Using Political Compromise to Reduce Sectional Tensions

What kept the feuding regions of an un-united United States together between 1820 and 1861? From the nation’s conception, sectional differences had always existed. During these tumultuous years, however, the differences between North and South became so serious that they threatened to divide the Union. There were several attempts at compromise, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, but to no avail. Disunion could not be avoided and the Civil War began in 1861.

There were many issues dividing the North and the South, the most controversial of which was slavery. Slavery was seen as a moral abomination in the North and revered as a way of life in the South. Northern reformers and others wanted slavery to end, while Southerners were devoted to its permanent preservation. When Missouri applied for admission to the union as a slave state in 1819, the delicate balance between the two regions was threatened. Missouri admission a slave state would make it the 12^th slave state (vs. 11 Free states) and would thrust slavery farther north. There was violent debate until the Missouri Compromise was submitted by Henry Clay. Under this compromise, Maine was admitted as a free state, Missouri was admitted as slave state, and the northern boundary of slavery was set at 36º30′. This would settle the question of slavery for a number of years.

The Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional in 1857 when the Supreme Court ruled on Dred Scott v. Stanford. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom. His master had taken him to live for a number of years in different states and territories that had banned slavery. Scott sued on the grounds that because he had lived in free territory, he was no longer slave. Chief Justice Taney and a very minor majority of the Supreme Court disagreed. Taney declared that Scott was not a citizen of the US so therefore he had no right to sue, that his residency in a free territory did not make Scott free, and that in fact; congress had no power to ban slavery in any territory anyway! This decision overturned the Missouri Compromise and inflamed Northern fears of Southern Slave power, further dividing the nation.

Another ultimately unsuccessful attempt at negotiation was the Compromise of 1850. California had experienced a huge population increase and was ready to apply for statehood as a free state. Southerners objected because the balance of slave states vs. free states would be tipped to the free states. Once again, Henry Clay had a solution. His proposed compromise admitted California as a free state and banned the sale of slaves in Washington D.C., but strengthened the Fugitive Slave law to keep the South happy. It also settled how to organize territories acquired in the war with Mexico. New Mexico and Utah would be organized under popular sovereignty. There was celebration and optimism when the Compromise of 1850 was passed, but it would not last.

The Compromise of 1850 just delayed bigger conflict. The Fugitive Slave law really upset northerners – why should they be responsible for in any way supporting the institution they so despised? The Compromise was supposed to address the organization of territories. Yet, the questions about how territories were to decide about slavery were left with ambiguous answers. This debate exploded when the Kansas and Nebraska territories were permitted to decide for themselves about slavery, though they were above the 36º30′ line. When the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was passed, the possibility of ever reaching a true compromise started to seem impossible.

Overall, sectional tensions were hardly decreased by any compromise. When congress tried to build a transcontinental railroad, the debate descended into simply – build it in the North or in the South? Northerners resented attempts to acquire slaveholding Cuba, and Southerners wouldn’t permit the annexation of Hawaii as a free state. Northerners feared and had no respect for the Slave Power, and Southerners felt threatened by the North’s adamant refusal to accept slavery. The divisions were too deep, and no political compromise could bridge them. The country was left with no solution and the tensions exploded into the Civil War.