Ever since America worked under the Constitution, compromise was a sufficient way to keep the unity of the states together. However, it was the increasing tensions surrounding slavery that eventually led to the fallout of compromise in 1860. Between 1820 and 1860, there were several attempts to make political compromises, but these ultimately failed. Attempts at compromise only postponed the issues at hand and resulted in even bigger disputes between the North and the South, which led to the Civil War. Due to conflicts relating to slavery and discrimination, disagreements were hard to settle.
The American Civil war To what extent was the American Civil War effective? Melissa Horacek – Year Eleven Modern History Melissa Horacek – Year Eleven Modern History The Civil War, is a war between civilians, began due to the fear of the abolishment of slavery. Its purpose for the South was to continue slavery, while the North fought for the abolishment of slavery. When the United States was established by colonists and a constitution was created, the constitution did not abolish slavery, but incorporated compromises made by the men who crafted it. Some, especially Northerners who didn’t really adopt slavery had little slaves living there, apposed slavery, they were referred to as Abolitionists.
The Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was one of the first signs of political controversy between souther states and northern states over power struggle. It resulted with congress making a cutoff at the 36 60 parallels and saying no one north will enter into the union as a slave state. This was done with the help of two men, Tallmadge and Thomas. The Missouri Compromise started as a dispute between whether or not Missouri should come into the Union as a slave state or a non-slave state. At this time there was a struggle between northern states(anti-slave states) and southern states(slave states).
This wasn’t the only trigger to cause the Civil War another encountering component of this war was the economic, social and political differences between the North and South. The Gettysburg address, a short yet powerful speech that was spoken by Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield of Gettysburg on 19th November 1863. His speech expresses his views on the matters that America was faced with and how it tested the strength of the Union. The social structures in the Southern states were very different to how the Northern states depicted the way of life, treatment and equality of civilians. In the Southern states, African Americans were treated as chattel and in their views it was a necessity as it had existed for hundreds of years.
How important was the issue of slavery in causing the American Civil war? Due to slavery America was divided into two halves, the North and the South, both had very different and in some cases radical views. Firstly the more industrialised North generally was through and through against slavery as many felt it was immoral but also realised that if you paid your workforce you would increase your means of production and efficiency which helped them become more industrialised. However the south was reluctant to give up their slaves and felt that they were doing the slaves a favour in keeping them, housing them and feeding them. They were like children and would not survive by themselves.
Abraham Lincoln Came into presidency with a lot on his plate, he wanted to reunite the north and the south and to put in place the emancipation proclamation. He knew what was good for the union and had his own opinion on slavery which was against it. Lincoln was fighting for a new birth of freedom not just reuniting the union. The south depended on slaves on the plantation, that’s how they were maintaining since they did not have to pay the slaves. The North with all the industrial business had a total different way of life and can see how they totally disagreed with the way slaves were being used and treated.
The Effectiveness of Political Compromise From the beginning of the United States, sectional differences had existed between the North and South. During the tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War, however, these differences became so serious that they threatened to divide the Union. The political compromises made in the period between 1820 and 1861 were effective only in reducing sectional tensions for a limited amount of time as they avoided the bigger issues and contradicted each other as evidenced by the Missouri Compromise, the case of Dred Scott v. Stanford, and the Compromise of 1850. There were many issues dividing the North and the South, but the most controversial by far was slavery. Slavery was seen as a moral abomination in the North and as a way of life in the South.
Causes of Disunion in the United States In the late 17 and 1800s, the United States began to split between the North and the South. The North and the South had many conflicting views, but their contrasting views over slavery were the most significant motives for the beginning of the Civil War and disunion of the early United States. After the western territory was claimed by the U.S., everyone had a vision of what could be. The Southerners wanted to keep their “southern way of life”, while the people of the north saw a future of hope and one where western homesteads would not improve if they were full of cultivated plantations ran by numerous enslaved workers. People all over the country felt that the deciding factor for freeing slaves would affect their own lives.
The war was due to a culmination of events ranging from the institution of slavery, its implications on society, and the economic impact slavery was having on society. The American Civil War was also due to an uneasy alliance between the Northern and Southern congressman that after many decades of compromise and conciliation, their bipartisanship failed and in their views there could be no more compromise. Arguably the North and South both believed that they were fighting a war against political oppression and the condemnation of a way of life, the North believed they were fighting for free economic expansion and later the emancipation of a people, while the South believed they were fighting for their own rights and way of life. The American Civil War was more than a war about slavery, and the extension of slavery; it was a war of states’ rights over federal, it was also a technological push for industrialization over the continuing agricultural mode of living. The war did not erupt in 1820 because a compromise was reached.
It soon became evident that the South was loosing hold on their part of the government, something that became clear when talk of the abolition of slavery rolled around; it wasn't so much an issue that the government sought to abolish slavery as that ordering it on a Federal level was in violation of the Tenth Amendment and states' rights. This strain only grew worse when the two main political parties of the time, the "Whigs" and the Democrats, began to fracture over regional lines. The "Whigs" merged north and formed what we know today as the Republican party. Given all of these volatile circumstances happened near or around the same time, a conflict was nearly