Laws passed by Congress are fashioned to address social and economical issues at hand based on historical circumstances. These legislations passed by Congress have had remarkable impacts on the United States and the American Society. Examples of this include the Missouri Compromise and Fugitive Slave Act.The Missouri Compromise had been established to address a request made for the state of Missouri to be a slave state in the world where slavery was emerging as a national issue. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had been established because of widespread resistance to slavery and the increased escape of slaves. Both the Missouri Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Act deal with laws passed by Congress in order to address historical circumstances. …show more content…
The growing tension between proslavery and antislavery with the United States had the nation divided by sectional differences regarding slavery. At the time there were twenty two states in the U.S. which were evenly divided between free and slaves states. So when the State of Missouri requested to be admitted as a slave state conflict arose. This meant that the balance of free and slave states would be disrupted and the clash of whether Missouri should be a free or slave would be put before the North and South. As expected, The North and the South turned to a bitter debate. The North, which were anti-slavery, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the new state. Meanwhile, the South,which were pro-slavery, believed that states, rather than the government, should have the right to decide whether they wanted slavery or not therefore they argued that the State of Missouri had the right to decide whether they wanted to be a slave state or not and that it should not be up to the Congress to decide. In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise which allowed Missouri to be a slave state and allowed Maine into the Union as a free state to resolve crisis, which a member of Congress, Henry Clay, offered. The history surrounding the nineteenth century led to the establishment of the Missouri
NHD Research Paper Throughout the years leading up to 1819 The northern anti-slavery states were constantly conflicting with the pro-slavery southern states. The states were even as there were 11 pro-slavery states, and 11 anti-slavery states. The conflict went back and forth for many years, and the Louisiana Purchase only added fuel to the fire. Both sides were constantly trying to find a way to get ahead of the other.
The Missouri Compromise was necessary because the south wanted slavery to continue while the nation was growing. Most states in the North had outlawed slavery. However, the South did not want slavery to end because it was the foundation of the economy and plantations. So the Missouri Compromise was made to keep the balance of slave states and free states. Missouri joined the Union as a slave state and Maine joined as a free state.
The issue of slavery expansion in the West emerged significantly with Missouri’s intention of entering into the union as a slave state, thus enabling the constitution of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Through Missouri’s aspirations the stabilization of power between the free states and slave states in the senate was undone. To revitalize the equilibrium, a consensus was reached where Missouri would enter as a slave state, with Maine entering a free state to sustain the balance. In subsequent years as the United States gained new territories though the Mexican-American War the slavery expansions disputes reemerged in the senate. California sought admission into the union as a free state, and the equal balance of slave states and free states was,
The 1850 in America was a crucial time period because there were a series of crucial events that were happing all at once. Ironically, the 1850 started with a compromise, which can be said was the initiation of a cold war getting hotter. Moreover, during this period there were individuals such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun that were trying to mold the direction of the United States into a better path. These individuals were trying to figure out the future of the United States, specifically slavery. Would slavery be part of the nation or should slavery be abolished?
The Missouri Compromise was a rule that regulated slavery in the southern states. America did this to even out the Non-Slave states and the Slavery states. This compromise was made in 1820 by Henry Clay. Henry Clay was a lawyer and a politician that was very involved in the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act removed the provision that slavery would not extend north of the 36-30 line. The Missouri Compromise seemed to settle the issue of slavery at the time being, but it’s true issues still were on the road for civil outbreak in the future. “Further compromises and Supreme Court decisions would play a role in the great debates” over slavery and weather it should be completely abolished. Many people had feared the Missouri Compromise would break apart the union, but majority of the population had not recognized these threats for another four decades when Civil War unleased between the union and the Confederacy where the issue of slavery was ultimately
This compromise stated every thing north of a specific longitude and latitude were never allowed to become slave states. The Missouri Compromise was violated by a Senator in a free state upsetting citizens in other states. This was seen as a slap in the face of those that viewed slavery as a vital part of their way of life. Many people of the time had very deeply rooted feelings and traditions that either supported or loathed slavery. Each group was trying to force their personal beliefs on each other which helped fuel a long building rift.
These were a big deal involving slavery because they either strengthened slavery or made it seem like it was going to end all together. To the South, the thought of slavery ending was a complete disaster. In Document 9: Excerpt from the Dred Scott Decision, shows how Scott saw the Missouri Compromise. He says, “(I)t is the opinion of this court that the Act of Congress (the Missouri Compromise) 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,...” This quote from his speech says he thinks that the Missouri Compromise was a good thing because it prohibited people who own slaves to cross the North and South border with their “property” or slaves.
The Fugitive Slave Laws allowed for slave owners to capture their runaway slave if they were within the United States territory (Fugitive Slave Acts). They started in 1793 and anyone who was caught aiding a slave escape was also punished. In 1850 another slave law was passed to allow for harsher punishment on runaways. By 1864 both of the laws were revoked by Congress.
The Fugitive Slave Act granted slave-owners the permission to recover escaped slaves and required citizens to aid in the return of any escaped slave. This act also affected slaves who escaped to free slaves; According to the act, slaves were not permitted to live freely. The Fugitive Slave Act is significant to the course for many reasons. First, it is another method that whites used to keep blacks as slaves.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an attempt by Congress to ease some of the political rivalries between the North and the South (history.com 2009). The compromise stated the fact that all states up north would not have slavery and all states south would allow and continue the act of slavery (history.com 2009). It went both ways since it split the country up evenly between slave and free. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was handwritten by Henry Clay in 1820 (ancestralfindings.com 1995). On March 6th of 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise and made it the new law of the land (loc.gov 2017).
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was an act that passed as part of the compromise of 1850 that allowed runaway slaves that were cauthe to be returned to their masters and that the northern free state citizens and officials had to cooperate with this compromise. SB 1070 was a bill that passed that required all aliens over the age of 14 to have documents and to register with the United States government if they plan to stay for longer than 30 days. It would have been a misdemeanor crime to be in Arizona without the right documents and it gave the rights to the state law enforcement to stop, detain or arrested the individuals when there is reasonable suspicion that he/she were an illegal immigrants. The legal similarities between The Fugitive Act of 1850 and SB 1070 was that who ever gave a ride and helped a black person from escaping from slavery can be fined for 1,000 dollars and even be in jail for six months.
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills that were intended to delay territorial and slavery conflicts. It passed when fillmore was in presidency and the goal was to deal with slavery and to keep the north’s and south’s interests balanced. The five bills were, California entered as a free state, New Mexico and Utah were each allowed to use popular sovereignty to decide on the issue of slavery, the Republic of Texas gave up lands that it claimed in present day New Mexico and received $10 million to pay its debt to Mexico, the slave trade was abolished in D.C. but not slavery, and the fugitive slave act made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. The Fugitive Slave Act was the most Conflicting part of The Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionist to increase the beliefs against slavery. According to Watson “This law, which authorized Southerners to recover run-away
The Missouri compromise was an agreement between the north and south. It allowed Missouri to be the 24th state. Maine was also established, therefore Missouri was a free state. The Mason Dixon line was established, this created a line between the slave and free states. This rule was broken, and even more conflict was contributed to the start of the civil war.
Slavery had led to a division in the United States. Northerners expressed the abolishment of slavery while the Southerners were in favor of it. During the 1850’s, the United States became polarized due to slavery sentiments on both sides and Congress passed Fugitive Slave Laws. Congress passed the fugitive slave laws in 1793 and 1850 to return slaves who had escaped from a slave state into a free state or territory. The ideology of the fugitive slave law was borrowed from the Fugitive Slave Clause in the United States Constitution (Article IV, Section 2, Paragraph 3).