The Missouri Compromise Essay

Document C written by Hilton Helper, a well known political writer from North Carolina, explains why southerners want to move westward, which is to expand and advance and prove that they’re not dependent of the north. Due to the different beliefs of the north and the south, each party felt as if the other would take over, especially the north. The northerners feared the southerners would push its peculiar institution on the entire union. Soon territories wanted to become states starting with Missouri. Once Missouri made this big step, it threatened the balance of the Slave and Free states. So to control the situation the constitution created the Missouri Compromise, which let Missouri enter the union as a slave state with the addition of Maine as a free state. This only created the periodicity use of compromise, which only kept sweeping the situation under the rug. Once this was over the United States went into war with Mexico due to a dispute over Texas and its western territories. There would’ve been a law passed for the dispute, but there were some unfair ideas involved so they threw it away, yet only to return it for revision when California wanted to join statehood. The revision was soon named the Compromise of 1850 and it reshaped the Fugitive Slave Act requiring northerners to capture slaves, and this caused uproar. The conflict simmered up once again when two huge territories were up for consideration, Nebraska and Kansas. Southerners were against it due to the Missouri compromise, which would have the states enter as Free States. The constitution tried to balance the situation by creating the Kansas-Nebraska Act; however it repealed the Missouri Compromise. In document J’s note it explained how the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and how those who were moving there would have to vote. Tension between the Sympathizers and the abolitionist were created when

The reason it divided the nation was the Southern politicians objected to the new territories entering the Union as Free states, and felt like they were not being heard on their sides of the issue, in return the South decided to secede from the Union. War with Mexico added new territories to the Southwest, slavery expanding became more serious than ever. Henry Clay made a series of compromises in an effort to fix the space between the north and south states. Congress eventually passed the Compromise of 1850. This Compromise added California to the Union as a free state, allowed the territories of New Mexico and Utah to decide the slavery issue for themselves. The Kansas-Nebraska Act granted residents of these territories “popular sovereignty,”.

The Compromise of 1850, as it was called, was a bundle of legislation that everyone could agree on. First, congressmen agreed that California would be admitted to the Union as a free state (Utah was not admitted because the Mormons refused to give up the practice of polygamy). The fate of slavery in the other territories, though, would be determined by popular sovereignty. Next, the slave trade (though not slavery itself) was banned in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Texas had to give up some of its land to form the New Mexican territory in exchange for a cancellation of debts owed to the federal government. Finally, Congress agreed to pass a newer and tougher Fugitive Slave Act to enforce the return of escaped slaves to the South.

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.

This stayed true, until the forming of California came into discussion. California demanded to keep its long borders, due to the oil, which was blocked by the Sierra Nevada, of the Rocky Mountains (OI). Congress would allow California to keep its unusual shape, but the Missouri Compromise’s lateral line went through the middle of California and gave Henry Clay an idea of a new compromise (OI). The Compromise of 1850 was relief for the nation (Doc. 3). Its provisions included Utah and New Mexico territories being decided if they were free or slave states by popular sovereignty (Doc. 3). California would enter the Union as a free state, border disputes between New Mexico and Texas was settled and slave trade, but not slavery, was banned in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. (Doc. 3). One other decree was enacting the Fugitive Slave Law, which meant that escaped slaves in the North would be returned to their owner, and even Northerners were required to help find escapees (Doc. 3). If people were found to have been harboring slaves, they were faced with either a $1,000 fine or 6 months in prison

    The Compromise of 1850 was originally meant to bring peace to the North and South, but instead caused more tension between the two, very different regions. The plan, crafted by Henry Clay, and split into separate bills by Stephen A. Douglas would please the North that California would become a free state. It would also outlaw the slave trade in Washington D.C. For the South, Congress would not pass laws that had to do with slavery for the remaining territories won in the Mexican-American War. Congress would

During the nineteenth century, America was facing internal conflicts. Both the South and North had many disagreements with each other, but they tried to make many compromises. By 1860, the possibility of compromises was no longer an option, and the United States was pushed into war within itself. One of the first times that the North and the South tried to make compromise was during the Missouri Compromise in 1819 to 1821.

