H see attachment Week 4 respond to a student

Make a follow-up of a student's weekly discussion and respond with your opinion regarding to her post

Kayla Stephens

The ideal of slavery was never one that would just dissolve. This is a subject that most Americans had a strong opinion about, and rightfully so since it dealt with human life. There were very few in America who did not have an opinion on this subject, and the acts before the civil was cast every neutral person into one side or the other. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was a direct consequence of the compromise of 1850. It was used to keep the south happy, after making California a free state amongst other anti-south rulings. The Fugitive Slave Law prevented any persons north or south from aiding in the escape of runaway slaves. It allowed heavy punishments and fines to be brought upon anyone that was caught helping a slave escape(History.com Editors, 2020). This struck fear to many northerners, especially those on the borders. It caused mental turmoil for them, as they felt slavery was morally wrong, but they also did not want to be caught aiding in the runaway of slaves for fear of consequences of breaking this law. This caused many northerners to hate this law, as they felt they all had been transformed into slave bounty hunters against their will(Openstax, 2019). Northerners were also alarmed by this act because they realized that slaveowners in the south could potentially become powerful governing bodies who could and will use that power to bend the law however they pleased(Openstax, 2019). This led to many abolitionists in the north to fight back for the slave’s freedom and hide them whenever they could. This Law made nearly all of the undecided Americans choose one side or the other to support, furthering the separation between the north and the south.

             Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written shortly thereafter by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book, which originally started as columns in a newspaper, highlighted stories of different enslaved and previously enslaved people. This allowed for stories to be told about families being ripped apart, children being sold into slavery, and the corruption of white citizens slavery causes(Openstax 2019). This allowed the North to realize just how much of a problem slavery was, which allowed them the justification they needed to elect President Abraham Lincoln and resulted in the sensation of the south.

            The split between the north and the south was inevitable and had been building up since the start of the United States. As stated above, slavery was a very heated topic to almost all Americans, and it could not have been dealt with without the result of a war. Each side felt they were ultimately right, and their consciousness would not allow them to budge on their stances or compromise. The only way to get rid of slavery in America was the Civil War.

 

 

Resources

History.com Editors. (2020b, February 12).  Fugitive Slave Acts. HISTORY. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts (Links to an external site.)

OpenStax. (2019).  U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from  https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:gMXC1GEM@7/Introduction