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By the end of this section, you will be able to:
Many groups in U.S. history have sought recognition as equal citizens. Although each group’s efforts have been notable and important, arguably the greatest, longest, and most violent struggle was that of African Americans, whose once-inferior legal status was even written into the text of the Constitution. Their fight for freedom and equality provided the legal and moral foundation for others who sought recognition of their equality later on.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas
Jefferson made the radical statement that “all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yet like other wealthy landowners of his time, Jefferson also owned dozens of other human beings as his personal property. He recognized this contradiction and personally considered the institution of slavery to be a “hideous blot” on the nation.
Lucia Stanton. 2008. “Thomas Jefferson and Slavery,” https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-slavery#footnoteref3_srni04n. However, in order to forge a political union that would stand the test of time, he and the other founders—and later the framers of the Constitution—chose not to address the issue in any definitive way. Political support for abolition was very much a minority stance at the time, although after the Revolution many of the northern states did abolish slavery for a variety of reasons.
“How Did Slavery Disappear in the North?” http://www.abolitionseminar.org/how-did-northern-states-gradually-abolish-slavery/ (April 10, 2016); Nicholas Boston and Jennifer Hallam, “The Slave Experience: Freedom and Emancipation,” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html (April 10, 2016).
As the new United States expanded westward, however, the issue of slavery became harder to ignore and ignited much controversy. Many opponents of slavery were willing to accept the institution if it remained largely confined to the South but did not want it to spread westward. They feared the expansion of slavery would lead to the political dominance of the South over the North and would deprive small farmers in the newly acquired western territories who could not afford slaves.
Eric Foner. 1970.
Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War . New York: Oxford University Press, 28, 50, 54. Abolitionists, primarily in the North, also argued that slavery was both immoral and opposed basic U.S. values; they demanded an end to it.
The spread of slavery into the West seemed inevitable, however, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case
Dred Scott v. Sandford ,
Dred Scott v. Sandford , 60 U.S. 393 (1857). decided in 1857. Scott, who had been born into slavery but had spent time in free states and territories, argued that his temporary residence in a territory where slavery had been banned by the federal government had made him a free man. The Supreme Court rejected his argument. In fact, the Court’s majority stated that Scott had no legal right to sue for his freedom at all because blacks (whether free or slave) were not and could not become U.S. citizens. Thus, Scott lacked the standing to even appear before the court. The Court also held that Congress lacked the power to decide whether slavery would be permitted in a territory that had been acquired after the Constitution was ratified, in effect prohibiting the federal government from passing any laws that would limit the expansion of slavery into any part of the West.
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