¶ … United States Survive with Half Slave-States and Half Free?
The history of slavery in the United States was a long one and subject to many twists and turns. Ultimately, the issue that was so controversial in the formation of the United States government subsequent to the end of American Revolution became one of the reasons for the fighting of the Civil War. As a result of that war slavery was abolished in the United States but for over seventy-five years politicians, judges and social activists struggled to keep slavery from tearing apart the great American experiment.
Although it has not been publicized extensively slavery existed in all the colonies prior to the American Revolution. By the time that the Revolution ended most northern states had abolished slavery within its borders and it was only the southern states that continued this practice. At the time that the United States government was originally organized it was a major concern for the southern delegates to the Constitutional Convention. The south's economy was heavily dependent on the inexpensive labor provided by slaves. Although there was some strong opposition from the northern delegates, slavery was allowed to continue in the south. In the first compromise of many relative to slavery, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention allowed slavery to continue in the new United States subject to some conditions. The conditions were that slaves were to be counted as three-fifths of a whole person and that all importation of slaves would end by year 1808. This compromise allowed the government to be formed but it also likely sowed the seed for the Civil War.
The northern tradition...
The Northwest Ordinance banned the practice of slavery in all territories north of the Ohio River and this kept the practice of slavery out of these regions but it did not stop slavery from being an issue. The south was eager to protect the practice and passed federal fugitive slave laws that required northern state governments and citizens to cooperate in the return of escaped states. These laws caused considerable dissension among northerners and add fuel to the formation of abolitionist groups.
As the United States continued to expand the issue of slavery took on greater importance. The southern states were eager to maintain the balance of power so that they would have sufficient votes available to stop any possible abolition of slavery. State expansion continued an equal balance of slave and non-slave states until the Missouri territory applied for admission in 1820. At that time compromise was again necessary. Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state and, in doing so, enacted what became known as the Missouri Compromise. Under the provisions of the Missouri Compromise all territories south of the 36?30' parallel would be admitted as slave states and all above would be admitted as free. This compromise managed to maintain peace momentarily but events following the end of the Mexican War caused new problems to develop and the need for still another compromise
The primary prize in the Mexican War was the area that would become the state of Texas. When Texas applied for admission its northern border was above the 36?30' parallel but the Compromise of 1850 was enacted allowing…
