…. They form great improvements upon the old constitution. S…
…. They form great improvements upon the old constitution. So, taking the whole new…. Another feature to which I will allude is that the new constitution provides that cabinet ministers and heads of departments may have the privilege of seats upon the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives and may have the right to participate in the debates and discussions upon the various subjects of administration. Another change in the constitution relates to the length of the tenure of the presidential office. In the new constitution it is six constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment that it is decidedly better than the old. Allow me briefly to allude to some of these improvements…. We allow the imposition of no duty with a view of giving advantage to one class of persons, in any trade or business, over those of another. All, under our system, stand upon the same broad principles of perfect equality. Honest labor and enterprise are left free and unrestricted in whatever pursuit they may be engaged. This old thorn of the tariff, which was the cause of so much irritation in the old body politic, is removed forever from the new. Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. The power, claimed by construction under the old constitution, was at least a doubtful one; it rested solely upon construction. We of the South, generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise upon grounds of its inexpediency and injustice. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions of money, from the common treasury had been drawn for such purposes. Our opposition sprang from no hostility to commerce, or to all necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it was simply a question upon whom the burden should fall. In Georgia, for instance, we have done as much for the cause of internal improvements as any other portion of the country. years instead of four, and the President rendered ineligible for a re-election …. Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal. Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861 Savannah, GA Under the Confederate Constitution, per Alexander Stephens, which of the following was NOT an “improvement” made by the new government?
Read Details“The normal condition of all the territory of the United Sta…
“The normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom. That as our Republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national [western] territory, ordained that ‘no person should be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law,’ it becomes our duty by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, orof any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.” — Republican Party platform, 1860 Which of the following best serves as evidence for the claim that “our Republican fathers . . . had abolished slavery in all our national territory”?
Read Details“The expansion of the South [from 1800 to 1850] across the A…
“The expansion of the South [from 1800 to 1850] across the Appalachians and the Mississippi River to the fringes of the high plains was one of the great American folk wanderings. Motivated by the longing for fresh and cheap land,… Southerners completed their occupation of a region as large as western Europe. Despitethe variety of the land, . . . the settlers of the Southwest had certain broad similarities. They might be farmers large or small, but most farmed or lived by serving the needs of farmers. . . . Not all owned or ever would own slaves, but most accepted slavery as a mode of holding and creating wealth.” — Albert E. Cowdrey, historian, This Land, This South: An Environmental History, 1983 Which of the following was the most significant impact of the South’s expansion described in the excerpt?
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