the was not to end slavery but rather to defend slaves
This is a long question please rephrase it.
Well in the 1850's was a significant time where slavery occurs. As you probably know slavery was terrible on so many levels. Becuase of the different opinions on slavery their political values changed., Some values thought that slavery was okay while the other fought against it saying that slavery should end. Different sections such as Indiana and Illinois has strong opinions to keep slavery including the south when the rest of America did not feel so strongly.
The Enlightenment
a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent exponents include Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith.
The intellectual revolution of the eighteenth century in which the philosophes stressed reason, natural law, and progress in their criticism of prevailing social injustices.
principles of Enlightenment
Reason, nature, happiness, progress, and liberty.