The identity of a state in relation to the nation is never properly defined in the Constitution, and this was a source of much conflict. From the beginning under the Articles of Confederation, the individual states were protective of their powers and onl

y established a strong national government after much coaxing. Even then states were wary of outside influence and vociferous when regional concerns were threatened. As the political cartoon in Document F shows, the people were likely to take a national policy that ran contrary to their beliefs as being inherently tyrannical. On the issue of slavery, the government wasn’t even sure if it had the power to make a nationwide ruling because the Constitution could be interpreted to say both yes and no. On one side President James Buchanan said, “[slave states] as sovereign states alone are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them . . . on the basis of the Constitution.” Jefferson Davis also harped on the state sovereignty issue, saying that he felt that the Constitution did not set the national government above the states and that each state was free to decide the matter of slavery since the Constitution made no explicit ruling. However, President Abraham Lincoln countered by saying that there was no sacred supremacy held by the states and that the states, being dependent on the Union, had no right to destroy it. The difficulty in reconciling these two viewpoints was that they were both technically correct, according to the vague Constitution. The very fact that the United States had no national policy and was divided into free regions and slave regions, as i

Some topics in this essay:
President Buchanan’s, Thomas Jefferson, Constitution United, Lloyd Garrison, Articles Confederation, Georgian’ Document, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, James Buchanan, Waldo Emerson, national government, views slaves, property rights, slavery issue, national policy,