Opposition To Slavery

As agriculture began to grow and indentured servant numbers declining, there was a need for a new labor force in the colonies. The Atlantic Slave Trade brought African slaves to the colonies. Slavery was mainly used in the Southern colonies since their main focus was agriculture, were crops such as tobacco needed to be worked. During the American Revolution, while the Colonies were fighting for their independence from England; the question of morality of slavery arose. This lead to the 1st significant opposition to slavery developed by the Quakers who called for equality among all men. The Constitutional Conventions brought forth two plans, the Virginia Plan(South) and the New Jersey(North). The Virginia Plan called for delegate numbers to be based in population since slaves were a majority of the population in the South, and the New Jersey Plan called for equal
When Missouri wanted to enter in the US as a slave state, the Missouri Comprise was reformed to keep the balance. It stated that is Missouri entered as a slave state, then Maine had to become a free state and any Louisiana Purchase territory had to prohibit slavery. Soon after California sparked a nationwide crisis in 1850 when it petitioned to join the US as a free state, because there was a threat to the balance of power. Stephen Douglas developed the Compromise of 1850. It stated that territories won in the Mexican- American War could now vote on whether to be a slave or free state, California would enter as a Free State, slave trade was eliminated in DC, and Fugitive Slave Act was added, which said Sheriffs could use bystanders, including abolitionists to help capture fugitive slaves. Stephen Douglas wrote the Kansas- Nebraska Act, this act would invalidate the Missouri Compromise. Douglas wanted the people of the territories to decide whether or not to be a free or slave