Edward Stewart: From Popular Sovereignty to Equality of More Equal
Edward Stewart was a typical representative of American middle-income class. He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1805 and decided to be a lawyer just as his father, a Scottish immigrant. Well-educated and ambitious Edward desired to be a part of American elite. Main vectors in life were American Dream with its appealing possibility to achieve everything you want with hard work and Monroe Doctrine stating that I am American and I don`t want to bother others and instead I also require others not to bother me. Puritan ethics and ideals of democracy and freedom in America brought up from childhood were contradicting with evidence of slavery in South of United States in his mind.
1820s and 1830s were an epoch of Americans` struggle to build first absolute democratic state with equality, rule of law, justice and despite all before mentioned slavery. Missouri Compromise passed on 16th US Congress in 1820 was a first crucial decision that divided country and people. Edward supported that compromise because he thought that America was not able at that moment to abolish slavery and that should be a smooth transition after some moment in the future. In the beginning of 1830s Edward started his lawyer career as a lawyer at local court in Chicago.
1840s began with increasing desire of Americans to conquer Wild West and spread their influence. Explosion of Mexican-American War and further unification of Texas with US in 1848 was a tough question for Edward. He was supporting Manifest Destiny and believed in Americans` duty to establish a democratic country that will cover territories from Atlantic till Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, Edward was anxious about slavery expansion towards Texas and other new states. He was not radical supporter of slavery abolition and thought that it will be enough if American government just won`t allow slavery to be imposed in new states and territories, consequently after a while slavery South will extinct because of its own discrepancy and low economic productivity combined with uncompetitiveness.
Edward was against Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and whole Second Party System during 1850-1858 because it was not a solution to the problem. As a lawyer he knew that popular sovereignty was an ally of plantation owners because slaves couldn`t vote for their freedom, thus popular sovereignty in fact meant that new state will adopt slavery in majority of cases. Such system couldn`t be permanent and peak of crisis period was interrelated with Dred Scott case of 1857. Declaration of Independence in 1776 proclaimed that all people are equal but that was only written on paper. Real “justice” was taking place in court where Dred Scott who were a slave moved to northern state with his owner but who were not allowed to become free because slaves can`t be American citizens. Edward was shocked, though all progressive elite was. From that moment he realized that slavery is like a disease which should be overcome totally because any other …
