You Will Recall That in Chapter 16, the South and the Slavery

Essay

You will recall that in Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy, 1793-1860, abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass argued that a higher law than the Constitution demanded the immediate end of slavery across America, which they termed an "evil institution." Do you believe that there is a higher law than the Constitution? If so, would the expansion or the maintained legal status of slavery qualify as prompting antislavery statesman to invoke a higher law than the Constitution during this era of American history? Why did some prominent statesmen of that era such as John Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster find this concept of a higher law than the Constitution dangerous to republican government? Do you share their republican and constitutional fears about politicians adhering to a "higher law" over vexing political issues such as slavery?