Elements of the United States Constitution

Question

Description

My instructors and my assignment instructions are provided under files. Thank you in advanced.

Essay Assignment Detail

Purpose: To deepen knowledge and understanding of the history of American history and to

build skills in the following areas: synthesis of readings, assessment and verification of evidence,

and expression of a reasoned point-of-view on a topic. In particular, this essay emphasizes the

use of primary source evidence to support a historical argument.

Introduction to the essay assignment:

The United States Constitution was created in 1787 to unite thirteen diverse colonies. By the

1850s, though, several writers and politicians had begun to blame the Constitution for the

increasing tensions between Northern and Southern colonies.

Assignment:

Using information from The American Yawp, and all of the primary sources below, assess

the validity of the following statement:

Elements of the United States Constitution were partially

responsible for conflict between the North and South that ultimately

led to the Civil War

See the Canvas Calendar for the due date.

Here are the requirements for your essay. This essay must

• Be a thoughtful, detailed, and well-written essay

• Be a minimum of 1,000 words

• Be typed and double-spaced with a 12pt font and one-inch margins

• Include specific in-text citations of The American Yawp, and ALL SIX of the required

primary documents below

• Use MLA, APA, or Chicago style (your choice)

• Be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) or PDF format through Canvas

• Late essays will be penalized 10% and no essays will be accepted more than 24 hours

after the deadline

Primary Source A

“Plain Words for the North,” An Anonymous Georgian, American Whig Review, XII (Dec.

1850)

“In a government where sectional interests and feelings may come into conflict, the sole security

for permanence and peace is to be sound in a Constitution whose provision are inviolable. . .

Every State, before entering into that compact, stood in a position of independence. Ere yielding

that independence, it was only proper that provision should be made to protect the interests of

those which would inevitably be the weaker in that confederacy.

[The framers of the Constitution] acted wisely, and embodied in the Constitution all that the

South could ask. But two Constitutional provisions are necessary to secure Southern rights upon

this important question – the recognition of slavery where people choose it and the remedy for

fugitive slaves. . . . We hold that the Constitution of the Union does recognize slavery where it

exists . . .

A large portion of our States have adopted and allow slavery. The entire country becomes

possessed of new territory, to the acquisition of which these slave States contribute mainly. The

South admits the right of this new territory to choose for itself whether slavery shall or shall not

exist there. But the North insists, that while the territory was partly acquired by Southern men, is

partly owned by Southern men, that they shall be excluded from its soil – that they shall not

carry their property into their own land – land which is theirs by right of purchase. Thus it is

rendered, if these views are carried out, simply impossible for any new State representing the

Southern interest ever to come into the Union. The equilibrium which alone can preserve the

Constitution is utterly destroyed. And to do this, flagrant violations of the plainest rules of right

and wrong are committed . . . .

The Union, without a living, vital Constitution, is but a vain and empty name. Nay, more, it is

but a body powerless for good, strong for evil. Its destruction is inevitable unless the original

guarantees are respected and maintained.

Primary Source B

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Address on the Fugitive Slave Law,” speech delivered May 3,

1851

“An immoral law makes it a man’s duty to break it, at every hazard. For virtue is the very self of

every man. It is therefore a principle of law that an immoral contract is void, and that an immoral

statute is void. . . . The [Fugitive Slave Law] is a statute which enacts the crime of kidnapping –

a crime on one footing with arson and murder. A man’s right to liberty is as inalienable as his

right to life . . .

“By the law of Congress March 2, 1807, it is piracy and murder, punishable with death, to

enslave a man on the coast of Africa. By law of Congress September, 1850, it is a high crime and

misdemeanor punishable with fine and imprisonment, to resist the reenslaving a man on the coast

of America . . . . What kind of legislation is this? What kind of Constitution which covers it ? . .

“I suppose the Union can be left to take care of itself. . . . But one thing appears certain to me,

that, as soon as the Constitution ordains an immoral law, it ordains disunion. The law is suicidal,

and cannot be obeyed. The Union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted. And he who

writes a crime into the statute book digs under the foundations of the Capitol to plant there a

powder magazine, and lays a train.”

