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Difficulty: MediumIdeological and Legal Debates over Slavery

"I hear with distress and anguish the word 'secession,' especially when it falls from the lips of those who are patriotic... Secession! Peaceable secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. The dismemberment of this vast country without convulsion! The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep without ruffling the surface! Who is so foolish, I close my eyes of this day, as to expect that this Union can be demolished by a peaceable secession? ...

Then, Sir, there are the complaints of the South... about the failure of the North to perform its constitutional obligations in regard to the return of runaway slaves. I think that the North has been in the wrong here. It has not felt the gravity of the constitutional obligation. The Constitution of the United States says, in the most distinct manner, that persons bound to service in one State, escaping into another, 'shall be delivered up.' ... I say that the South is right in this complaint, and the North is wrong."

— Senator Daniel Webster, speech to the United States Senate, March 7, 1850

Which of the following best describes the primary political strategy advocated by the speaker in the excerpt to address sectional tensions?

  1. Prioritizing the preservation of the constitutional Union by enforcing federal concessions to Southern slaveholders.Answer
  2. B
    Focusing political debates on resolving import tariff disagreements rather than addressing the legal status of slavery.
  3. C
    Promoting the doctrine of popular sovereignty to allow local voters in the territories to decide the legal status of fugitive slaves.
  4. D
    Equating the legal status of escaping enslaved laborers to that of European indentured servants under colonial contracts.

Answer

Prioritizing the preservation of the constitutional Union by enforcing federal concessions to Southern slaveholders.
The correct answer identifies that Daniel Webster sought to preserve the Union above all else. In his speech, he advocated for Northern compliance with the Fugitive Slave Law as a necessary constitutional compromise to satisfy the South and prevent secession.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the historical context and speaker.
The excerpt is from Daniel Webster's 'Seventh of March' speech in 1850, during the height of the sectional crisis over territories acquired in the Mexican-American War.
This establishes the historical environment and the main objective of the debates (Compromise of 1850).
2
Analyze the speaker's main argument in the text.
Webster strongly warns against the possibility of 'peaceable secession' and admits that the North is constitutionally in the wrong for failing to return escaped slaves.
This reveals that the speaker's focus is on saving the Union from collapse by addressing Southern grievances regarding fugitive slaves.
3
Evaluate the political strategy being advocated.
The strategy is to maintain unionist cohesion by enforcing the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution, which served as a major concession to Southern interests.
This allows for matching the core theme of the speech with the correct option.

Key Concept

Compromise of 1850 and the debate over the Fugitive Slave Law
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Ideological and Legal Debates over Slavery

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