The Compromise of 1850 played an enormous event in the history of the United States. This compromise disabled an on-going political conflict between free and slave states. This conflict began during the Mexican-American war of 1846 and it regarded the amount of territories obtained. The Compromise of 1850 delayed the Civil War by establishing the Fugitive Slave Act, separating Texas Territory, banning slave trade in D.C., admitting California as a free state, and also by installing popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession. The Compromise of 1850 was extremely necessary because there needed to be changes in order to correct the Missouri-Compromise of 1820. Although the Compromise of 1850 is considered a failure, it had good intentions with a few waves of bad luck.

The South was glad that they won over the votes and that Kansas would remain as a slave state. The South was also happy that they won over President Pierce, who chose their form of government. The Kansas- Nebraska Act lead to the Civil War because of the disagreements between the North and the South. They both disagreed on whether Kansas and Nebraska should be a free state or a

The Missouri Compromise was one of the great landmark episodes in a series of events that slowly led up to a fracturing of the northern and southern states which constitute the United States of America. Eventually, over time, and with the addition of other factors, this fracture would grow into the American Civil War. The Missouri compromise is not simply a bygone event, it is an important component of American history and it’s effects have altered the course of history. Had things gone differently the United States might have become a very different sort of place than it is today.

During the years 1860 – 1, several compromises were proposed by Congress. Unionist John Crittenden and House Committee played a significant role in proposing a compromise for both North and South. Their main idea was to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific. This gave hope for the South and hope of slavery expansion. Crittenden also recommended a constitutional amendment which guaranteed that there would be no interference with slavery in those states where it already existed. Another proposal from Crittenden was that Congress would be forbidden to abolish slavery in Washington. Of course this appeased the Southerner’s needs, but not so much the North’s. So in result, Republicans rejected the proposals. Maybe if this compromise was accepted by the North then the Civil war may have been avoided? This was not the only compromise which was proposed to avoid war. Compromises

The major elements of the Compromise of 1850 were to give the North and South equal elements to prevent further fighting and war. The North would get the following items: California would be admitted as a free state. Slavery would be outlawed in Washington D.C. and the border dispute was settled over Texas and New Mexico. Texas was given $10 million by the US government for surrendering what is now known as Mexico and Utah.

“Where there are men there will be war.” A simple statement made by one of the greatest thinkers of our generation, Albert Einstein. As a nation in its developmental stages there would be moments and trials that would define as a country and as a species. None more prevalent in our development than the civil war. Our founding fathers sought to create a perfect government, in which every individual has a voice. In certain aspects they succeeded greatly but in others they failed. The north and south developed completely different. While the north wanted to change by becoming more industrialized, the south remained the same. The American civil war was bond to happen due to the north and south arguments regarding slavery, the Compromise of

This compromise caused the North and South to be divided, almost as two different countries. It caused tension between the North and the South because northerners felt that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in a new state while southerners argued that new states had freedom to choose slavery if they wished. Another compromise that expedited the civil war is the Compromise of 1850. Like the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850 helped solve the issue of admitting free and slave states. This compromise admitted California as a free state and ended the slave trade in Washington D.C. It also stated that popular sovereignty would be used in the New Mexico and Utah territories. Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the majority’s consent of its people. One of the most important aspects of the Compromise of 1850 was that a Fugitive Slave Law was passed. The Fugitive Slave Law declared that all runaway slaves who fled north to free states were, upon capture, to be returned to their owners. This compromise caused a lot of abolitionists to increase efforts against slavery which led to the Underground Railroad because since slaves weren’t safe in the north, the fleeing slaves had to make their way to Canada. The last compromise that contributed to the start of the civil war is

In Lincolns second inaugural he coined a famous phrase saying "Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other." (Perret 48)Other problems would arise concerning slavery such as which states would be admitted as free or slave states. Several compromises were made in order to avoid tensions rising such as the “Missouri Compromise”. Yet again we see later on by the repeal of this act by the “Kansas Nebraska” act that things remain unstable. Tensions would rise again when we acquired the new territories from Mexico. For several years it caused tensions with the South wanting slavery and the North opposed to it. Eventually the Compromise of 1850 would quell the tensions.