LAD #14: Dred Scott Decision

The earlier meetings in 1857 didn’t consider the issues of black citizenship and Missouri Compromise. Buchanan was supportive of the decision of the Dred Scot Case. Every territory was to have popular sovereignty and decide the slavery issue themselves. Chief Justice Thaney shared his feelings of the issue of free blacks. The privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified by the Constitution. His opinion stated that blacks no matter their status of free or not were not citizens of the United States. With this decision Dred Scott did not hold the right to sue the federal court. The Missouri Compromise therefore was declared unconstitutional because slaveholding citizens have a right to their property, which referred to the slaves.

LAD #16: Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was mad by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War> it declared all slaves free in the area of the Confederate States of America if they didn’t return to the Union. The two parts were issued of September 20, 1862 and the second January 1, 1863. It was issued as an presidential order, not by congress. As the union armies advanced more slaves were being freed and almost all were freed by the summer of 1865. Border states still held some degree of slavery until it was finally declared the Thirteenth Amendment. Emancipation took place without violence and represented a step towards abolition of slavery.

LAD #15: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

When Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address slavery had been abolished. Lincoln did not speak of this as a victory, but rather he spoke of loss, guilt, and sin. His speech was a defense of his approach at reconstruction. He avoided strict treatment by reminding how wrong both sides had been before the war. He recognized the evils in slavery which was described strictly.

LAD #12: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address mostly focused on his views on many controversial subjects of the time period. Of those subjects he touched on the issue of slavery. He states that the Constitution is supposed to uphold states rights. He wanted strong support for the Fugitive Slave Law. Laws in the nation would be upheld in all states in order to defend the United States Constitution. There would be no invasion in the South in his knowledge. He wanted to “form a more perfect union” he had no objection to the amendment passed to protect slavery in the states it already existed in. Rights protected by the Constitution were valid and not to be messed with. He addressed the fact that nowhere in the Constitution does it reference the ability of the US Government to expand into the West or state beliefs on the issue of slavery.

LAD #13: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Lincoln, through his Gettysburg Address, upheld the principle of human equality. He referenced to the war as a test to see if the nation could endure. He defined the Civil War as “a new birth of freedom” in order to bring that equality to all citizens. He honored the people who fought in the American Revolution for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The nation was restored and it was no longer a union of individual states. He referenced to the Constitution by stating that all men are created equal. He never referenced towards slavery or the nullification of states rights in his speech.

LAD #10: Polk’s War Message

Mexican soldiers attacked the American soldiers. When news arrived to President Polk he sent a message to Congress declaring “American blood on American soil”, he then requested Congress to declare war against Mexico. Two days later congress declared war. Since war meant the possible gaining of more land the two regions were separated in the decision to go to war. Southerners saw the war as an opportunity to create more slave states. The northerners saw it as unfair to admit such a large state into the union. Nevertheless Polk’s party outnumbered the others in Congress therefore they declared war. Polk’s War Message was yet another reason for the North and South to be separate in their opinions towards the destiny of the US.

LAD #11: John Calhoun's Speech

The Compromise of 1850 was a set of resolutions that Henry Clay supported in the controversial debate over slavery. John C. Calhoun was the Senator of SC at them time and prepared a speech that discussed the resolution that’s were proposed. Clay was proposing that slavery be abolished in DC and that California would be admitted into the union as a free state. These possibilities weren’t supported by Calhoun and negotiation possibilities were scarce. In his speech he discussed that the sovereignty of the states were in trouble because of the northern aggression. There was an emphasis on the face that two separate countries were created somewhat because of the discussion of slaver being abolished. Calhoun didn’t see a future of resolving the problem therefore he proposed that the regions should either agree to disagree and move on or become separate nations.

LAD #9: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

The Seneca Falls Convention was a group of men and women, mostly women, who gather in order to draft a document calling for women’s suffrage. The leaders were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but other men attended such as Frederick Douglass. This meant reform for laws about marital and property ownership would have to be revised, therefore making the women equal politically when it came to suffrage. With the Declaration of Independence as its model, the people drafted the “Declaration of Sentiments.” The writers started the document by declaring that women were equal to men, much like how the US declared themselves independent. Then the women listed the grievances about the wrongdoings of men in the past, much like how the US stated the wrongdoings of the king. They also listed why the women of this country should be granted suffrage. This convention started the spread of the idea of women’s suffrage. This was the first of many other conventions that spread across the country. The Declaration caused turmoil among the citizens therefore some people didn’t support it because of the separation it caused.