Compromise in the Pre-Civil War

?Ever since declaring its independence from Britain, America has developed on the foundation of compromise. Upon the drafting of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were succumbed to compromise in order to incorporate the needs of the different parts of the nation. During the early eighteenth century, Americans achieved reconciliation of political disputes, predominately between the North and the South, through compromise.

By 1860 this was no longer feasible and the nation was faced with disheartening threats to its unity. Sectionalism in the Union was further increased.Tariffs were commonly accepted by one part of the nation and debated by the other. The economy of the North and South was becoming increasingly divergent- the North was industrializing while the South continued to rely on slavery for agriculture. Tensions surrounding slavery became politically and socially difficult to deal with. While the North began to see the immorality of slavery, the South retained the institution, especially with the cash crop cotton, when the southern part of the nation relied even more heavily on slavery.

As the North and the South debated on which states would be free and which would allow slavery, their relationship became more and more strained. In the early eighteenth century, Americans achieved reconciliation of political disputes through compromise. In 1819, Missouri admitted to become a slave state. This threatened to upset the balance of free and slave states. To contain peace, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise in 1820 which admitted Maine as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and prohibited slavery north of the 36°30 latitude line.

In 1832, a protectionist tariff was passed, lowering the preceding Tariff of 1828. The South disliked the “Tariff of Abominations” because they were obligated to pay an increased amount on products yet they had no industry. The Tariff of 1832 still did not appease the South. Under the influence of John Calhoun who supported nullification, South Carolina nullified the Tariff of 1832, refusing to obey the law. Jackson was personally afflicted that a state would do such a thing as to disobey a law signed by the president.

He asked Congress to allow him the use of military force against South Carolina to enforce the law.In a speech to the Senate on February 12, 1833, Senator Henry Clay addresses the idea of succession initiated by the Nullification Crisis [Document A]. Clay declared that succession is impractical and that “it is impossible that South Carolina ever desired for a moment to become a separate and independent state”. As a nationalist, it is innate that Clay would act to keep peace within the nation. The tone of Clay’s speech is peaceful as he attempts to remove tensions caused by South Carolina and suppress ideas of succession from the Union. The Compromise Tariff was passed in 1833 and composed by “The Great Compromiser”, Henry Clay.

The tariff lowered the tax gradually by 10% to satisfy the South. It was signed by Jackson and accepted by South Carolina so that force against South Carolina was no longer necessary. In the Resolution of the Pinckney Committee in the House of Representatives on May 18, 1836, the Gag Rule was presented in which “all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers” relating to slavery or its abolition, was banned [Document C]. The Gag Rule was introduced by Calhoun and as a southerner and pro-slaveryite, it is natural that he would not want any conversation broached that threatened the institution.The resolution is from the point of view of the South and its tone is, in a way, peaceful as it attempts to preserve order and peace because of the splitting of Congress and the nation caused by slavery. With the help of John Quincy Adams, the Gag Resolutions were later repealed for its violation of the first amendment- the right to petition the government.

Back at it again, “The Great Compromiser” reduced tensions when California applied for statehood. The South became uneasy because California applied to become a free state which threatened the balance between free and slave states and would destroy their equilibrium in the Senate.As a result of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state, the territory disputed between Texas and New Mexico was surrendered to New Mexico, the slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, the Mexican Cession was open to popular sovereignty, and a stronger Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. In a speech to the Senate on March 7, 1850, Senator Daniel Webster stated his opinion that the North is wrong for not obeying the Fugitive Slave Law and that succession is amiss [Document D]. The tone of Webster’s speech is objective as he attempts to see both sides- the North and the South.

Webster is unbiased because as a Northern man, he agrees with the South. The peace was only temporary. The Fugitive Slave Law upset Northerners and the Underground Railroad became more active, peaking between 1850 and 1860. Massachusetts went so far as to making it a penal offense for a state official to enforce the act. The act also brought the issue of slavery into the limelight before the entire nation. In fact, by 1858, there was no avoiding the subject of slavery.

During the Lincoln-Douglass Debates in a speech at Alton, Illinois on October 15, 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated that slavery was no longer just a political issue [Document G].Slavery was splitting the nation and during the Second Great Awakening, even churches split over the issue. Lincoln’s speech is critical as he insisted that it was the time to choose if the nation would be entirely free or if slavery would be allowed in all of the states, for the nation could no longer exist as half free soil and half enslaved. As a Republican, it is indeed that Lincoln would be against slavery’s expansion and he believed that the government should be able to prevent it.The last resort at compromise was ventilated by Kentucky senator, Henry Crittenden, who ensued in the footsteps of Henry Clay.

The Crittenden Compromise was designed to pacify the South. Slavery would be prohibited above the line of 36°30 but permitted in existing and future territories below it. Future states would choose their status based on popular sovereignty. The compromise was a failed attempt because it was vetoed by Lincoln. Lincoln vetoed the plan because it went against his platform which was against the extension of slavery.