Primary Source C

William Lloyd Garrison, "The United States Constitution" (1852)

“We charge . . . that [the Constitution] was formed at the expense of human liberty, by a

profligate surrender of principle, and to this hour is cemented with human blood . . . .

“To the argument, that the words ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not to be found in the Constitution,

and therefore that it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave

system, it is sufficient to reply, that though no such words are contained in the instrument, other

words were used, intelligently and specifically, to meet the necessities of slavery . . . .

“Three millions of the American people are crushed under the American Union! They are held as

slaves, trafficked as merchandise, registered as goods and chattels! The government gives them

no protection – the government is their enemy, the government keeps them in chains! . . . The

Union which grinds them to the dust rests upon us, and with them we will struggle to overthrow

it! The Constitution which subjects them to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to

support. Our motto is, ‘No Union with Slaveholders’ . . . We separate from them . . . to clear our

skirts of innocent blood, . . . and to hasten the downfall of slavery in America, and throughout

the world!”

Primary Source D

President James Buchanan, fourth annual message to Congress (December 3, 1860)

“ . . . All for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to

manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone,

are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. . . .

“The Southern States, standing on the basis of the Constitution, have right to demand this act of

justice from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then the Constitution, to which all the

States are parties, will have been willfully violated by one portion of them in a provision

essential to the domestic security and happiness of the remainder. In that event the injured States,

after having first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified

in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union.

“The question fairly stated is, Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a

State into submission which is attempting to withdraw or has actually withdrawn from the

Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been

conferred upon Congress to declare and to make war against a State. After much serious

reflection I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress . . .

“Congress can contribute much to avert [Southern withdrawal] by proposing and recommending

to the legislatures of the several States the remedy for existing evils which the Constitution has

itself provided for its own preservation.. . . an ‘explanatory amendment’ of the Constitution on

the subject of slavery . . . . [with] three special points:

1. An express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the States where it now exists or

may hereafter exist.

2. The duty of protecting this right in all the common Territories throughout their Territorial

existence, and until they shall be admitted as States into the Union, with or without slavery, as

their constitutions may prescribe.

3. A like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave who has escaped from one State

to another restored . . .

“In any event, [such an explanatory amendment] ought to be tried in a spirit of conciliation

before any of these States shall separate themselves from the Union.”

Primary Source E

Confederate President Jefferson Davis, message to Confederate Congress (April 29, 1861)

“It was by the delegates chosen by the several States . . . that the Constitution of the United

States was framed in 1787 and submitted to the several States for ratification . . . [These] States

endeavored in every possible form to exclude the idea that the separate and independent

sovereignty of each State was merged into one common government and nation, and . . . to

impress in the Constitution its true character - that of a compact between independent States.

“. . . Amendments were added to the Constitution placing beyond any pretense of doubt the

reservation by the States of all their sovereign rights and powers not expressly delegated to the

United States by the Constitution.

“Strange, indeed, must it appear to the impartial observer, but it is none the less true that all these

carefully worded clauses proved unavailing to prevent the rise and growth in the Northern States

of a political school which has persistently claimed that the government thus formed was not a

compact between States, but was in effect a national government, set up above and over the

States.”

Primary Source F

President Abraham Lincoln, message to Congress (July 4, 1861)

“The [Secessionists] invented an ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was followed by

perfectly logical steps through all the incidents to the complete destruction of the Union. The

sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the National Constitution, and

therefore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or

of any other State.

“This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from the assumption that there is

some omnipotent and sacred supremacy pertaining to a State--to each State of our Federal Union.

Our States have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the Union by the

Constitution, no one of them ever having been a State out of the Union. The original ones passed

into the Union even before they cast off their British colonial dependence, and the new ones each

came into the Union directly from a condition of dependence . . . .

