Reasons For The Compromises Of 1860

The main reason behind the long time of conflict between the Northern and Southern states of the United States, were the constant compromises. These compromises work good enough at doing their job of making both sides happy, but by 1860 compromise no long seemed possible. The whole idea of making compromises was drawn out, and due to multiple events in the country, it eventually came back for the worst. Some of the events which lead to the downfall of compromises were, the Missouri Compromise, the many anti slavery movements, and the election of 1860. On March 3, 1820 the congress passed a bill which was revolutionary for its time. The idea of slavery in the new lands acquired by the Louisiana purchase was beginning to scare the North, and excite the South. The Northern states were worried the balance in the senate would be thrown off because many of these new territories would be occupied by slave owning farmers, and likely become a slave state. To solve this issue, the Northern and Southern representatives compromised, and drew a line at 36 degrees, 30 minutes. With this line came the addition of Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. The idea of drawing a line to forbid slavery may have worked then, but around 1850, the citizens of both the

While looking at a map of the electoral college vote (Doc. H), it is clear that the country was geographically divided, and this had the result of increased feelings of separation for the South, from the rest of the country. Lincoln realized that no more compromises could be made, and during a speech in Alton, Illonois, he tried to turn the issues away from the main topic which resulted in all the compromises, slavery (Doc. G). In a way he was making another compromise, but the South did not like it one bit, so they later succeed from the