Gracie Evans
Ms. Stader
APUSH
14 November 2017 In the early years of the Antebellum era, or pre-war period, compromise was essential. Despite tensions between the North and South caused by things like Uncle Tom’s Cabin of 1852 (Robbins), arguments over states rights, and rumours of southern secession, it seemed like compromise was always possible. The main turning point for this was in 1854. Although some say the Civil War was avoidable, an impasse was most certainly reached in 1854, due to the fall of the Great Triumvirate, the implications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the abolitionists of the North becoming increasingly frustrated with southern manipulation.
The Great Triumvirate inarguably played a large role in keeping the Union together before the Civil War. The Great Triumvirate was made up of 3 congressional leaders: Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster (Powell). These 3 men had different political positions, which was what made their compromising skills so beneficial. Henry Clay represented western views, Daniel Webster represented northern goals, and John C. Calhoun fought for
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill that essentially disregarded and relinquished the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stated that any westward expansion of the United States was to have the decision on slavery made via popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty, in regards to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, was the idea that the decision on slavery in a region should be decided by the people who live there. This seemed fair, but the issue with instating popular sovereignty was that the parameters of the Missouri Compromise stated that slavery could not exist anywhere above the 36°30° line (History.com). Therefore, popular sovereignty would entirely disregard important factors of the Missouri Compromise, which was regarded by many as a strong force in holding the Union
By 1860, the United States of America had turned into the Divided States of America. The once unified country had let slavery divide the country by a thin red line. A thin red line of blood being shed by slaves and those fighting for what they believe to be right and moral. This thin red line caused those of the North and South to lose sight of the purpose of the United States; a country that was created as a haven for all, where anyone could be viewed with equality, and freedom was tangible for every person. Rather the United States began to create social classes that were next to impossible to discard.
“But this momentous question, like a fireball in The night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union” (Jefferson). This is from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Holmes in 1820 talking about the issue of slavery and the Missouri Compromise, and Thomas Jefferson was afraid that the Congress may keep on compromising to satiate the south’s want for slavery. The people in the north and the south kept I arguing till the Civil War, whether slavery should be continued or if they should get rid of this abominable institution, but Henry Clay did not want there to be a civil war so he helped write a compromise to keep the peace between the feuding halves of America dreaming that peace would be achieved. Even though many people in the south of America through the Missouri Compromise of 1820 would be beneficial, it ultimately failed, and it only postponed
Clay proposed named defended a series of compromises and urged that the North and South both make concessions and the North should enact a more feasible slave law. Calhoun wanted to leave slavery alone, return runaway slaves, give the South it's rights, and restore political balance. Webster thought people should not legislate on the topic of slavery and the compromise, concession, and sweet reasonableness would provide the only solutions. To them keep the union to nether was more important than the issue of
During one of America's crucial turning points, Lincoln, Grant, and Andrew Carnegie faced off on their own challenge of individual liberty each driven and influenced by their own perspective. To dive further into their challenges, Lincoln was on track to pulling together the Union in a fair and balanced state to follow the end of the war however understood securing the rights of the emancipated slaves was not going to happen overnight leading to a struggle of push and pull against both the Union and struggle for rights. Whereas Grant, who became president shortly after the victory in the war, went through the reconstruction period with the goal of creating a balance between his new job of vetoing and supporting new legislation for the reconstruction while keeping Lincoln's ideals. Carnegie, the leading steel production giant of the reconstruction period, wanted to publicize that this new change in our country's wealth must not blind us from the original goal of progress and advocated for no social hierarchies through the individual class.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act would violate the Missouri Compromise, which had been keeping the union from falling apart for 34 years. Almost all of the Southern Whigs voted for the bill and all of the Northern Whigs opposed it. This caused there to be conflict and no agreement could be found, thus causing the Southern Whigs to be known as Democrats and the Northern Whigs to stay Whigs. It had split up the Whigs and Democrats to form a new party; the Republicans. They were anti-slavery.
