How was the "Peculiar Institution" of slavery affecting American politics? Why would these changes be so important moving forward?

In 1808, prohibition of importation of slaves into America took effect. This however was not the end of slavery in the United states. Slavery continued to thrive particularly in the South and was a source of labor in the plantations. The North wanted slavery abolished and as the United states gained new territories and states, the issue of slavery became a divisive agenda in American politics with both the North and the South seeking to advance their ideologies.

Beginning the year 1820 up until the year 1860, congress had to come up with compromises to 'keep the peace' between the abolitionists in the North and the pro slavery advocates in the South.

The Missouri compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state into the union and Maine as a free state in order to keep the power balance between the free states and the slave states.

This compromise also banned slavery in the Louisiana regions North of the 36° 30´ latitude line.

In 1850, after the United states acquired new regions from Mexico after the end of the Mexican-American war, the question of slavery resurfaced. This resulted in the Compromise of 1850.

The Compromise admitted California as a free state and the regions of Utah and New Mexico got no federal restrictions in regards to slavery.

Slave trade was prohibited in the district of Columbia, present day Washington DC but slave holding within the district continued.

The fugitive slave law was passed and required the North to capture and return escaped slaves.

This law generated a lot of friction between the North and the South and the North started passing personal liberty laws to provide legal assistance to escaped slaves like providing for jury trials. In some cases, the slaves were provided with attorneys to fight their cases.

In 1854, congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska act which left the decision regarding slavery to the two territories and they would decide by popular sovereignty. This required a popular vote to decide if the regions would allow slavery or not before applying for statehood. Following this decision, pro slavery Missourians moved into Kansas as well as abolitionists in an effort to influence the popular vote. This sparked violent conflicts which left death and destruction in Kansas giving it the name, Bleeding Kansas. This violence carried on and spilled over into the civil war.

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 was also a dynamic in the politics of slavery. The supreme court denied Scott his freedom and ruled that African Americans, free or enslaved were not American citizens and had no right to petition the supreme court. The decision also declared the Missouri compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. It established that congress had no power to restrict slavery.

This decision deepened the divide between the North and the South over slavery and after a republican candidate was elected president in 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the union.

Southerners viewed the election of a republican as a threat to the institution of slavery which they largely dependent on in their agriculture sector. Lincoln had vowed to restrict slavery and this did not sit well with the south.

More southern states seceded forming Confederate States of America led by president Jefferson Davis.

Secession led to the civil war which was fought until 1865, ending with a win for the union army and the abolition of slavery through the 13th amendment.

Slavery divided the union and plunged it into the bloodiest conflict in American History with over 600000 deaths but at the end, the institution was abolished free more that four million slaves. The legacy of slavery continued to shape American politics through out the reconstruction era with southern states enacting black codes to restrict African Americans and other organizations like the Ku Klux Klan adopting a more violent approach to intimidate freed slaves and politicians who supported their cause.

The legacy continued to influence American Politics after reconstruction failed and segregation was enforced in the southern states.

This inspired the Civil rights movement from the 1950s and up to this day, the fight for equal protection under the laws continues in America as seen in the Black Lives Matter Movement and it continues to shape American politics.