The economic and political issues
raised by having an imbalance between free and slave states
were:
- Free states wanted to protect the
white labors, they feared the introduction of slavery would degrade
the life of white labors as they would be paid less and would be
stigmatized as little above the slaves. Thus, they wanted to
protect the interests of the white labors. On the other hand Slave
states wanted to retain slavery because it was profitable to them,
and they considered their slaves to be their property, hence, they
wanted the right to freely relocate their property. This difference
widened the gap between the free and slave state.
- Politically both the states feared
if one had upper hand or dominance then the other would be
suppressed. The free states believed that permitting slavery would
risk their political power in the Congress, and slave state feared
the dominance of free states, as they could ban slavery if they
became powerful.
The imbalance between free and slave
states created tensions on both sides that harmed the national
unity, it made compromise a near impossibility. This hindered the
progress and development of the country and shattered the aim of a
unified, democratic republic.