“Having never been States, either in substance or in name, outside of the Union, whence this

magical omnipotence of ‘State rights,’ asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union

itself?”

Guide to the History 101 Essay – Tips and Suggestions

Introduction

This document is intended to provide assistance with writing the essay in HIST 101. This

assignment asks you to write an analytical essay that utilizes information from our course

reading and several primary sources. Let’s begin!

An Analytical Document-based Essay

This particular essay is what is known as a “document-based” analytical essay. It requires the

use of the supplied primary sources as evidence in your historical argument. This is the type of essay

used in the American History Advanced Placement exam (in that case, though, one cannot use notes or

books and must write the essay in 75 minutes!). The topic of the essay changes from term-to-term. In

this guide, we will look at this semester’s question, a question that once appeared on the A.P. exam –

the role of the U.S. Constitution in the escalating conflict between the North and South before the Civil

War.

The essay module in Canvas contains this excellent guide from the University of Montana (UM)

to the type of essay we are talking about. Let’s use that guide as we examine this assignment

Visualizing the Priorities

The UM guide begins with an excellent graphic

that helps us to visualize the task from the beginning. By

the way, the grading rubric for this assignment aligns

directly with this graphic (go to the essay assignment and

scroll down – the rubric is below the description)

The base of the pyramid – the most important

part – is “responsiveness.” Sometimes, your instructor

will use the “development” to mean the same thing. Basically, this means that the task was

accomplished. This seems simple, but it one of the most common student errors on this type of

assignment. For example, some students will submit an essay in this course that evaluates the causes of

the Civil War. That is not what this assignment requests. If the essay is not responsive to the assignment,

then all of other categories are moot – the thesis and evidence aren’t adequate and the analysis will be

off base.

So, for this term’s topic, let’s take a brief look at the task. It is written as follows (with emphasis

added):

Using information from The American Yawp and all of the primary sources below, assess the

validity of the following statement: elements of the United States Constitution were partially

responsible for conflict between the North and South that ultimately led to the Civil War?

Let’s begin with “assess the validity.” Perhaps we could rephrase this as “determine and explain to what

degree the following statement is a valuable explanation of what happened.” This means that the task

requires careful thought about the subject. It does not say “describe the conflict” or “list elements of the

conflict.” To assess something is to explore it in a complex and specific manner. In this case, you will see

that a reasonable assessment will have to go beyond a yes or no.

Next, let’s determine the event or events that we are we analyzing. Two events are identified,

but students often have difficulty understanding them. The first is the United States Constitution – the

document written in the summer of 1787 that created the government structure still in use in the

United States. Since this question asks us to address the period before the Civil War, we would include

only Amendments 1-12.

At issue here is whether the Framers of the Constitution protected slavery or not, either

explicitly or implicitly. Our text address the creation of the Constitution rather briefly on pages 194-196.

It’s a good overview, but we need to dig a bit deeper. Prof. Mintz’s article on the Constitution and

slavery (located in module #6) provides excellent historical context to add to our study. Two other

articles in the modules provide more detail and include more interpretation of the events. It is

important to note that these readings do not answer our question for us – they are addressing a

different but related issue. Rather, they build our knowledge so that we can form create our own

independent answer to the assigned task.

The second issue we are asked to address is “the conflict between the North and the South that

led to the Civil War.” Note that it does not say “caused the Civil War.” This is because we don’t want to

address the so-called “triggers” that led to war – the election of Lincoln, secession, Fort Sumter, etc. We

want to examine the underlying conflict. From our readings, we know that signs of the conflict are

observable in 1820 with the Missouri Compromise debate, and that it intensifies in the 1830s with the

radical abolitionist movement and the creation of pro-slavery ideology. The period after the Mexican

War is the period of the most intense debate. So, the period between 1830-1861 with our main

emphasis on the 1850s seems the most appropriate time frame to examine in this essay.

