Stephen Douglas
And The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Democracy is often something Americans take for granted. Living in a free, democratic society is something that is often not thought about until something happens to rock our pillar of security. The definition of democracy as a practical form of government was questioned when Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Stephen Douglas introduced this Act.

Douglas included in his bill a provision for "popular sovereignty" in Kansas and Nebraska. This provision stated that all questions of slavery in the new territories were to be decided by the settlers rather than by Congress. This idea that the settlers - the people - would decide rather than Congress brought about much debate. Democracy is defined first and foremost as "government by the people, rule of the majority." Douglas took the position that democracy was a process bit an outcome and he argued for this process. His position -…...

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Works Cited

Huston, James. "Democracy by Scripture vs. Democracy By Process: A Reflection on Stephen A. Douglas and Popular Sovereignty." Civil War History, Vol. XLIII. No. 3, 1997. Kent State University Press.

Political Compromises: Kansas-Nebraska Act. World Book, Inc. 2002. 17 November 2002.http://www2.worldbook.com/features/features.asp?feature=aajourney&page=html/bh037.html&direct=yes.Retrieved

Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1986. Page 600.

Huston, James. "Democracy by Scripture vs. Democracy By Process: A Reflection on Stephen A. Douglas and Popular Sovereignty." Civil War History, Vol. XLIII. No. 3, 1997. Kent State University Press. Page 190.

If those seats were held by politicians from free states, the pro-slavery senators would gradually be silenced. Pro-slavery legislation would be impossible to pass in a senate dominated by anti-slavery politicians.
Thus, Westward expansion exacerbated the division between north and south. As pro-slavery Southerners felt increasingly threatened by their abolitionist Yankee counterparts, their representatives in Congress helped embed a second Fugitive Slave Law into the Compromise of 1850. Humiliated by the Underground ailroad and other attempts to subvert the first Fugitive Slave Law, pro-slavery politicians tightened the noose on runaway slaves and Americans who aided them. Therefore, Southerners directly used the Fugitive Slave Law as political leverage, as a means to regain some of their dwindling power in the federal government. The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law exposed the deep rift that had already developed between North and South and effectively presaged the Civil War.

eferences

Fugitive Slave Laws." Infoplease.…...

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References

Fugitive Slave Laws." Infoplease. 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007 at  http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0819828.html 

The Kansas Nebraska Act." The History Place. 1996. Retrieved June 27, 2007 at  http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm

Even "Porter Alexander, Lee's ordnance chief and one of the most perceptive contemporary observers of Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, called his decision to stand at Antietam 'the greatest military blunder that Gen. Lee ever made'" (Owens 2004). Historians are divided as to the real purpose behind the Maryland campaign, which seems like an "isolated maneuver, another manifestation of Lee's innate aggressiveness as a commander. Some have gone so far as to suggest that Lee's forays into Union territory were undertaken primarily to maintain his claim on scarce Confederate resources that might have been used to greater strategic purpose in the est" (Owens 2004).
hether a demoralization strategy or an effort merely to show Confederate aggression, the focus on Lee in most historians' analysis shows how Lee dominated this conflict, and defined the terms of the battle. Thus, even if Lee acted unwisely, he was clearly 'in control,'…...

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Works Cited

The beginning of the American Civil War. (2009). BBC. Retrieved February 22, 2009.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3245140 

Bleeding Kansas 1853-1861. (2009). Africans in America. PBS. Retrieved February 22, 2009.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html 

Faust, Patricia. (2005, March 26). The Anaconda Plan. Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War. Retrieved from Strategy and Tactics: Civil War Home on February 22, 2005 at  http://www.civilwarhome.com/anacondaplan.htm 

Owens, Mackubin T. (2004, September). September 17, 1862: High tide of the Confederacy?

Thus, Scott was always a slave in areas that were free" ("Classifying arguments," Landmark Supreme Court Cases, 2009).
After the Scott decision, advocates of compromise between slave and free states such as Senator Henry Clay found their views legally invalidated. Clay had advocated the doctrine of popular sovereignty: that states should decide whether slavery was prohibited or permitted within their borders. As a result of Scott v. Sandford Northern states that had abolished slavery would now be forced to harbor slaves within their borders, if residents of slave states transported their 'property' to free states. To a slave-holder, being able to transport his or her property to the north was akin to being able to take a piece of luggage across state borders and retain his or her control over the property.

