Examples Of Compromise After Compromise

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In the early nineteenth century, Americans were able to resolve their political issues through Compromise after Compromise. However, by 1860, Compromise was simply no longer an option. The main reason for the inability to come to a compromise during the time leading up to the Civil War was the fact that there just wasn’t one compromise that could have possibly appeased both sides. The Civil War was, essentially, inevitable, due to the fact that the North and South were so vehement in what they wanted, that neither side was willing to compromise. An early example of when compromise was slowly proving inadequate was during the Great Debate. During the Great Debate, one particular conflict was the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act. The…show more content…
However, he could not keep the slavery issue calm for long. Beginning with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the minor success of the Compromise of 1850 dissolved. The slavery issue soon exploded into violence that foreshadowed the Civil War. Violence over Kansas also took place on the Senate floor when Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner brutally with his cane, as portrayed in the Illustration by J.L. Magee. Brooks had become so angry over the antislavery speech, that he decided to take action. He had almost killed Sumner. Brooks was hailed as a hero in the South but was considered a villain in the North. The fact that violence ensued even in Congress was another indicator that compromise at this point was becoming less and less…show more content…
He won a total of 180 electoral votes, while the other candidates combined only won 123, as shown in the Electoral Map of the Election of 1860. A month after Lincoln’s election, legislators in South Carolina voted to secede, and within several weeks, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas followed. At this point, it was impossible to come to a compromise that would appease both sides, over either slavery or secession. As Daniel Webster also said in his speech to the senate in 1850, there was no line of separation between the states that could be drawn that would satisfy any five men in the country. Compromise was no longer an option at this point. Therefore, although the issue of slavery, as well as many other political issues, was at one time resolved through some sort of compromise, by 1860, upon the election of Lincoln, this simply was out of the question. Slavery could not long be pushed aside or overlooked, and as the North began to take notice of the atrocities of slavery, there was bound to be endless disputes. The south, in addition, was unwilling to budge on the matter. With neither side willing to give in, it was inevitable that the maintaining of the Union could be made possible by no other means then

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