Compromise Of 1850 Dbq Essay

Prior to the Civil War, multiple compromises were made to try to keep civility. The problems that led to the Civil War and increased sectionalism were the Missouri Compromise, The Kansas-Nebraska Act, The Compromise of 1850, and The Caning of Senator Sumner. These compromises and acts had problems with them because they had too many flaws. Before the Missouri Compromise was written in 1820, complications began to rise between the North and South.

Lincoln made sure to keep new states from becoming slave states, yet he didn’t make it illegal for states that already had slaves. This brought tension because this made it harder for the south to gain western political allies. This caused the slave states to secede and become the United Confederate States. They adopted Jefferson Davis as their president.

However, at that time, there was a perfect balance between free and slave states in Congress. Admitting Missouri would essentially hand all the power to the south. In order to settle both parties’ desires the Missouri Compromise was drawn. It admitted Missouri as a slave state, and simultaneously admitted Maine as a free state to preserve the balance in Congress.

Compromise, a resolution of a conflict that is achieved only if both sides come to a mutual conscientious, was used to terminate political conflicts. The North and South relied heavily on this aspect since they had two distinct perspectives regarding slavery. However, compromise did not have the great effect as it was visioned because it furthered tension between the North and South by rewarding the South fully with slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 initially was seen as just because there was a 36°30 N line established to balance the amount of free and slave states.

In the time period between 1820 and 1860, slavery was an ongoing issue in America. To resolve this issue people turned to compromises and documents. Overtime the south began to lose respect for the North leading to a need for separation. The North begin to wage a war on slavery, in the process is regarding their constitutional duties. The conflicts residing between the North and South along with the government's inability to control the issues made compromise impossible.

The reason the compromises and the act managed to delay the civil war was because slavery was still legal. The reason the civil war occurred was because issues such as Slavery, sectionalism, and the argument of State's rights vs. Federal rights were treated as compromises rather than issues. The southern states were content that the Missouri compromise was enacted because it allowed them to strength and practice the fugitive slave act. The northern states were content when the Nebraska Kansas act was enacted because it gave states to decide how they wanted to enter the union. It may seem that these compromises and act were ineffective and lack complexity, but for a decade it managed to keep the union together.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 sparked debate in regards to the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Missouri requested statehood but wanted to come in as a slave state. Having Missouri come in, as a slave state would disrupt the equal balance between free and slave states. In an effort to regulate slavery in the western states, Jesse Thomas suggested that an amendment to be implemented into the Missouri Compromise that would ban slavery north of latitude 36°30’ in the Louisiana Purchase. This would include the Southern border of Missouri and the area west of Mississippi.

In 1857, the Supreme Court decision denied African Americans any citizenship rights. This meant that even the freed slaves would not receive any citizen rights. The Court declared that slavers were property and this completely sealed any possibility of the free-states’ return since the Missouri Compromise. Finally, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln stepped up and began the process to resolution. Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories.

The main reason behind the long time of conflict between the Northern and Southern states of the United States, were the constant compromises. These compromises work good enough at doing their job of making both sides happy, but by 1860 compromise no long seemed possible. The whole idea of making compromises was drawn out, and due to multiple events in the country, it eventually came back for the worst. Some of the events which lead to the downfall of compromises were, the Missouri Compromise, the many anti slavery movements, and the election of 1860.

Lastly, a fugitive slave law was passed. The compromise of 1850 played a key role leading up to the Civil War because it only made matters worse between the north and south, because neither of them were fully appeased. The compromise only delayed the conflict. A significant part of the compromise of 1850, was the fugitive slave act.

The north got Maine while the south got Missouri (Norton 224). However, this compromise did not address the issue of slavery expansion permanently, and it was only a temporary solution to ease political tensions. The document failed to outline how future states would be administered, which threatened to cause an imbalance between the slave and free states. The Missouri Compromise fails to address how the Union will be maintained. These issues were not addressed by the document since the southern representatives wanted to continue holding slaves.

The cause of most political dispute around 1820-1860 was mostly about slavery. There has been division between the North and the South, though compromise had usually serve in calming the disagreement. However, nearing 1860, political compromise appeared useless. Comprises simply postponed addressing the issue, and led to even more greater issues than needed,compromise wasn’t working politically, socially,and economically for our nation.

In the election, Lincoln did not win a single southern state vote, because of his reputation as being moderate on the slavery question. Although Lincoln initially arranged to abolish slavery in the south, he decided that he would control it in the south and refrain from allowing it to spread throughout the western territories. Lincoln contemplated war if slavery distributed into the western territories from the southern states. Since slavery already existed in the south, he did not have the motive to withdraw it because of the success it brought to the economy. With his

A huge concern for the smaller states was of the representation and power of voice due to their size and the potential lack of representation would place dramatic and damaging affects to their future. Additionally, large parts of the population in the southern states during this time were made up of slaves while the northern states had a large population of free white men. During this time, slaves as well as women were not allowed to vote and did not have a voice when it came to making decisions about the government’s current and future stated. A major concern that placed huge risks with some of the slavery states was the fear that the northern states would take over and make their voice silent.

They believed that the federal government had no right to interfere with their ability to own and control slaves, and saw any attempt to abolish slavery as a violation of their constitutional rights. Many southern leaders argued that the states had the right to secede from the Union if they felt that their rights were being infringed upon. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1861 had a significant effect on the South’s perspective leading up to the Civil War. Lincoln was a vocal opponent of the expansion of slavery, and his election was seen as a threat to the economic and social systems of the Southern states, which relied heavily on the labor of enslaved African Americans. This led to a growing sense of desperation and fear among the Southern elite, who feared that Lincoln’s presidency would lead to the abolition of slavery and the destruction of their way of life.