American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American history - Essay Example Industrialization left the northern states of the Union developed and the south was still operating under the agrarian practices, which had existed prior to the formation of the United States. The arguments of slavery address the fundamental questions, which are whether slaves are regarded as people or property, the view of states’ rights vs. federal rights, and the impact of sociology and religion in politics. The question of the rights of states and slavery started to begin as Manifest Destiny began to take place. The United States was becoming an established world power and was expanding west. As a result, the original thirteen colonies were growing. Some of these new territories were taken through purchases with foreign nations and some were the result of wars. The Compromise of 1850 dealt with the future of slave states versus those in the Union. In the compromise, there were specific territorial and financial compensations which were given in order to prevent the worst, but what would become an inevitable action: cessation of the southern slave states (Boyer, Clark, Hawley, Kett, & Rieserm 2010) The biggest debate, which was invoked, was over the debate of whether slaves were regarded as people or property. Seward argued on the behalf of natural law and the laws that were passed down by God.