Missouri Compromise Dbq
The collection of documents about the Missouri Compromise in 1820 offer a rare insight into the significance of the changes to American society in the first part of the 19th century.
• How did Thomas Jefferson understand the debate over Missouri and slavery? What, in his opinion, was the significance of the controversy? o What was his opinion of the resolution to the controversy?
Thomas Jefferson understood the debate over Missouri and slavery as a “momentous question” (Jefferson). Jefferson uses this passage in my opinion to describe what he thinks of slavery and the significance of the controversy. Jefferson notes “I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a …show more content…
the direction the United States took in the mid 19th century?
It appears that Jefferson celebrated the Founding Fathers and what they provided the Union. As Jefferson noted “I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves, by the generation of ’76, to acquire self government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it. If they would but dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away against an abstract principle more likely to be effected by union than by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicide on themselves and of treason against the hopes of the world” (Jefferson). This passage also shows Jefferson’s view of the 19th century and it appears to be one of worry. As the line “weigh the blessings they will throw away” (Jefferson). I think Jefferson is saying that people of the 19th century are too rash and unfit for self
• How did Thomas Jefferson understand the debate over Missouri and slavery? What, in his opinion, was the significance of the controversy? o What was his opinion of the resolution to the controversy?
Thomas Jefferson understood the debate over Missouri and slavery as a “momentous question” (Jefferson). Jefferson uses this passage in my opinion to describe what he thinks of slavery and the significance of the controversy. Jefferson notes “I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a …show more content…
the direction the United States took in the mid 19th century?
It appears that Jefferson celebrated the Founding Fathers and what they provided the Union. As Jefferson noted “I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves, by the generation of ’76, to acquire self government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it. If they would but dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away against an abstract principle more likely to be effected by union than by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicide on themselves and of treason against the hopes of the world” (Jefferson). This passage also shows Jefferson’s view of the 19th century and it appears to be one of worry. As the line “weigh the blessings they will throw away” (Jefferson). I think Jefferson is saying that people of the 19th century are too rash and unfit for self