Reilly Peavey

Mr. Armstrong

APUSH-2

17 Dec 2008

Pre-Bellum compromise polarization COTDBQ

In the beginning of the 19th century, disputes about slavery were fairly minimal. The United

States had just been created, and they were already engaged in foreign conflicts. Slavery wasn't a very

big issue for many people. A common geographical border of the Ohio River seperated the slave states

from the free states. Everybody was content with this common border. However, after spreading west

of the Appalachians, controlling what was slave territory became difficult. However, due to a simple

compromising process, the United States government was able to settle disputes of territory, just like

most other things. But, due to growing tensions, a series of milestone events, and an increasing amount

of political reformers, compromise on the slavery issue by 1860 became virtually impossible. The

milestone events started with sectionalism, then the conflicts of moving west, followed by the peculiar

institutions of the federal government, and ending with southern secessionalism.

In 1820, the polarization between northern and southern cultures was great. The north was

booming with industry, and attracted lots of foreign workers. As a result, they had a greater population,

meaning more seats in the House of Representatives. Due to this immense population, their economic

industry was better without the competition with slavery, so they were content as a collection of free

states. The south, by contrast, did not attract foreign industrial workers, due to their lack of solid non-

agricultural industry. As a result, they had a minority in the House, and were always on the losing side

of sectional-sensitive laws and regulations, like tariffs and such. However, other than a few tarriffs

here and there, the north and the south generally got along well with each other.

One of the first milestones that eventually led to a lack of agreement between the north and

south was the Missouri Compromise. Missouri wanted to become a state, but there was great dispute
as to what kind of state it would be. Also at the same time, Maine filed with the Senate for statehood.

So, the Senate compromised that Maine would be a free state, while Missouri would be a slave state.

This is the first time that a state that lied partially north of the implied Ohio River would become a

slave state. So, in order to fix the ordeal, the 36 30 line (Missouri's southern border) would mark the

line separating free from slave states. Although this was intended as the final barrier between slave and

free states, there was still great dispute. This eventually led to the Gag rule, where the legislative

branch of government would ignore all petitions about abolishing or promoting slavery (doc C).

As more Americans were moving west, tensions increased between the North and the South.

The South was still losing power in the House, and the North was still trying to gain control of the

country. Things were going well with the Missouri compromise, until the Bleeding Kansas incident.

Popular sovergnity, a concept that a state's population should choose whether to be free or slave,

became a popluar idea. The territories of Kansas and Nebraska were trying to become states, but like

any other time, there was great dispute over which type of state to become. So, there was a series of

bloody military battles between pro-slavery groups and abolitionists. In the end, Kansas became a

slave state, and the tensions between the North and the South became even greater, leading to the

Brooks-Sumner affair (doc E). By now, the slave affair was completely uncontrollable, and many

feared that the United States would transform into a mobocracy.

After this series of events, there seemed to be no amount of compromise that could calm the

issue. After many thousands of abolitionists were formed with such reformers like Harriet Beecher

Stowe or William Lloyd Garrison, there was rioting everywhere. The federal government tried all that

was in their power, including enacting the Fugitive Slave law, giving territories popular sovergnity, and

abolishing slave trading in Washington DC (doc D). However, due to these past milestones and

tensions, there was no single compromise that could unite America. It was truly a divided country

leading up to 1860 (doc F). As Abraham Lincoln put it, “A house cannot stand divided”. And that

house surely did fall.

 The election of 1860 is said to be one of the most decisive elections in American history.

Lincoln, popularized by the Lincoln-Douglas debates, was a major contender. He was also the most

threatening to the South's way of life. Although he wasn't a radical abolitionist, he still believed that

the Union could not stand if there was no action taken. Shortly after his victory (doc H), South

Carolina officially seceded from the United States. The previous president, James Buchanan, did

nothing. Although Buchanan could have delayed the Civil war with compromise, there was no real

compromise that could have won the South back over. The Civil war began shortly the next year.

Although the United States was able to compromise easily in the 1820's about slavery, the

milestone events and the tension factors prevented a compromise to halt the Civil war, which started in

1861. Once the expansion west began, so did many political and social debates about slavery.

Compromises became tougher to negotiate, and eventually the house that was America fell, divided

about the issue of the Monster in the Closet. However, had Lincoln not been elected in 1860, America

would be a drastically different place today.