22nd May, 2018 American Civil War

PCS:

Purpose: Understanding States’ Rights

Content: States’ Rights - Missouri Compromise, Tariff of Abominations,
Fugitive Slave Act, Doctrine of Nullification

Skills: Interpreting historical importance

Cause and effect
 • When the original 13 independent colonies announced their
independence from Great Britain in 1776 they regarded
themselves as sovereign (independent) states.
States’ Rights • The demands of the Revolutionary War (the war after the
USA declared independence) forced the states to recognize
a need for a central government.
• The Constitution of the United States established America’s
national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed
certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on
September 17, 1787.
• Within the constitution (1789) the Tenth Amendment
says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This
amendment assured the states of continued autonomy in
handling most of their internal affairs.
 • In the Civil War era, there was struggle over autonomous States’ Rights.

States’ Rights This struggle focused heavily on the institution of slavery and whether the
federal government had the right to regulate or even abolish slavery within
an individual state.
• The argument led to discussion over what powers and rights should be held
by the states, as opposed to the federal government by the constitution.
• This argument was used as a way to defend their sectional interests (slave
v. non-slave state interests)
• Dispute between who controlled foreign policy (federal or state), leading to
South Carolina (slave state) declaring that the federal government could
NOT enforce these rules
• Calhoun argued that, instead, supreme power belonged to the states as they
did not give up their independent power in the Constitution.

1. What were some issues with the concept of states having their own
rights?
2. Discuss the negatives and positives of a federal government controlling
Portrait of John C. Calhoun at age 40 (1822) individual states. Is it a breach of rights? (10 mins)
 - The status of slavery in each state became a matter
Missouri of contention in Congress, as southern states
wanted slavery extended to the west, and northern
Compromise (1820) states just as strongly opposed new states being
admitted as "slave states”.
- Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse
the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the
request of Missouri in late 1819 for admission as a
state in which slavery would be permitted.
- Legislation passed admitting Maine as a free state,
and Missouri as a slave state to maintain the
balance of power between North and South.
- Slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30’ parallel.
- This parallel of latitude is significant as it divided
slave states and free states.
 • Import taxes (tariffs) are financial charges governments
Tariff of impose on goods purchased from other countries. The
Tariff of Abominations was a protective tariff imposed
Abominations (1828) by the north.
• Industries in the northern United States were being
driven out of business by low-priced imported goods;
the major goal of the tariff was to protect these
industries by taxing those goods. The North imposed
taxes to support and flourish their local economy.
• The South, however, was harmed directly by having to
pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce,
and indirectly because the high-tax meant British could
not export goods to the U.S and it became difficult for
the British to pay for the cotton they imported from the
South. The South believed this was a threat, as they
relied on international trade with Britain to flourish.
• The Tariff of Abominations was seen as a way of the
Northeast controlling economic policy
 • The 1793 Slave Act decreed that slave owners and their
Fugitive Slave Act “agents” had the right to search for escaped slaves
within the borders of free states.
(1793/1850) • In the event they captured a suspected slave, these
hunters had to bring them before a judge and provide
evidence proving the person was their property. If court
Fugitive Slave Act: officials were satisfied by their proof—which often took
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnWoku the form of a signed affidavit—the owner would be
Q6kcA permitted to take custody of the slave and return to their
home state.
• The Fugitive Slave Act was amended in 1850, and was
passed by the United States Congress on as part of the
Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding
interests and Northern Free-Soilers.
• This new law forcibly compelled citizens to assist in the
capture of runaway slaves.
• It also denied slaves the right to a jury trial and
increased the penalty for interfering with the rendition
process to $1,000 and six months in jail.
 Doctrine of • As South Carolina’s economy struggled, the tariffs
Nullification (1828- almost forced them to leave the Nation
1861) • Using the Doctrine of Nullification developed by
Jefferson, a state could ignore any legislation it
found unconstitutional
• John C. Calhoun believed that congress had no
right to make a tariff to favor one region over
another
• Calhoun believed the states had the right to judge
whether a law made by congress was
unconstitutional and published his beliefs
anonymously

Doctrine of Nullification:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/doctrine-of-
nullification-definition-theory-quiz.html
With each of these three events
(Missouri Compromise, Tariff of
Abominations, Fugitive Slave Act,
Doctrine of Nullification), answer
the following:
1. What was the event?
2. Discuss the significance of each
event and how it contributed to
rising tensions between the
North and the South? (20/30
mins)
 Source 1.1: Harper Weekly, 1856

1. What is in this source?

2. What does this cartoon convey about the
attitudes of the North toward their rights?