Douglas Okwu
12-1-2012
Period: 7th
Analyze the effects of political compromise in reducing sectional tension in the period 1820-1861.
During the period of 1820-1861 the north and south debated on issues that dealt with slavery and unbalance power, in order to reduce sectional tension between these two states, the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were proposed.
The North and South both had opposite opinions about slavery, The South favored slavery because of there agricultural based economy which they needed slaves to attend to their harvests and crops, the North was against slavery because they were an industrialized nation they had no need for slavery. This debate went on and almost resulted
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In 1854 another problem arose which resulted in Congress passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise, this act was introduced by Stephen A. Douglas a chairman of Committee on Territories, this act allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose rather they wanted slavery in their boundary or not through the power of popular sovereignty, the Pro-slavery settlers won the election but were charged with accusations that they cheated, in order to make sure that the vote was right they ordered a re-election but the Pro-slavery refused and the refusal resulted into a battle. John Brown an Anti-slavery leader who believed that he was sent here by god to kill anyone who was pro-slavery. He led the anti-slavery force which gained the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”. The fight was soon stopped, and a final election was held, this time the anti-slavery settlers won the vote and was announced that Kansas would become a free state in 1861. In conclusion the Compromises and Acts may have had their flaws but it they some how manage to solve the slavery issues.
Douglas Okwu
12-3-12
7th period Bibliography
- http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm
-http://www.historyking.com/American-History/timeline/1803- 1849/missouri-compromise/What-Did-The-Missouri-Compromise-Do.html[->0]
- http://mrkash.com/activities/compromise.html
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Throughout the 1800’s many compromises were created with the intent of pulling two nations together to from a more perfect government. The North and the South have different views that created many conflicts between the two parties. Congress continued to address controversial matters with compromises that only benefitted one side or the other and not both. These compromises affected the North and the South; however they started to drastically worsen because both sides had economic, social, and political differences.
The 1820 Missouri Compromise played a large role in the campaign against slavery. In 1819 Missouri became a statehood and congress considered framing a state constitution, with this a representative attempted to add a anti-slavery legislation with it. This is what started the process of the campaign against slavery. Henry Clay made a large contribution toward this compromise in 1820, with his new ideas on how to settle the conflict between the North and the South, which lasted until 1954.All the compromise’s made from 1820's to the Kansas Nebraska compromise
Much debate was caused by the fact that the North was anti slavery and the South was pro slavery. Both sides had opposing views about slavery and how it should be dealt with. The North had several negative things to say about it, whereas the South, obviously had a few positive factors to mention. If it were not for the creation of the cotton gin, the conflict between the two sides would have aroused. The South’s main argument was that slaves were mandatory for economic growth, while countless people in the North strongly refuted the statement. The South would have commanded more intense and severe work within the slaves, which would have sparked more discussion about the subject of matter.
As tensions between the North and the South rose on the issues of slavery and states’ rights, numerous compromises were proposed to ease the conflict. Such compromises included the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Crittenden Compromise. These compromises had intentions of defining where slavery was permitted and clarifying states’ rights. They were only temporary fixes to a more pressing issue. Between the Missouri Compromise and the Crittenden Compromise, a series of events changed the political atmosphere of the United States and prevented any more compromises on the institution of slavery from being passed.
The North and South in the nineteenth century were different in lifestyle and morale as well as economy. The north had a booming industrial economy while in the South, cotton was king. Because of this, congress was continuously addressing controversial matters and providing answers that did not satisfy either one side or both. The early 1800s were full of the North and the South making many attempts at reconciliation that just fell short. Among those were the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Great Compromise of 1850. Other tempestuous attempts led to the Tariff/Nullification Controversy, anti slavery debates in congress, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Whether it was one side or the other, there was always someone to oppose - and in some
Arguments that slavery was undesirable for the nation had long existed, and the northern states all abolished slavery after 1776. In the interest of maintaining unity, politicians had mostly moderate opposition to slavery, resulting in numerous compromises such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. However, The compromise that was reached (the Kansas-Nebraska Act) outraged too many northerners, which triggered violent uprisings from the North. These uprisings angered the Southern states greatly.
People fought over slavery in 1854-1861, towns were destroyed and many people were killed. It precluded to the Civil War and the compromise was the Kansas-Nebraska act.
Tensions between both sides arose when Douglas passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Senator Douglas felt that Kansas and Nebraska should be subjected to popular sovereignty like other western territories. Although the many temperate politicians like Abraham Lincoln wanted to avoid the Civil War and were fine with allowing slavery to die slowly. But, many influential political leaders of the 19th century were not. The South was interested in maintaining slavery to the new territories to increase their economy and political power. Due to lack of leadership neither side could come to a compromise, as Stephen Douglas put it what applied in the South could not similarly apply as in the north and vice versa (Doc 5), these were two distinct societies, but there was still room for a middle ground. The North had an interest in limiting the spread of slavery into the new territories for both purposes of controlling Southern political
States in the North believed in free labor that emphasized on the inherent dignity of labor and equality among men. The Northern States thought that slavery as an unfair competition since it uses men as to get more money. They also feared that in the future the plantation owners who dominated and controlled the politics in the South may soon threaten democracy which the Northern States enjoyed. It is because of these reasons that the Northern States wanted to end slavery once and for all in America. Slavery was the main cause of the Civil War.
A leading example of the struggles of slavery in the western states was the struggle over slavery in Kansas. Document F depicts a political cartoon basically stating that Stephen Douglas, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan all attempted intentionally or unintentionally to spread slavery to the West. Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which the Midwest Nebraska territory would be divided into two states Kansas and Nebraska and the issue of slavery would be determined by in state vote known as "popular sovereignty". Franklin Pierce aided with the signing of the bill. The results upon this bill was harsh fighting between pro-slavery supporters and non-slavery supporters in Kansas over this issue. It also led to the non-reelection of Pierce and the end to the Whig party, along with the introduction of the sectional Republican party, who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. An attempt at forcing slavery into
In the beginning of the 19th century, slavery started to be debated and whether we should make it illegal. South of the nation absolutely despised the idea and wanted nothing to do with it. This soared a major dispute between the North and the South. One region wanted something and one wanted another. At a point, it was total chaos. It was then decided that Henry Clay needed to do something about it and of course proposed the Compromise of 1850.
As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their
The North and South had very different views on slavery. The North saw the cruel and inhumane treatment of slaves. They wanted to free the slaves because they thought it was wrong for people to use others against their will. The Southerners believed the slaves were inferior and it was acceptable to use them for their purposes. They needed the slaves to work the plantations.
Decades of American History are dominated by the hot-button issue of slavery. In the time leading up to the Civil War, abolitionists and many northerners vehemently opposed the slave industry and sought to eradicate it from American soil. However, their opposition had to be constantly restrained in fear of offending the South to the point of the nation disintegration. In order to try and maintain balance, anti-slavery predicators kept a close eye on how changes and events would affect the spread of this immoral practice in the supposedly equal United States. Two dramatic increases in the tensions around slavery which resulted in necessary moral arguments and political action on the part of those who opposed slavery were the Missouri Compromise
The Compromise (1850), Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Supreme Court widened the growing divisions over slavery (1857), John Brown and a small band of followers tried to start an antislavery revolt by seizing a federal arsenal (1859), Abraham Lincoln was elected as President (1860), Kansas entered the Union as a free state (1861), and the Confederate troops