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act, which allowed new territories to decide if they were a free or slave state by popular sovereignty (Civilwar.org, Kansas-Nebraska Act). Kansas-Nebraska Act negated the Missouri Compromise. Missouri Compromise was an effort by the congress to diffuse the political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri in 1819 for admission as a state in which supported slavery (Garraty and Foner). This was done to restore the balance of slave and free states at the time. Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the compromise that was made in the Missouri Compromise, it reignited the disagreement between the anti and pro-slavery factions, which lead to violent events.
Even with this great compromise, the North and the South still found it difficult to agree with another and were beginning to spiral out of control. Almost on the verge of war Clay decided he needed a strategy in order to beat the North and South at their own game. Instead of making his comprises one big bill, he split it into five groups, therefore making it impossible for both sides to turn it down completely. They would be able to vote against the five bills they liked and disliked without voting completely against one big bill. In August and September, the Senate and the House voted to approve all of Clay’s five bills; which became the Comprise of 1850.
Northerners recognised the bill as the repeal of the 34 year old Missouri compromises and feared that the bills true intentions was to extend slavery to the entire nation. Congress was able to pass the Kansas Nebraska act but resulted in a severe division between the nation with 91% of the opposition coming from northerners, not only did it make the division bigger between the north and south but also caused the house of representatives to fight due to their different view points. Soon enough the issues revolving around the act and slavery divided the Whigs and democrats, with congressman from both parties acting for and against the act. An Illinoi Whig named Abraham Lincoln spoke out about how monstrous slavey was in an 1854 speech. By this time the Whigs ceased to exist due to them being split between their northern and southern factions.
Furthermore, after the Kansas Nebraska Act was passed, wealthy people wanted to take advantage and build a transcontinental railroad that run through Kansas, However, in order to build the railroad they need slaves. The Supreme Court in case Dred Scoot v Sandford declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, letting others states in the west to be either a free state or a
After reviewing documents 3, 4, and 5, it seems clear that finding a compromise on the issue of slavery was incredibly challenging. This was due to the fact that the Union and Confederacy had opposing views on the matter and were unwilling to budge. The Union wanted to abolish slavery, while the Confederacy relied on it heavily and was even willing to secede from the Union to protect its
The U.S was only able to settle political disputes through compromise until 1860 because of the increasing sectionalism, the Abolitionist Movement and the Secession of South Carolina. New states joined into congress creating an unbalanced senate forcing congress to make decisions to balance the nation between freedom and slavery. The Missouri Compromise failed as an attempt to maintain peace between the North and South because it created an greater sense of sectionalism throughout the country. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a decision to make Missouri a slave state to maintain an even number of free and slave states. It led to uproar in congress and the North retaliated by declaring the rest of the Louisiana territory to be free.
Many politicians tried to offer a compromise that would please both the North and the South but none of them worked long-term. The biggest attempt was made by Henry Clay who put forth the basis for the Compromise of 1850 which consisted of 5 steps. “Admit California as a free state... Allow the residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories to decide the slavery issue for themselves. End the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
Northern States held a commanding majority in the House of representatives and there was an equal division between the slave and free states which enabled the South to maintain a veto power in the Senate. Henry Clay, the “Great Compromiser” created six proposals that would offer concession, one to the North and open to the South. The bill admitted California as a free state , at the price of a stronger fugitive slave law, created territories of Utah and New Mexico, and allowed popular sovereignty when it came time for each to write its constitution. Most importantly, the compromise abolished the slave trade but not slavery itself arguing it was immoral to buy and sell humans. The sectional forces would soon gather strength and lead to the ultimate disunion.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
The issue the compromise was about was whether there should be slavery in the western territories. Maine wanted to be added to the Union, however, slavery was banned there. If Maine were to be added to the Union, it would upset the balance between free and slave states in the nation and the Senate. So, the Missouri Compromise, proposed by Senator Henry Clay, allowed Maine to enter the Union as a free state, and allowed Missouri to be entered into the Union as a slave state.