Why the compromises from 1846~1861 failed to prevent the Civil War

By the year of 1860, the North and the South was developed into extremely different sections. There was opposing social, economic, and political points of view, starting back into colonial periods, and it slowly drove the two regions farther in separate directions. The two sections tried to force its point of view on the nation as a whole. Even though negotiations had kept the Union together for many years, in 1860 the condition was unstable. The presidential election of Abraham Lincoln was observed by the South as a risk to slavery and many believe it initiated the war.

As tensions between the North and the South rose on the issues of slavery and states’ rights, numerous compromises were proposed to ease the conflict. Such compromises included the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Crittenden Compromise. These compromises had intentions of defining where slavery was permitted and clarifying states’ rights. They were only temporary fixes to a more pressing issue. Between the Missouri Compromise and the Crittenden Compromise, a series of events changed the political atmosphere of the United States and prevented any more compromises on the institution of slavery from being passed.

Arguments that slavery was undesirable for the nation had long existed, and the northern states all abolished slavery after 1776. In the interest of maintaining unity, politicians had mostly moderate opposition to slavery, resulting in numerous compromises such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. However, The compromise that was reached (the Kansas-Nebraska Act) outraged too many northerners, which triggered violent uprisings from the North. These uprisings angered the Southern states greatly.

People fought over slavery in 1854-1861, towns were destroyed and many people were killed. It precluded to the Civil War and the compromise was the Kansas-Nebraska act.

At the end of the Mexican War, lands were ceded to the Union in the West. People from the North and the South were debating over whether or not these lands should have slavery. The solution was pushed by Clay, Webster, and Douglas from the North that would give the new lands the choice to be slave or free depending on a vote. During the mid-1800's, the North was industrializing and populating at a much higher rate than the South which was becoming dependent on the cotton industry. The Compromise of 1850 created more problems than it solved in regards to the enforcement of slave laws, lands in the West, and popular sovereignty.

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

After the Missouri Compromise was made, more conflict arose. New territories were beginning to fight over the issue of slavery. These territories included Texas, New Mexico, and California. After James Polk became president he annexed Texas, and it became a state. This was a cause of the Civil War because it caused was the war with Mexico, which as a result led to the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 made Northerners help catch runaway slaves. The South loved it, but the North hated it. Once again the North and South were spreading apart.

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.

During the Civil War Era and Reconstruction, there was continuous threats by the Confederacy of secession from the Union. The Confederacy was extremely hesitant to maintain relations with the Union and was willing to separate into its own territory. Secession, in Civil War terms, is the act of disassociation from the Union. The Confederacy was willing to secede from the Union for various reasons. Lincoln being elected was a red flag for the Southern states, which allowed for the issue of abolition to be a rising threat as well as create tension between the North and Southern territories.

What mainly lead up to the civil war was not only a separation of ideas such as nullification, or the federalist idea of large government. The compromise of 1850 essentially told the northern states that they have to return slaves. This infuriated the northern states, which were already divided about the institutions of slavery. However, with nullification deeply imbedded in the hearts and minds of northerners, they felt as if this was a down right attack on the rights of the

During the time around 1850, tensions were rising on the issue of slavery between the North and the South. New states were being admitted to the United States, but the decisions to make them a free state or a slave state were what really mattered. As an example, California was admitted to the Union as a free state, and this angered the south very much because slavery was a very important factor to the South's economy. The Compromise of 1850 was developed to help soothe the tensions on each side. This Compromise had several provisions: California was admitted to the Union as a free state; the territories of New Mexico and Utah were created without restrictions of slavery; the slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.; Congress passed a stricter fugitive slave law. This compromise showed just how important slavery was to each side, and it gives us a good idea of why it could be important as one of their goals during the Civil War. With slavery in mind, it brought about ideas of succession to the South. Because the South was scared of Lincoln abolishing slavery, they thought it would be a wise decision to secede from the Union. In fact, Lincoln had no plans of abolishing slavery, but stated that it should not spread to the territories. The South basically misunderstood and decided to secede anyway. The reason slavery was so important to the South, and lead them to break apart from the Union was that it

Many think that Union states and Confederate states went to war for only one reason – slavery. While slavery was the main issue happening, there were many underlying problems that caused the tension between the north and south. Events such as The Missouri Compromise of 1820, Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831, Bleeding Kansas in 1854, Dred Scott Decision of 1857, and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 are a few of the major causes of the Civil War. All these events made northern states open their eyes to how serious the situation was in southern states.

The Civil War was a time of fighting within the United States brought on by many events including the Missouri Compromise, abolition movement, presidential election of 1860, secession of Southern states, and other occurrences. Most Southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America. The big divide stemmed from the differing positions on slavery. The North had been gradually abolishing slavery and did not depend on such free labor in the way the South did. The agricultural dependant economy of the South relied on African American labor. Therefore, each side feared the stance the government would take on the issue of slavery and how that would affect the economy and politics of the nation. From 1861 to 1865, the

In 1861, the United States broke apart into two warring nations. The resulting Civil War pitted the United States against an organization of southern states that renamed itself the Confederate States of America. The primary issue involved was the existence of slavery and its extension into new territories. While several previous crises regarding slavery were resolved through political compromise in a way that held the nation together, political compromise and democracy itself failed in the end to prevent Southern secession and the American Civil War.

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.