American Constitution Pros And Cons Essay

I agree with the statement that “the American Constitution could not stay pure in the hands of imperfect human beings” because throughout much of United States history, the issue of slavery surfaced and resurfaced time and time again once people started questioning the morality of its implementation. The matter still had a major presence in the public and politics even during the Reconstruction Era that followed the abolition of slavery. The reason conflict over slavery manifested itself and persisted for so long was because the founding fathers of America had not included any mention of slavery nor could they have anticipated that in the future the entire institution would face opposition at all, thus making the Constitution imperfect from …show more content…
James Henretta says that preceding the war, in order “to limit the spread of slavery, Wilmot proposed to prohibit [slavery] in any territories acquired from Mexico. This measure, known as the Wilmot Proviso, rallied antislavery northerners. In the House of Representatives, the northern Democratic allies of Martin Van Buren joined forces with antislavery Whigs to pass the proviso. The Senate, dominated by southerners and proslavery northern Democrats, killed it” (394-395). Far before the Civil War took place, conflict surrounding slavery existed even in the highest levels of government. The political beliefs of Northerners and Southerners alike in regards to slavery had already begun to take root. Later, opposing political beliefs would take hold of either side so firmly neither would make way for the other’s ideas, thus prompting the Civil War. In fact, Henretta also notes that “slavery had permeated the American federal republic for so long and so thoroughly that southerners had come to see it as part of the constitutional order—an order now under siege”