The document explores the tensions in the United States leading up to the Civil War, focusing on the crisis in discourse regarding slavery and its constitutional implications. It examines the conflicting arguments about citizenship and fundamental rights, highlighting how differing perspectives on liberty, freedom, and equality became increasingly incompatible. This ideological divide ultimately contributed to the onset of the Civil War.

1. -Prior to the Civil War, how did the (dominant) discourse over
the United States’ future reach a crisis point? What were the
arguments regarding the Constitutionality of slavery and notions
of citizenship? How did relative definitions of
liberty/freedom/equality become irreconcilable?