Southern states had always stressed the inclusion of slavery within the Constitution, and generally disregarded the Supremacy Clause, which…...

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Works Cited

"Classifying Arguments in the Case." Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) Landmark Supreme Court

Cases. November 17, 2009.  http://www.landmarkcases.org/dredscott/arguments.html

These newspapers continuously wrote that there is no essential conflict between labor class (referring to wage earners) and the capitalists and that each should not suspect the other in the development of America.
outhern slave society: An essential conflict with free labor social order

There were many distinctions in the Northern and outhern economic and social outlook of America. There were conflicting ideologies being pursued in these regions and the economic progress of Northern region was associated to the free enterprising class known as the middle class. The class thrived in the Northern region by investing in their own businesses, small and large. On the contrary, outhern society was based on slavery system. The Northerners demanded that the slavery of fugitives' slaves shall be abolished and free soil in the west was to be enforced. The essential elements that divided the Northerners and outherners were the matter of slavery. The outherners…...

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Such deep was the issue of slavery that it broke down the part of Whigs during 1850s and led Republicans to replace them as a symbol of hope, prosperity, and economic progress. The main reason of elimination of Whigs from national scene was their persistence to support the slave system in south whereas its own leaders were not willing to support such oppressive practice while rest of Americas strived for economic progress. Such diverse and conflicting was the issue of slavery and the difference in Southern and Northern concepts of economic progress that 'The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854' nearly destroyed two political parties, Whigs were totally eliminated from political scene and Democrats saw their party divided on sensational lines. W.C. Pennington quoted that the slavery impacted each and every aspect of economic and thus the social life of African-Americans. He said "the being of slavery, its, and its body, lives and moves in the chattel principle, the property principle, and the bill of sale principle" (Henretta, Edwards & Self, 358). The domestic slave trade was considered to be absolutely what Republicans essentially wanted to abolish in figurative sense as well. The Republicans held the view that "Free labor meant independence from wage earning with fixed salaries, if northern person is wage earning and dependent for whole life, he is no different from southern slave" (Foner, 15). Thus, the Republican viewed dependence of a northern on the wages for whole of his life as being equal to the status of a southern slave. This figurative explanation indicates that the southern way of life and economic conduct was fundamentally conflicting with that of Republican's notion of free labor and enterprise, let alone being inconsistent with Republican ideology.

Conclusion

The Republican concept of free labor, as described by Zachariah Chandler, meant "that a young man goes out for service, for labor by wages and earns enough money to start his own farm and becomes employer of labor." Thus, it was contradictory to the oppressive and conservative notions of labor held by the southern slave owners. The progress of American society, according the Republican perspective, lay in the enterprising and middle class men who strived for better economic prospects. The practices of slavery and such oppressive social and economic systems were opposed to the very concept of economic justice that was held by Northerners.

Lee decided to run even before Sherman was able to come, and escaped from Petersburg. Grant was able to catch him at Appomattox, and then was the surrendered. There were 360,000 dead on the Union side and 260,000 dead on the Confederate side, but the union continued. This war made United States as a nation and a state. Earlier secession and state veto power had been disturbing the government from the beginning. (United States (History): The South Secedes) From here started econstruction, but that is another story.
eferences

Coming of the Civil War: An Overview. etrieved at (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_16/United_States_(History).html. Accessed on 26 May, 2005

Encyclopedia: Bleeding Kansas. etrieved at http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Bleeding-KansasAccessed on 26 May, 2005

Encyclopedia: Missouri Compromise. etrieved at http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Missouri-CompromiseAccessed on 26 May, 2005

The Compromise of 1850. etrieved at (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_16/United_States_(History).html. Accessed on 26 May, 2005

United States (History): Bleeding Kansas. etrieved at (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_16/United_States_(History).html#s85Accessed on 26 May, 2005

United States (History): Changes in Slavery. etrieved from: (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_14/United_States_(History).html#s74Accessed…...

