Sammy Dawson

Mr. Herrmann and Mr. Rutherford

AP US History
7 December 2015
DBQ Redo
The United States of America was always culturally diverse. The North based
more on industry, the South with huge plantations. For the first several decades of
existence, the U.S. grew like this, developing within controversy and the unity of
vastly different ideas. Starting in the 19th century however, the nation based on
compromise began to quake. Slavery, states rights, political parties; a development
of a deep seeded anger at opposing opinions. By 1860, compromise for the
American people was no longer possible due to the addition of land and vast
cultural differences that forced the country into conflict.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Missouri Compromise was in place,
specifically stating that slavery was not to be allowed above the 30 36 line.
However, in the 1830s, land was gained by the Mexican Cession, doubling the U.s.s
size. America gained a huge amount of land, which in turn drug up the old issues of
slavery. Both the North and South desperately wanted their say in the matter. When
the Wilmot Proviso was presented to Congress, passed in the House but not the
Senate the issue became even hotter. The Proviso called for no slavery in Mexican
Cession lands, which infuriated the South.
Slavery had been around for thousands of years and in America since the
beginning of the colonies. But in the earlier 19 th century, the U.S. fell under the
Great Awakening, a cultural and social revolution that changed the way people
thought. A big part of it had to do with religion, and the reincorporation of it into
peoples lives. This caused slavery to be not only a matter of economics, but one of
religious significance. A report from the America Anti-Slavery Society in 1834
claimed that any person who keeps another in chains or as a slave, is a man stealer.
Their freedom would be before God. This Societys reflection on the correlation
between religion and God shows a strong opinion many Northerners had. People are
less likely to compromise on something religious or against their morals.
The U.S. did try to compromise on their issues of slavery and land, such as
the Compromise of 1850, but the potential clash still remained. The Fugitive Slave
Law was an attempt to give the South back their runaway slaves. Daniel Webster
himself, a Southerner, agreed with the South, asking the North to hold up their
constitutional responsibilities in returning the slaves. Yet the North, enraged by the
law that forced them to go against what they believed as moral, refused. The
Underground Railroad, which aided in getting slaves to Canada, picked up its pace.
Both sides grew angrier, increasing tensions. The North saw the South as immoral
and disgusting and the South saw the North as less than worthy. In the New York
Times, September 1856, a man claimed that the North had none of the grace and
civilly of the South and they werent fit to be gentlemen due to the way they

thought and their industrialization. This statement show the hatred and tensions
that were building between the split nation.
As time went on, violence and tensions increased. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
made the Missouri Compromise void, making the North protest. As Kansas became
a slave state, violence with Jayhawks and fire birds erupted, creating the name
Bleeding Kansas. Even in Congress, when Congressman Sumner was beaten with
a cane from a man in the Senate. These acts of violence showed the splitting at the
seams of compromise. Abraham Lincoln even addressed that it was not just a
political issue, it was one that was created by every aspect of society. The issue of
slavery was in every part of life. Even national parties became sectional, creating an
even bigger divide. This is seen in the Presidential election of 1860, when maps of
the country showed a great divide between the North (mostly Republicans) and the
South (mostly Democratic).
This time in history became one in which conflict was looming on the horizon.
The North would not budge with slavery, since it was a religious issue, while the
South refused to give up the most important part of its economy. Just like before the
American Revolution, when Britain and the colonies were coming to quick conflict as
compromise broke down, the attempts to fix the issues of the 19 th century America
were fought against or fell apart a short time later. Attempted compromises were
either fought against, or fell apart only a short time later. As violence began to take
form, any other compromises seemed impossible. People were willing to dill for
what they believed in. The cultural differences and addition to an already heavy
problem, put the U.S. on the fast track to conflict and little compromise.