Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
The North didn't care much about slavery at the time. They were more concerned about forming the union and creating good deals on shipping and trade (which they got in return for the fugitive slave act). The South is the one that threatened to walk out anytime the topic of slavery being banned was brought up.
The Senate (along with the electoral collage) was the firewall to protecting slavery in this country. It's why there were threats of secession whenever talk of a new state being added as free was brought up. The idea that the Senate has anything to do with protecting rights of people is just flat wrong.
|
This makes no sense. If the North didn't care about slavery at the time of the Constiutional Convention (and I agree, they didn't), who was gunning after slavery so hard that a compromise creating the Senate was required? The answer is no one. Slavery didn't have anything to do with the creation of the Senate, not in any foundational or causal way.
The North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and to an extent, Maryland, pretty much did whatever Virginia wanted. The Northern states, in particular, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts were their own kinda fiefdoms with their own goals. Virginia was claiming the entire Ohio Valley as its own, even the parts west of Pennsylvania (the northerly exrension of West Virginia, once part of Virginia, is a symptom of that claim). Virginia was home to many of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the colonies, had the largest population and claimed the most land.
So the Northern states objected to a Congress based entirely on population, which they saw as furthering Virginia's power (and that of Virginia's voting bloc). Slavery was primarily discussed when it came.to the representation, as Virginia wanted its slaves to count against the population (whoch resulted in the 3-5ths compromise).
Similarly, smaller states like Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland were wary of all of more populous states like Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and .Massachusetts for the same reasons, and also wanted rhe Senate for reasons even beyond just limiting Virginia's power.
That is how we ended up with a bicameral legislation. Slavery was at best peripheral to its inception and design.