The Death of Compromise in 19th Century America

Throughout the 1800’s many compromises were created with the intent of pulling two nations together to from a more perfect government. The North and the South have different views that created many conflicts between the two parties. Congress continued to address controversial matters with compromises that only benefitted one side or the other and not both. These compromises affected the North and the South; however they started to drastically worsen because both sides had economic, social, and political differences.

The North and South in the nineteenth century were different in lifestyle and morale as well as economy. The north had a booming industrial economy while in the South, cotton was king. Because of this, congress was continuously addressing controversial matters and providing answers that did not satisfy either one side or both. The early 1800s were full of the North and the South making many attempts at reconciliation that just fell short. Among those were the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Great Compromise of 1850. Other tempestuous attempts led to the Tariff/Nullification Controversy, anti slavery debates in congress, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Whether it was one side or the other, there was always someone to oppose - and in some

As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).

During the period of 1820-1861 the north and south debated on issues that dealt with slavery and unbalance power, in order to reduce sectional tension between these two states, the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were proposed.

In the beginning of the 19th century, slavery started to be debated and whether we should make it illegal. South of the nation absolutely despised the idea and wanted nothing to do with it. This soared a major dispute between the North and the South. One region wanted something and one wanted another. At a point, it was total chaos. It was then decided that Henry Clay needed to do something about it and of course proposed the Compromise of 1850.

As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their

During the years of 1820-1860, the United States split into Northern and Southern factions. Each side held completely opposing viewpoints on issues affecting the nation. Compromise was made almost impossible by 1860 due to disagreement over states rights. Eventually, a breakdown of trust between both parties on each side that led to a collapse of compromise due to one of an important main issue, slavery. American citizens, despite constant thoughts of compromise, could not resolve their political disputes. Through conflicts towards the issue of slavery to saving the Union itself, their disputes refused any intention of compromise and would eventually lead to the start of the Civil War.

A compromise is an agreement made by two sides each making concessions. The compromises of the nineteenth century were ultimately perfidies. The North had constantly given into the South’s desires. Although the North was able to give the South what they requested, this eventually led to the secession of the South. Two main compromises that lead the South to gain more power included the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Tariff of 1833 due to the North and South’s dispute on slavery since the framing of the constitution.

The Political Disputes of 1820-1860 compromised and then broke down.In the 1800’s slavery was the main conflict between the states. The compromise began to break down when slavery began in the North and the South. The Anti-Slavery Convention report that an American citizen who owns a human being into involuntary and is forced to be his property is a Man Stealer, which means immoral people. (Doc.B) Senator Henry Clay said that it is impossible that South Carolina ever desired a moment to become a separate and independent state.(Doc.A). Senator Daniel Webster’s Judgment is that the South is right and the North is wrong.(Doc.C). Georgia thinks all northern, and especially the New England, states are devoid of society fitted for well-bred Southern gentlemen.(Doc.E) Abraham Lincoln ambitious Northern politicians. (Doc.F) Henry Clay, National

During the 1820’s, disagreement and other conflicts between the North and South had grown to such a high that compromise was needed to sort out their problems. Many of these disagreements flourished from unfair amounts of North to South representatives in Congress and which territories should be a slave state once new land had been acquired. Up until about 1850, compromise had been the key way of free and slave states staying united, but when most recent compromise (Compromise of 1850) failed, the South seceded. After this succession, America entered the bloodiest war of all prior and after.

During the 1850s, there were unresolved issues within political parties. The decade saw the fall of one of the two major parties, The Whigs, a half of the other, The Democrats, and the making of a new party, The Republicans. The Compromise of 1850, helped by the Breakdown of the Party System, triggered other important events, Bleeding Kansas and the Fugitive Slave Law. These helped to further the strife between North and South during the 1850s, but all carry one main issue within them: slavery.

From the very beginning of the United States there was disagreement and compromise. From whether they should revolt against England to who should lead the country. From its onset, the country was destined for disagreement and compromise as it is governed by a democracy. This system lends itself to compromise as not everyone can get their way. With compromise there are situations where no one wins, as the compromise does more harm than good. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 is an example of both sides believing they got what they wanted but looking back it was a compromise that benefitted no one. It is crucial to understand and learn from the past to ensure the same mistakes are not made twice. To understand the Missouri Compromise, one must

In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).

The freedom of America’s slaves has always been accredited to Abraham Lincoln, but he was not always the complete abolitionist as he is commonly portrayed. The “house divided”, as Lincoln depicts it in his famous ‘House Divided’ speech, of the United States during the Civil War, was not always lead towards the freedom of all mankind, and there is sufficient evidence to support this claim. The sixteenth president is most commonly remembered for inducing the courage and determination to end the Civil War, with the Emancipation Proclamation, although when it more closely studied he did not cross the great divide of enslavement vs. freedom with the submittal of that fabled document. When following the many famous quotes and speeches of Lincoln’s life, it appears that he was against all slavery and bondage. Although when they are more closely examined, the quotes and speeches actually leaned towards his lack of strong opinion on the outcome of slavery. Lincoln is perceived as the most famous revolutionary of American history, but he does not live up to his legacy of being the eradicator of forced servitude.

In American history, every event and person plays a part in the future. For example, rich plantation owners helped America advance their economy. However, that would not have been at all possible without the help of their slaves. The time and institution of slavery is a time of historical remembrance. It played a primary role during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The treatment, labor conditions, and personal stories of these slaves’ treatment and labor conditions are all widely discussed around the world to this day.