The Inevitable: The Missouri Compromise Of 1850

In the early 18th century, sectionalism ran rampant throughout the entirety of the United States. The Missouri Compromise divided the nation into free and slave territory along the 36’ 30’ line, and admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to keep the balance in Congress. It was supposed to cure the civil division amongst the North and the South. However, the problems only seemed to continue. The Missouri Compromise was like putting a bandaid on an amputated leg. Therefore, because of the conflicts in the expansion of slavery, the opposing economic structures of the North and South, and The Compromise of 1850, in period of 1840 to 1861, the statement, “The Civil War was not inevitable; it was the result of extremism and
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Slavery was bound to create conflict. The North believed that slavery was corrupt. A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, described the cruelty that was slavery. The author’s purpose was to show its readers, the Northern free states, how truly corrupt and hypocritical the Southern slave owners were. She shows this by using the Bible, saying that only God can buy a soul, that the slave owner holds no true hold over the slave, however the slave owner disagrees. This was only one of the reasons that the North became riddled with extreme abolitionist movement. This caused the Southerners to be angry with the North. The quote, “I cannot but see what mischiefs their interference with the South has produced…” (Document 1) shows the animosity that was growing between the two. However, most Northerners didn’t want to entirely abolish slavery, simply restrict it to the South and ban it in the new territories. They believed the practice would die with time. However, this caused fear in the South. If the number of free states outnumbered those that supported slavery, they could abolish slavery and ruin the South. The Missouri Compromise was thought to have fixed the issue, declaring that slavery could not
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The main source of revenue for the South was agriculture, namely cotton. Cotton was King, or so it was believed by the South. They were the main source of cotton in the world at that point. They also provided other goods Because the agricultural industry needed a large workforce to be successful, slaves were introduced to accomplish the tasks. The South created raw materials that were then used by the North. The North had an industrialized economy. They were the factory workers and the merchants. Because of the conflicting views on how money was to be made, the North and the South could not get along. When a protective tariff was placed on imported goods, the South’s economy was threatened, while the North’s economy was protected. The South felt as though the North was out to destroy them. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the threat of abolishing slavery arose. The entire livelihood of the Southern economy was endangered. Because of the North and South were so divided, so divergent in their ideals and their morals, they were unable to negotiate and understand what was truly best for the