becoming a Republican. Here, nobody was able to Compromise. He ran against Stephen Douglas, and won the election with getting one hundred eighty electoral votes, and Douglas getting twelve (Southern Democrat Breckinridge seventy-two, and Constitutional Union Bell getting thirty-nine) (Doc H).
Samuel Houston is an important figure in history because of his military leadership, his presidency in the Republic of Texas, and his contributions as a Senator. He was born on March 2, 1793 as the 5th child of Major Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton (tshaonline.org). After Major Houston's death, Elizabeth decided to take her family to Tennessee where Sam and his siblings grew up (shalhp 96). As a curios child, Sam came across an English-speaking Cherokee while walking into the woods; he became friends with them and later lived with the Cherokees where he was named Co-lon-neh or the Raven in English (lsl 17-28). In 1813, he joined the U.S. Army and fought alongside the Cherokees and under the leadership of General Andrew Jackson in the battle
Annotated bibliography Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.