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References

Coming of the Civil War: An Overview. Retrieved at ( Accessed on 26 May, 2005http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_16/United_States_(History).html.

Encyclopedia: Bleeding Kansas. Retrieved at   on 26 May, 2005http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Bleeding-KansasAccessed 

Encyclopedia: Missouri Compromise. Retrieved at   on 26 May, 2005http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Missouri-CompromiseAccessed 

The Compromise of 1850. Retrieved at ( Accessed on 26 May, 2005http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500823_16/United_States_(History).html.

California was particularly problematic. Taken from Mexico after the war, California was geographically cut in half along the 36°30, and was therefore legally and politically cut in half. However, residents applied for statehood as a free state in 1850. Congress responded with a set of complicated compromises: California would be admitted as a free state in exchange for the Fugitive Slave Law, which required that citizens residing in free states hand over runaway slaves, who would not be afforded any legal rights. Additionally, the District of Columbia would cease trading slaves, but the institution itself would not be abolished; slaves would not be emancipated. The admission of California as a free state upset the balance of power in Congress. The Fugitive Slave Law fueled the Underground Railroad and underscored the deepening divisions between North and South.
The Missouri Compromise was shot to pieces in 1854, when Kansas and Nebraska were…...

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Works Cited

Bleeding Kansas." Africans in America. PBS Online. Online at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html .

The Compromise of 1850." Africans in America. PBS Online. Online at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html .

Cozzens, Lisa. "Impact of Dred Scott." African-American History. Online at  http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/scott/impact.html .

Kansas-Nebraska Act." The Columbia Encyclopedia. Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press, 2001. Online at  http://www.bartleby.com/65/ka/KansasNe.html .

African-Americans and Western Expansion
Prior to the 1960s and 1970s, very little was written about black participation in Western expansion from the colonial period to the 19th Century, much less about black and Native American cooperation against slavery. This history was not so much forbidden or censored as never written at all, or simply ignored when it was written. In reality, blacks participated in all facets of Western expansion, from the fur trade and cattle ranching to mining and agriculture. There were black cowboys and black participants in the Indian Wars -- on both sides, in fact. Indeed, the argument over slavery in the Western territories was one of the key factors in breaking up the Union in the 1850s and leading to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. In the past thirty years, much of the previously unwritten and unrecorded history of the Americas since 1492 has been given…...

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 1970, 1995.

Foner, Philip S. History of Black Americans. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Katz, William Loren. The Black West: A Documentary and Pictorial History of the African-American Role in the Westward Experience of the United States. NY: Random House, Inc., 2005.

Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1986.

Slavery
The so-called peculiar institution of slavery would come to define America in the 19th century, and set the stage for effects that until the current day. It was a critical, destructive error to leave the issue of slavery unresolved at the time of American independence.

Attempts to econcile the Slavery Issue

3/5 Compromise

What was the 3/5 Compromise?

elevance of the 3/5 Compromise

Significance of the 3/5 Compromise for the issue of slavery

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Define (MO as slave state, ME as free state)

Louisiana territory

Significance of the 1820 compromise

3.Compromise of 1850

Define the compromise of 1850

Significance of this compromise iii. Fugitive Slave Act and DC

Shift in power dynamic on the issue

Nebraska-Kansas Act

Define the Nebraska-Kansas Act

Describe the bleeding of Kansas iii. Show how the violence was a precursor to the Civil War

Dred Scot

What was the Dred Scott case?

What was the significance of this decision?

III. Compatibility with Economic Systems

1. Economic system is based on freedom and economic efficiency

2.…...

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References

Foner, E. (1974). The causes of the American Civil War: recent interpretations and new directions. Civil War History. Vol. 20 (3) 197-214.

Laws.com (2015). What was the three-fifths compromise? Laws.com. Retrieved November 11, 2015 from  http://constitution.laws.com/three-fifths-compromise 

Library of Congress (2015). Primary documents in American history. Library of Congress. Retrieved November 11, 2015 from  http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Missouri.html 

Library of Congress (2015, 2). Kansas-Nebraska Act. Library of Congress. Retrieved November 11, 2015 from  http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/kansas.html

New states lying north of said parallel would be admitted as non-slave while those lying south would be slave.
The importance of the Missouri Compromise cannot be over-stated. It impacted the boundaries of several other states other than Missouri and led to some of the most hotly contested political debates in United States history.

