Constitution's Involvement In The Failure Of The Union

The Constitution’s Involvement in the Failure of the Union By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally created as a document that would unify a new, developing nation, had become the source of sectional discord and tension among the United States and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created. When the framers of the Constitution neglected to mention slavery in any way, they left the idea of slavery up for interpretation, which further separated the North and South due to their different ideals and aspirations. The South had become completely dependent on slavery for their cotton kingdom, and the North had converted to the factory system. The nation had become more divided through may bad compromises and amendments …show more content…
He stated in his address on The Fugitive Slave Law on May 3, 1851, “ 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…” Ralph Waldo Emerson viewed this law as kidnapping, which is considered a similar crime to arson and murder. Most northerners also shared this view on the Fugitive Slave Act. Emerson also states in his address on The Fugitive Slave Law, “But one thing appears certain to me, that, as soon as the Constitution ordains an immoral law, it ordains disunion.” Emerson is saying that the Compromise of 1850 was supposed to be a compromise and one of its main provisions, the Fugitive Slave Act., was an immoral law that created more turmoil and more separation between the North and South. The Constitution’s lack of permanently addressing and specifically identifying the laws on slavery enabled this split between the North and South. Due to this spilt, the Compromise of 1850 was created as an effort to unite the nation again, but this created further separation and made it nearly impossible for the North and South to agree or prevent a civil …show more content…
When a state secedes, it immediate divides the nation. After South Carolina seceded in 1860 the other southern states soon followed, making it impossible for the union to reunite. This permanent separation lead to the creation of the Confederate States of America, and the North and South were now two separate countries permanently divided. The Constitution did not have the power to prevent this, and therefore failed to keep the Union together. President Abraham Lincoln said in his message to Congress on July 4, 1861, “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.” President Lincoln is saying that he does not have the power to stop the Union from dissolving because the Constitution does not give it to him. Under the Constitution a state can secede from the Union peacefully without the approval of the President or any other state. In other words, the Constitution can not hold the Union together. This is another example of how the Constitution ultimately contributed to the failure of the Union.
Overall, the lack or clarity in the Constitution lead to the failure of the Union. The Constitution left slavery and state’s right, two of the countries most controversial topics, open