The Civil War

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the addition of the western states to the union further complicated the delicate political balance between northern free-states and southern slave-states in the United States Congress. The author points out that one political solution was the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which provided for the settlers of federal territorial lands to decide the status, whether free or slave, under which they would join the Union; popular sovereignty was first invoked in the Compromise of 1850. The paper relates that the Fugitive Slave Act, another part of the 1850 Compromise, which proved less than satisfactory in clarifying issues about the legal implications of western expansion and its relationship with the slavery question, came under consideration of the U.S. Supreme Court when Dred Scott, a slave, who had been purchased by army surgeon John Emerson, a citizen of Missouri, spent time in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was prohibited.

From the Paper:

"Regarding the nation's capital, according to the compromise the slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted. Finally, California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have objected to the political imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Thus, the various doctrines Compromise of 1850 accomplished what it set out to do, to keep the slave/free nation united, but the solution was only temporary and ultimately, cosmetic."

More papers on The Civil War:

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• Article Review # 36963 : "Women During the Civil War"
• Narrative Essay # 68995 : "Changes During and After the Civil War"

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