Interestingly, the boundary established through the Missouri Compromise, that is, the 36?30' parallel, had actually been in use as a boundary line since early colonial days and the Missouri Compromise served to continue its use. The boundary between original thirteen colony members, Virginia and North Carolina, is the 36?30' parallel and the boundary between two of the earlier states admitted to the Union, Kentucky and Tennessee is also the 36?30' parallel.

Map depicting 36?30' parallel

The admission of Texas as a statehood was affected by the Missouri Compromise. Unlike any other state, Texas enjoyed status as an independent nation…...

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Bibliography

Dixon, Archibald. The True History of the Missouri Compromise and its Repeal. BiblioBazaar, 2009.

Eastern Michigan University. Bleeding Kansas. (accessed December 4, 2010).http://edit.emich.edu/index.php?title=Bleeding_Kansas

Marshall, Peter C. Envisioning America: English Plan for the Colonization of North America, 1580-1640. Bedford / St. Martin's, 1995.

Mcgreevy, Patrick. Stairway to Empire: Lockport, the Erie Canal, and the Shaping of America. State University of New York Press, 2009.

)
Slavery was one, but not the only, cause of the Civil War. In fact, the institution of slavery represents a combination of social, political, and economic forces at play throughout the United States. For one, Westward expansion and the principle of Manifest Destiny gave rise to the important issue of whether to allow slavery in new territories or to leave the question of slavery up to the residents in the new territory or state. he Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, the formation of the new Republican party and the election of Lincoln, the Nat urner rebellion, the introduction of Uncle om's Cabin into popular culture, and especially Westward expansion were among the most important events that led up to the outbreak of the Civil War.

he Compromise of 1850 was disastrous in that it accomplished nothing to promote human rights and civil…...

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The Compromise of 1850 was disastrous in that it accomplished nothing to promote human rights and civil liberties. California was admitted to the union as a free state. In exchange, other new lands gained in the Mexican War had no restrictions on whether slavery was or was not permitted. The slave trade was being phased out, but the practice slavery itself was preserved in the District of Columbia. The fugitive slave laws were enhanced too. So disastrous was the Compromise of 1850 that northerners did not take the Fugitive Slave Law seriously and did not enforce it. Another disastrous piece of legislation that preceded the Civil War, and helped spark it, was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Act overturned the Missouri Compromise and divided Kansas and Missouri into two states: one slave and one free. As Brinkley states, "No other piece of legislation in American history produced so many immediate, sweeping, and ominous political consequences," (327). Significant regarding the build-up to the Civil war, the Kansas-Nebraska Act caused the creation of the new Republican Party. Also, the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to the "bleeding Kansas" episode during which abolitionist and pro-enslavement advocates battled in pre-Civil War skirmishes.

Both the Nat Turner Rebellion and the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin represented the darker sides of slavery and promoted the politics of liberation. However, no other event in American history illustrates so well the way racism has permeated American politics as the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision. The Supreme Court took a strong racist stance that bolstered the pro-slavery cause immediately prior to the Civil War. Clearly, the nation was divided. On the one hand, decisions like Dred Scott showed that racist Americans served in positions of power at the federal level and could forever impact the quality of the country. On the other hand, abolitionists saw the necessity for a swift end to slavery in order to preserve the Constitutional rights and ideals upon which the nation was founded. The southerners could not foresee a means to have a viable economy without free and forced labor; the northerners did.

Even Democrats were divided, leading to the eventual election of the Republican candidate for President in 1860. Lincoln, who was "not an abolitionist" but who also believed that "slavery was morally wrong" steered the United States in a direction different from what most Southern whites wanted (Brinkley 332). After Lincoln was elected, the Southern states viewed the federal government as being illegitimate and decided one by one to cede from the union. The differences between slave-owning and free states were too great to overcome at the time. The economy and lifestyle of the south depended on slavery, whereas the Northern point-of-view favored sanity and genuine freedom.

