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What constitutional and political issues in the 1850s indicated unrest for Georgia as a member of

the United States?

Slavery and the interpretation of federal versus state powers in the Constitution of the US are the

main political and constitutional issues of the 1850s that indicated unrest for Georgia as a United

States member. This paper discusses the political and constitutional issues of the 1850s that

indicated unrest for Georgia as a United States member.

The many rising sectional concerns on the slavery practice in the 1850s contributed to

explosive tensions in the region. Georgia denied the then US Congress meddling in their slave

trade practices and laws amongst other states. The contention of the state was to enable slave-

owners to assume possession for free of the blacks coming in from the North. Georgia’s Laws

incited abolitionists to implicate free regions and states in upholding the system of slavery by

incorporating provisions or clauses intended to fine and imprison anybody aiding slave runaway.

Other abolitionist areas in the US made reference to such Laws to highlight Georgia’s complicity

in the slavery institution (Carrington 584).

Abolitionist causes and compromise formed the main constitutional issues of the 1850s

that indicated unrest for Georgia as a United States member. Relinquishing the rights to US

states to choose between freeing or holding slaves by the Popular Sovereignty process is one of
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the constitutional issues. The holders of Slaves flocking to Georgia to build allegiance sparked

battles with other free states to threaten civil war. The Republicans and Democrats engaged in

seven debates throughout election campaigns on the nuanced conversation of slavery and the

future of the practice in the US (Alpers, Edward and Matthew 89).

Conclusion

Abolitionism, disunity, and protectionism are the constitutional and political issues of the 1850s

that indicated unrest for Georgia as a United States member. The main contention was that

Georgia’s acts strived to weaken US security, disrupt domestic tranquility and peace, and

insistently declined to observe the formal constitutional duties of property and use of power for

the equal gratification of the common US.

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Work Cited

Alpers, Edward A., and Matthew S. Hopper. "Speaking for Themselves? Understanding African

Freed Slave Testimonies from the Western Indian Ocean, 1850s-1930s." The Journal of

Indian Ocean World Studies 1.1 (2017): 60-89.

Carrington, Adam M. "Running the Robed Gauntlet: Southern State Courts’ Interpretation of the

Emancipation Proclamation." American Journal of Legal History 57.4 (2017): 556-584.