He felt that he could not afford to yield.Hostilities between the North and South strengthened as 1860 approached and compromise was no longer viable. After Mexico did not accept $25 million for California, Polk attempted to antagonize them until war was caused. President Polk sent troops to the Rio Grande to protect U.

S. borders, though Mexico believed that they were in possession of that land and the boundary between Mexico and the U. S. was the Rio Nueces.

Mexico sent troops as well and Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico which they denied until a day later when Mexican troops attacked American troops.Polk stated “American blood was spilled on American soil”, which was not accurate because America’s ownership of the land was debatable. Some saw the war as corrupt such as Lincoln who proposed the “Spot Resolutions”, requesting proof as to where in fact American blood was spilled. The United States won the war and gained almost the rest of modern America. Debates began over which states in the Mexican Cession would be free states and which would become slave states. Senator David Wilmot proposed the Wilmot Proviso as an amendment to be added to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

The amendment stated that slavery would be barred from the territories gained from Mexico. The amendment was passed through the House but not the Senate. It was never added to the treaty but showed sectionalism within the nation. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, created by Senator Stephen Douglas. The act repealed the preceding Missouri Compromise of 1820, allowing settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to choose their status of free or slave through popular sovereignty. The act was designed to allow part of the route for the Transcontinental Railroad in the North.

Northern anti-slaveryites were angered, agitation and difficulty of compromise between the North and South was intensified, the Compromises of 1820 and 1850 were destroyed, the Democratic Party was shattered and the new sectional Republican Party arose. Radical views of Northern abolitionists and Southerners avoided compromise. In the first annual report of the American Anti-Slavery Society of 1834 in the “Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention”, radical abolition was called for- the instant and uncompensated freedom of slaves as well as the repeal of laws that allowed the right of slavery [Document B].These demands were similar to the ideas of William Lloyd Garrison, an abolitionist and author of “The Liberator”.

In the declaration, slave owners were addressed derogatorily as a “man stealer”. The point of view of the declaration is from that of an abolitionist and the tone is indignant as the anti-slaveryites called for the immediate and uncompensated abolition of the “peculiar institution”. As anti-slaveryites, the attendees of the convention are against slavery so it is probable that they’d call for its abolition.The North, in itself, was perhaps biased to the abolition of slavery because in their industrial society, slavery was not essential, unlike that of the South in which relied on slavery in their agricultural based economy. The increasing enmity between the North and South is seen in a depiction by J.

L Magee in 1856 of the Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks conflict, showing that animosities have become so severe that politicians, of all people, have resorted to violence [Document E].In the Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks conflict, Brooks struck Sumner with a cane until it was destroyed, causing severe head injuries and his near death after Sumner delivered a speech denouncing the South and all of its defects. The point of view of Magee’s depiction is from the North, as Sumner is shown as sophisticated and defenseless while Brooks is shown as primitive and barbaric. The tone of the depiction is aggressive as Brooks uses violence against Sumner, as well as persuasive, as Southerners are construed as cruel and uncivilized.Contrasting to Magee’s uplifting depiction of the North, in Muscogee, Georgia in 1856, it was stated in the Herald and quoted in the New York Tribune that Northerners are devoid of society unlike that of “well-bred southern gentlemen” [Document F]. The tone of this assertion is derisive as the North is referred to as “greasy mechanics”, “filthy operatives”, “small-fisted farmers”, and “moon-struck theorists”.

The point of view is from that of the South. The tone of the assertion can also be seen as persuasive because it was published in the New York Tribune, probably to rally Northerners against Southerners.In the last election before the Civil War, candidates included Lincoln, a Republican, Breckinridge, a Southern Democrat, Douglas, a Northern Democrat, and Bell, a Constitutional Unionist which advocated the containment of the Union [Document H]. Lincoln won the election with no southern votes.

Sixty percent of voters preferred someone other than Lincoln to take office. The reason behind Lincoln’s victory include that although the Republican Party was a sectional party, the population in the North is three times that of the South and the electoral vote was based on the popular vote and the winner was to take the entire state.South Carolina declared that if Lincoln won the election, they’d succeed from the nation. They feared that the Republicans would win control of Congress, drive through oppressive tariffs, and threaten slavery.

When Lincoln won, they upheld their threat. Following South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas succeeded as well, forming the Confederate States of America. President Buchanan did nothing to stop the southern states from succeeding in his attempt to avoid war.Surrounded by pro-southern advisors, Buchanan could not find it in the Constitution the right to use force on the succeeding states. The tone of the results of the presidential election of 1860 was foreboding as it alluded to southern states succeeding and the Civil War that followed.

In the years before 1860, Americans attempted reconciliation of political disputed between the North and South through compromise. For instance, the Gag Rules endeavored to achieve peace and order by prohibiting the matter of slavery from being raised, for it was splitting Congress and the nation.Though, as 1860 wore on, compromise became increasingly difficult. Tensions became so catastrophic that it even leaked into Congress. In the Sumner and Brooks conflict, Sumner was beaten with a cane until it was ruined, resulting in severe injuries suffered by Sumner and increased antagonism between the North and the South. The North’s and South’s differing views on slavery afflicted the nation until it ultimately tore apart.