Book contents
- The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution
- Cambridge Studies on the American Constitution
- The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Constitutional Imaginaries of the Missouri Crisis
- 2 The Declaration of Independence and Black Citizenship in the 1820s
- 3 Abolitionism and the Constitution in the 1830s
- 4 The Slaveholding South and the Constitutionalization of Slavery
- 5 Theories of the Federal Compact in the 1830s
- 6 Slavery, the District of Columbia, and the Constitution
- 7 The Congressional Crisis of 1836
- 8 The Compact and the Election of 1836
- 9 The Afterlife of the Compact of 1836
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - The Compact and the Election of 1836
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2020
- The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution
- Cambridge Studies on the American Constitution
- The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Constitutional Imaginaries of the Missouri Crisis
- 2 The Declaration of Independence and Black Citizenship in the 1820s
- 3 Abolitionism and the Constitution in the 1830s
- 4 The Slaveholding South and the Constitutionalization of Slavery
- 5 Theories of the Federal Compact in the 1830s
- 6 Slavery, the District of Columbia, and the Constitution
- 7 The Congressional Crisis of 1836
- 8 The Compact and the Election of 1836
- 9 The Afterlife of the Compact of 1836
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the emergence of the question of abolition within the District of Columbia in the presidential campaign of 1836. Over the course of the presidential campaign, Martin Van Buren sought to hone his position on the question of abolition in the District in response to the pressures he faced from southern Whigs. From an early position that abolition in the District would be inexpedient or impolitic, Van Buren shifted by his inaugural address to the position that such action was counter to “the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the republic,” while through campaign materials, public meetings, and official addresses, the Democrats developed the view that abolitionist activity aimed at altering the extant inter-State settlement on slavery was counter to the “spirit of deference, conciliation and mutual forbearance” that underwrote the federal compact. This approach enabled Van Buren and the Democrats to successfully navigate the 1836 election, but it also legitimized an appeal to spirit as a method of resolving constitutional disputes that had significant longer-term effects.
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- The Antebellum Origins of the Modern ConstitutionSlavery and the Spirit of the American Founding, pp. 187 - 213Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020