Our next move is to look at the materials we are to use. We are to use our textbook, the three

other secondary sources provided in the modules, and, most importantly, all of the primary sources

attached to the assignment. In the AP exam, no secondary sources are provided – students must build

an argument just from the primary sources alone. They have studied the secondary sources before the

exam, of course. The emphasis of this assignment is on the use of these primary sources as evidence for

a historical argument. So, we want to read the primary sources carefully now. Use the SQ3R method. For

the “Q” we want to ask how these reveal a relationship between the U.S. Constitution and the conflict

over slavery before the Civil War began, and we want to use techniques from primary source analysis

from this Carleton College guide located in the essay module.

Let’s look at one of the documents together – an excerpt from “Plain Words for the North,” by

An Anonymous Georgian (1850) with annotations in [bold]:

[to begin, the nature of the source tells us something interesting. It is a magazine article from 1850 – a

full decade before the war. It is written by someone from a slave state. That fact that it is anonymous

suggests that the opinions will be controversial. The intended audience is made clear in the title –

people from the North where slavery no longer exists by 1850]

“In a government where sectional interests [sectional refers to geographical sections – in this

case, the northern states and the southern states] and feelings may come into conflict, the sole

security for permanence and peace is to be sound in a Constitution whose provisions are

inviolable. . . [the author points to the Constitution as a way to resolve conflicts in a big nation

where different geographical sections may have different economic interests. Its provisions,

he says, are “inviolable” – cannot be violated] Every State, before entering into that compact,

stood in a position of independence. Ere yielding that independence, it was only proper that

provision should be made to protect the interests of those which would inevitably be the

weaker [It seems the author will look to the Constitution for clauses that protect “rights”

regardless of whether or not they are popular or in keeping with the beliefs of the majority] in

that confederacy. [The author asserts the U.S. is a confederacy – meaning the states are in a

league of friendship and not subservient to the will of federal government (although the

Supremacy Clause states otherwise). We will find this is a central issue – how did the Framers

of the Constitution treat the states? See “federalism” in our textbook]

[The framers of the Constitution] acted wisely, and embodied in the Constitution all that the

South could ask. But two Constitutional provisions are necessary to secure Southern rights upon

this important question – the recognition of slavery where people choose it and the remedy for

fugitive slaves. . . . We hold that the Constitution of the Union does recognize slavery where it

exists . . . [Here the author asserts that the Framers protected a “right” to own slaves, and he

cites two elements. The second is easier to understand – the author is referring to the so-

called Fugitive Slave Clause – Article IV, section 2, clause 3:

“No person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping

into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged

from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom

such service or labour may be due.

The author is implying that the existence of this clause proves that the Framers wanted to

protect slavery and slaveowners.

The first claim – that the Constitution recognized “slavery where people choose it” is

presumably an assertion that this clause as well as the other slavery compromises mean that

the Framers intended to protect slavery forever. This assertion is arguable. ]

A large portion of our States have adopted and allow slavery [the population of the southern

states was much smaller, but the number of slave states was about the same as non-slave

states, so the author is implying that pro-slavery Americans were not a tiny minority] . The

entire country becomes possessed of new territory, to the acquisition of which these slave

States contribute mainly [the author asserts that soldiers from southern states contributed

more to Mexican War victory than did northern soldiers] The South admits the right of this

new territory to choose for itself whether slavery shall or shall not exist there [the author here

refers to the “popular sovereignty” attempt at compromise, implying that the South was being

reasonable and was willing to accept bans on slavery in the West if people there chose it] . But the

North insists, that while the territory was partly acquired by Southern men, is partly owned by

Southern men, that they shall be excluded from its soil –that they shall not carry their property

into their own land –land which is theirs by right of purchase.[the author asserts that

northerners are being unreasonable in seeking to ban slavery from the new western states. In

particular, the author refers to slaves as “property” to imply that banning slaveowners and

slaves from the West would violate the constitutional protections of property (in the Fifth

Amendment, for example)]. Thus, it is rendered, if these views are carried out, simply

impossible for any new State representing the Southern interest ever to come into the Union.

