The increase in Northern states with some kind of emancipation combined with their belief the Constitution condemned slavery, led to the growing opposition to slavery. The United States was very divided regarding the topic of slavery, and so the discussions of how to handle it were deferred for the first decades of existence; however, that only led to the issue intensifying. The issue of when to discuss slavery on a national level was heavily disputed and even lead to the passing of the gag rule, a law stating that abolition of slavery would not be discussed until 844, in 836. Document four highlights how people even attempted to appeal to various groups like southern Christian women. Angelina Grimké shared her perspective on slavery and how Christian women should try to get their families to send petitions against slavery to legislatures with a humanitarian appeal about the quality of life for slaves.
The Second Great Awakening was occurring while Gri
mké shared her beliefs, and so aspects of the way people spoke to invigorate a crowd is evident in her appeal, especially in the last sentence of the document. Despite her urging people to send petitions to legislatures, the gag rule was passed in the same year as Grimkés appeal, highlighting that no matter how deeply devoted someone was to the cause, nothing would happen for a few years. Years later, in 850, John C. Calhoun, a United States pro-slavery senator and former vice president, addressed the United States Senate sharing how he believed the nation would split because of slavery. In document six, Calhoun shares that the political parties have failed to prevent the United States from having a huge divide over slavery and that the nation is in danger because of it. Despite numerous appeals, emancipation in some states, and abolitionist propaganda, the South was unwilling to compromise which further strengthened the growing opposition to slavery.