Union in Crisis
Senate Simulation Activity: Louisiana Purchase
The year is 1819. You are the honourable members of the United States Senate, the most
respected institution in the nation. Your task is to maintain national unity during these
difficult times. Your country has just survived the War of 1812, but not without a
separatist threat from the people of New England and New York under that dreadful
traitor, Aaron Burr. Now you have learned that a new dispute is emerging between the
North and the South over the Louisiana Purchase. Extremists from the North and the
South are determined to promote their opinions at the expense of the Union. Forces on
both sides are considering using violence to promote their cause.
In your particular groups, you are expected to become familiar with your faction’s point
of view and debate it vigorously in the Senate. You are convinced that your position is
the best one for the country in order to build a stronger union, but you must be open to
suggestions from the other factions.
Here are the four problems under discussion:
Problem # 1
The Founding Fathers believed that slavery would probably die off within 50 years. The
slave trade ended ten years ago in 1808 as laid out in the constitution. The invention of
the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, however, has now made slavery a very profitable business
again. What should be done about the institution of slavery?
Problem # 2
The territory of Missouri is the first region of the Louisiana Purchase to host more than
60 000 inhabitants and it is requesting admission to the Union as a slave state. The
Senate has always maintained an equal balance of representation between free and slave
states: Missouri would tilt the balance in favour of the slave states. Still, the United
States has always admitted territories to the rank of statehood once they met the
population requirement of 60 000.
Problem #3
Massachusetts, a northern free state is willing to consider admitting Missouri as a state if
it can divide into two separate states (the northern section of Maine has over 60 000
people): an action that is expressly forbidden by the constitution. Should this proposal
be considered?
Problem #4
Even if Missouri can be admitted as a slave state, what will be done with the remaining
territories fo the Louisiana Purchase? Should the remaining territories of the Louisiana
Purchase be open to slavery or not? Or should a boundary be established within the
territory permitting slavery in a certain portion of these lands?
Northern Abolitionist Faction
AS a God-fearing northerner, you are unwilling to give any territory over to the
institution of plantation slavery. You are convinced that slavery is an immoral cancer
eating away at the body of a democratic America. After all, how can the United States
claim to be democratic yet allow for slavery? In your opinion, the Missouri territory and
all fo Louisiana should be closed to this evil institution. Nevertheless, you understand
that the survival of the Union is threatened by your hard-line position.
Northern Democratic Faction
You believe yourselves to be the saviours of the Union. In your opinion, the abolitionists
are a bunch of religious fanatics bent on destroying the United States over the issue of
ending slavery- a question that will settle itself in due time as southerners come to see
that slavery is destined to disappear (as it already has in France and Britain). For you, the
need to make a deal with the South means saving the greatest nation on Earth. In
addition, a deal will keep the northern textile mills well-stocked with southern cotton,
which will help create factory jobs and prosperity for all.
Southern Fire Eaters:
You believe it si only right and fair that the new lands of the Louisiana Purchase are
opened up completely to slavery. After all, you are taxpayers and your tax dollars helped
to pay for this massive addition to the size of the United States. For you, the constitution
protects the citizens’ free right to property anywhere in the Union, so slaves should be
allowed in this territory without restriction. No one in the North has the right to deny you
your rights to own property, and the constitution recognizes slavery as a form of property
ownership.
Southern Democratic Faction:
You are the proud delegates from the South. You are good friends with a number of
northern democratic senators. In addition, you also have friends among the Southern Fire
Eaters. You believe that no one has the right to meddle with the Southern way of life,
especially northerners. You understand that in the South, the plantation economy
requires fresh new lands to grow tobacco, sugar, and cotton to stay profitable due to rapid
soil exhaustion in older settlements. However, you believe that above all, there is room
in the Senate to negotiate a friendly agreement among all reasonable people. Some of the
South’s best customers for cotton are northern merchants. It is in your business interest
to keep your relationship with northerners on good terms.