tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post5242066734557729628..comments2024-02-23T11:23:45.971-05:00Comments on Lost Motorcyclist: The Connection Between Abolitionists and the War of 1812Lost Motorcyclisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08873504561959138792noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2156536327610779049.post-71345141117270999252010-04-24T08:57:09.178-04:002010-04-24T08:57:09.178-04:00In the lead-up to the War of 1812 we can see sympt...In the lead-up to the War of 1812 we can see symptoms of the North-South divisions that would haunt the U.S. for the next two centuries.<br /><br />The 'War Hawks' agitating for declaration of war on Britain were predominantly Southerners, with the states closest to Canada generally resistant to the war.<br /><br />The New England economy was, even then, more involved in trade and finance, and the Southern states based on 'plantation' economics - with its heavy dependence on slave labour.<br /><br />But the slave trade was already a contentious issue as early as the time of drafting of the U.S. Constitution. In fact, Section 9 of <a href="http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei" rel="nofollow">Article I</a> of the Constitution barred Congress from any action on the slave trade before 1808. At that point the <a href="http://abolition.nypl.org/content/docs/text/Act_of_1807.pdf" rel="nofollow">Act of 1807</a> was enacted, outlawing the <i>importation</i> of slaves.<br /><br />The Act, of course, did not affect the status of slaves already in the U.S. and internal trading in slaves continued for decades and additional slaves were smuggled in overland through Texas and Florida.<br /><br />However, in perspective, I expect that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressment#Conflict_with_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">impressment</a> was a much more significant issue to most Americans than the slave trade.Madeyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02593933575568389288noreply@blogger.com