Constitution Nonrepresentative Essays - United States, James Madison

Constitution Nonrepresentative More than 70 years had gone by between the writing of the Constitution and the 1850's. The U.S.'s landscape had grown dramatically and and the North and South had grown apart. People were truly beginning to divide on the topic of slavery, and The South and the North were in a precarious position, a slight disruption in the States would bring certain War. In 70 years the Constitution became a reason for the breakup of the union due to the many gray area's in key topics, the fact that it wasn't a fully representative document, and that it left out many important topics such as slavery. The Constitution lead lead to the breakup of the Union because it left too many gray area's that caused conflict. In document G, President James Buchanan says that the Southern States are ? Justified in revolutionary resistance to the government of the Union.? . However he also points out that the Constitution doesn't say whether or not Congress can stop a State from seceding. In document I, president Lincoln shows a gray area. He says the south may ? lawfully and peacefully withdraw from the Union,? by one interpretation. Yet, because the Constitution is vague in some areas, Lincoln interpreted the Constitution to mean that they do not have the power to secede, ?Our states have neither more nor less power, than that reserved to them.? As you can see, the Constitution allowed too much to be interpreted. It was so vague that it caused many conflicts, and eventually caused the Union to break up. The Constitution caused the break up of the Union because 70 years after it's writing it no longer represented all the people. The Constitution wasn't really representative even at the time of it's writing. 70 years later a lot had changed in America. Their were many new groups of people and many new ideas. When it was written the States involved thought in the same way, they had the same goals. But 70 years later their thinking had changed and the need for a unified nation was no longer there. Document A, is a map of America in 1850. it clearly shows the division of North and South. The south was completely slave territory, while the North was free. This shows that the North and South were no longer alike as they were before. In Document H, president Davis tells Congress that the constitution is no longer representative. He basically says that the Constitution as written in 1787 was not representative of all the States. He points out that the Constitution was originally meant to be a ?compact between States? but that now some believe the government to be ?set up above and over the States.? Many things had changed since the writing of the Constitution and it could no longer unify the States as it once did. The Constitution was at fault because it failed to address many important issues. For example Document G, shows how the Constitution didn't cover important congressional powers. Buchanan interprets that ?no such power has been delegated to congress,? in regards to it's ability to stop secession. If the Constitution had covered this issue secession would have never been so controversial. In document E, we see another place where the Constitution leaves out an important issue. ?The words slave and slavery are not to be found in the Constitution.? because slavery was never talked about in the Constitution their was much conflict over it. This kind of conflict contributed to the Unions break up. In Document F, is a cartoon that covers the issue of slavery on free soil. because the Constitution never discussed what would happen if a slave is brought on to free soil it allowed for this to become a conflict. The Constitution wasn't thorough enough and thus caused much fighting over issues i t did not address. 70 years after it's writing the Constitution was in many ways obsolete. America was divided in it's thinking and could no longer use the Constitution to settle recent issues. Because the Constitution no longer represented the people and didn't cover important issues, it caused many people to interpret it differently. Thus the Constitution lead to tension