FREE ESSAY ON CONSTITUTION NONREPRESENTATIVE

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 it 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 and conflict that eventually divided the Union it created.