The equilibrium which alone can preserve the Constitution is utterly destroyed. [the author

links a ban on slavery in new states to a threat to the existence of existing slave states. The

author asserts that a balance between slave and non-slave states is required to “preserve the

Constitution.”] And to do this, flagrant violations of the plainest rules of right and wrong are

committed . . . .

The Union, without a living, vital Constitution, is but a vain and empty name. [This seems to be a

contradiction – the author asserts that the provisions of the original Constitution are

“inviolable” in the first paragraph. It seems that anti-slavery interests are interested in a

Constitution that changes] Nay, more, it is but a body powerless for good, strong for evil. Its

destruction is inevitable unless the original guarantees are respected and maintained. [This is a

strong assertion – perhaps even a threat -- that the South will not tolerate a total ban on

slavery in the western territories and that such a decision will lead to the Union’s

“destruction.” ]

Thesis Statement

Now that we have looked carefully at the assignment and have read (or re-read) the appropriate

material, it is time to create our draft thesis statement. As our UM guide tells us, the thesis statement

should be “specific, focused, defensible” and “interpretive rather than descriptive.” Perhaps it goes

without saying, but the thesis statement should respond to the task; in other words, your thesis should

answer the question or assignment given to you. It will be revised throughout the writing process

because we don’t really know what we think about something until we’ve worked our way through it in

detail (that is why writing is such a powerful learning exercise).

The UM guide gives very good examples of this process and shows that your draft thesis can be

simple to get you started. You can always revise it after your rough draft is finished.

Evidence

For this assignment, we want to use both primary and secondary source evidence. We have all

used secondary evidence before (our textbook, for example). This assignment asks to prioritize primary

source evidence. In particular, it asks you to analyze several primary sources included with the

assignment.

The UM guide gives good examples of specific evidence from secondary sources. For primary

sources, it is usually best to quote briefly from them (if they are text-based sources). This guide from the

University of North Carolina provides excellent tips for how to incorporate quotations into your writing.

Analysis/Interpretation

In this writing task, we are trying to do several things. We are trying to inform our reader and to

persuade our reader that our understanding of the history is the one that they should adopt. Our

readers need to be convinced, and educated readers are persuaded with specific and meaningful

evidence. We don’t want to just list facts; we want to show the reader why our facts illustrate and prove

the larger point (thesis statement) we are making. The UM guide says it well: “Evidence does not speak

for itself . . . explain to the reader in your own words what meaning to take from a piece of evidence.”

For this task, you want to choose quotations from the primary sources and historical facts from

our secondary sources to support your views.

Organizing your essay = Organizing your argument

The UM guide gives excellent advice on this. I recommend that you create an outline before

writing your draft. I suggest this method, but there are others:

I. Thesis Statement

II. Paragraph 2 – discusses and supports one aspect – part A of thesis

a. Evidence supporting this

b. Evidence supporting this

c. Evidence supporting this

III. Paragraph 3 – discusses and supports one aspect – part B of thesis

a. Evidence supporting this

b. Evidence supporting this

c. Evidence supporting this

IV. Paragraph 4– discusses and supports one aspect – part C of thesis

a. Evidence supporting this

b. Evidence supporting this

c. Evidence supporting this

V. Paragraph 5 – discusses and supports part D of thesis

a. Evidence supporting this

b. Evidence supporting this

c. Evidence supporting this

VI. Paragraph 6– discusses and supports part E of thesis

a. Evidence supporting this

b. Evidence supporting this

c. Evidence supporting this

VII. Conclusion

This guide from UNC gives more detail on this and emphasizes re-organizing.

Revision

Revision is the key to successful writing. I was shocked as a student when I read the early drafts

of the some of the great writers of the past – they were often terrible! I became more forgiving of my

rough drafts and learned that successful writing really occurs with revision.

The UM guide doesn’t provide as much help here as it could. I recommend this UNC handout for

tips and suggestions.

Okay, that’s it for now. Take your time and apply all of the knowledge that you have gained this

semester.