From Compromise to Conflict: The Separation of The United States

From Compromise to Conflict: The Separation of the United States

Sean Keane

The United States of America had been on a fast track of growth and prosperity for the last half century when a threat arose from the heart of the country. Compromise had kept the nation together and was constantly being stretched to its ends. Therefore, with the tension growing due to issues surrounding the extent of state rights and slavery in the south; compromise could no longer be met. Finally, in a chain of events that concluded in the split of the U.S. into the North and South and a split in congress, the Republicans and Democrats. 

        From 1820 to 1860 there was a major political shift on the view of slavery that lead to the end of compromise. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise Act of 1850 were the major agreements that were drafted for keeping the nation together. In 1833, Henry Clay stated that “It is impossible that South Carolina ever desired for a moment to become a separate and independent state” (Sen. Clay, 1833), thus telling congress that South Carolina had no intention of leaving the Union. Also in the speech Clay made it clear that he believed that no matter what course of legislation Congress chose, South Carolina would not be able to successfully nullify a federal law. This is the first sign of the nation’s constant compromise coming to an end. Furthermore, in 1834 at the American Anti-Slavery Society who argued heavily for immediate emancipation and believed that since slavery was against God’s rule than it is invalid. Even though the American Anti-Slavery Society advocated for complete emancipation it did recognize that Congress “has no right to interfere with any of the slave state, in relation to this momentous subject [slavery]” (“Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention”, 1834). The fight for emancipation throughout the slave states would not end with compromise but the end of slavery in territories could very well be a possibility. The northern distaste of Wilmot Proviso and the Compromise of 1850, slavery started to become the main threat for the stitching of the Union. This tension is especially shown in the election of 1860 where not one of the southern states voted for Republican candidate, Lincoln who received 180 electoral votes versus the 72 for the Southern Democrat. (Presidential Election, 1860). This political division over slavery led to Southern secession and the final blow to compromise in the U.S. 

        Slavery was a traditional upbringing in the South and was a constant issue facing Congress and had to be repeatedly handled through comprising. Though in 1836 a very big blow was handed to the Northern states as the “Gag Rule” was set into place, it immediately tabled any antislavery petition in the House of Representatives. All petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers relating in any way or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and that no further action whatsoever shall be had thereon.” (Resolution of Pinckney Committee, 1836). This prohibited all talk in Congress about the abolition of slavery, only   Missouri Compromise would be deciding the status of slavery in the new territory of Missouri and whether or not it was legal to bring slaves into the area. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that “It is conceivable that the constitution has conferred the right on every citizen to become a resident on the Territory of the United States with his slaves”. (Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott Case, 1857). With what little trust that the states had between each other is now dwindling, slavery has started to make its first cuts into the nation. The lack of trust between the two parties creates a setting for mayhem in Congress which can be shown in a cartoon by J.L. Magee. The cartoon is a propaganda piece created to make negative emotions and does not encourage compromise. The cartoon is Rep. Preston Brooks who is caning Sen. Charles Sumner of whom has a bill in his hand labeled “Kansas”. (Magee, 1856). This refers to the Kansas Nebraska Act which seemed to only heighten suspicion once again whether to allow slavery in undecided territories. With John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry as well as “Bleeding Kansas” started to ensue towards a civil war. The argument for slavery did not begin and end in the Capitol but it was a moral issue that affected everyone in the nation. “Exciting and stirring them up in every avenue of society – in politics, in religion, in literature, in morals, in all manifold relations in life?”(Lincoln, 1858). This is especially important to show the rift that the country was split by, it was not just the arguments in Congress that slavery came up in but it was a social tradition and one that many people either disagreed with or supported whole heartedly.