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Difficulty: MediumIdeological and Legal Debates over Slavery

"Slavery is local and sectional; but freedom is national and universal. The Constitution nowhere recognizes property in man. It belongs to the States, within their own borders, to maintain or abolish it; but the Federal Government has no authority to extend or protect it outside those state limits. When the Federal Government attempts to enforce the return of escaping persons under the Fugitive Slave Act, it violates the fundamental principles of liberty upon which our Union was founded."
— Adapted from Charles Sumner, "Freedom National, Slavery Sectional" speech, 1852

Which of the following constitutional arguments best aligns with the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The Constitution established popular sovereignty, granting the federal executive branch the direct power to decide the slave status of new territories.
  2. B
    Sectional resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act was primarily driven by economic disputes over federal tariffs rather than debates over the expansion of slavery.
  3. The federal government lacked the constitutional authority to protect or enforce slavery outside the borders of the individual states where it was established.Answer
  4. D
    The legal obligations of enslaved laborers under federal law were identical to those of northern indentured servants under private contract.

Answer

The correct answer states that the federal government lacked the constitutional authority to protect or enforce slavery outside the borders of the individual states where it was established.
The correct answer is correct because opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act, like Charles Sumner, argued that the Constitution did not recognize property in humans and that slavery was purely a state-level institution ('local and sectional'). Therefore, they believed the federal government had no authority to extend or enforce it in free states or federal territories, making freedom the national default.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the source text to identify the author's primary argument.
Sumner asserts that slavery is local and sectional, meaning it is a creation of state law, whereas freedom is national and universal under the Constitution.
This establishes the core constitutional claim being made in the excerpt.
2
Relate the argument to the broader historical debate of the 1850s regarding federal power.
Free-soil advocates and abolitionists used this logic to argue that the federal government could not constitutionally support slavery in free states or federal territories.
This links the specific text to general historical and legal concepts tested in the curriculum.
3
Evaluate the options to identify which one accurately describes this limitation of federal power.
The statement about the federal government lacking the authority to protect or enforce slavery outside state borders perfectly aligns with the excerpt.
This isolates the correct choice based on direct textual analysis and historical context.

Key Concept

Constitutional and legal debates over the expansion of slavery and federal power in the antebellum period.
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Topics

Ideological and Legal Debates over Slavery

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