The main causes of the war relied in the issue of slavery as well as the right of the states to be part of a federal entity with equal rights and voices. The implications for this war were enormous as it provided a different future for the colonies and for the U.S. As a whole.
The main cause of the war was, as stated, the issue of slavery. In this sense, the Mexican war played an important role. It pointed out the importance of the slavery issue even in an apparently international situation. The Wilmot Proviso is essential in this way. Thus, it represented an additional act to a bill that enabled the U.S. To satisfy the financial needs of Mexico. The act in itself however was not passed because it pointed out the fact that none of the territories acquired during the Mexican war should be opened to slavery;…...

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References

Africans in America. The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. 2007.Available at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html 

Caughey, John Walton. The California gold rush. University of California Press: Berkeley, 1975.

Civil Rights Act of 1866. Historycentral.com. 2000. Available at  http://www.historycentral.com/documents/civilrightsact.html 

Cornell University Law School. "13th Amendment." United States Constitution. 2010. Available at  http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiii

Nation Divided
Sectional and Constitutional Issues Surrounding the Institution of Slavery in Nineteenth Century America

As the Nineteenth Century dawned, the institution of slavery appeared to be on its way out in the new United States. Independence from Great Britain had removed many of the incentives for growing the cash crops upon which the Southern States had depended. ithout the lucrative bounties on rice and indigo, these were no longer worth the expense of producing on a large scale. Tobacco remained a major export, but even so it was insufficient to sustain the entire Southern economy. Luckily, technology came to the rescue. Eli hitney developed the cotton gin - a machine designed to remove the seeds from cotton bolls. Until the advent of this invention, the harvesting of cotton had been a laborious, time-consuming, and extremely labor intensive business. It was not even worth the labor of the slaves that worked…...

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Works Cited

 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=openPageViewer&docId=5000357462 

D'Souza, Dinesh.

We the Slaveowners: In Jefferson's America, Were Some Men Not Created Equal?" Policy Review 74.30 (1995).  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=openPageViewer&docId=5001651628 

Dean, Eric T. "Stephen A. Douglas and Popular Sovereignty." The Historian 57.4 (1995).  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=openPageViewer&docId=5000732364

In 1834, the British Empire abolished slavery (the Civil War Home Page, 2009). Great Britain had remained one of the United States' largest trading partners and was, at that time, still the most influential nation in the world. Moreover, Great Britain had retained slavery after many other countries ended the practice. The end of slavery in Great Britain also meant that those in the North who wanted the abolition of slavery could support their assertions that the world viewed the United States as backwards and barbarous because of the practice of slavery. Moreover, it certainly changed the potential for allies in the Civil War. Though not a monarchy, the South was an aristocracy and both Britain and France were then-ruled by monarchies. As long as the struggle was about a states-right government rebellion, the root cause of that rebellion, slavery, could be ignored and European countries could provide aid…...

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References

Brotherly Love. (unk.). Historical document: Missouri Compromise. Retrieved February 22,

2011 from PBS.org website:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h511.html 

The Civil War Home Page. (2009). Events leading to war- a Civil War timeline. Retrieved from  http://www.civil-war.net/pages/timeline.asp 

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857).

Many see slavery as the cause of the Civil ar but like with many other wars, it simply is not that simple. ars are never simple and rarely are they clear-cut. Slavery is a black eye on the history of the United States but within that turmoil, there is much to glean about a nation and a people. hile slavery is not unique to America, it is connected to the Civil ar. The struggle up until that time demonstrates how society and culture influence behavior and beliefs. Slavery was painful and freedom was not a perfect answer for those who suddenly found themselves free with nowhere to go. The pain of the Civil ar lead to the birth of Civil Rights and from such pain, individuals find release through perseverance. Unfortunately, slavery is a part of the history of man and while we read the pages of history, it is…...

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Work Cited

Bailey, Thomas and Kennedy, David. The American Pageant. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1994.

Bailey, Ronald. The Bloodiest Day. Alexandria: Time Life Books. 1984.

Davis, Pohanka, Troini. Civil War Journal: The Battles. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press. 1998.

Norton, Mary Beth, ed. A People and a Nation: Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin