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The Missouri Compromise

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South Carolinian, John H. Cochran chronicled the agitation in South Carolina during the nullification crisis. Cochran’s mother received a letter from Cochran explaining the rising anxiety and uncertainty of war in South Carolina at the time. Cochran states “So much so that thinking men believe that a war between the sections is imminent” (Cochran, VS). Cochran details how the country is in a fearful state of agitation, and Cochran claims visiting family at the time would be too difficult due to the impending possibility of war. In the 19th century, America lost all sectional compromise between the North and the South. The first step towards the complete downfall, the Missouri Compromise occurred in 1820 because of Henry Clay. The North and …show more content…

The North and the South had different views on slavery at the time, the South wanted to expand slavery westward while the North wanted slavery to stay put. The South felt it was a state right to expand slavery and thought it would be best for the economy if slavery continued to expand. After years of dispute, finally in 1820, a man by the name of Henry Clay led the North and South to an agreement, known today as the Missouri Compromise. Missouri ended up becoming a slave state, Maine became a free state, which created a balance in the senate. The senate required an equal number of slave states and non-slave states. Henry Clay also included the 36/30 parallel in the Missouri Compromise. The 36/30 parallel stated any state who applies for statehood, from that point on, if the state lied above the 36/30 parallel it became free, and any state below the 36/30 parallel became slave. The Missouri Compromise worked for a long time, satisfying the needs of the North and the South. However, the Missouri Compromise exposed the opposing views on states rights the North had compared to the …show more content…

In the 1830’s and 1840’s, the idea of popular sovereignty got introduced to Americans by a man named Stephen Douglas. Popular sovereignty, a right that a state could vote and decide, based on a popular opinion, the societal standpoint of the state, free versus slave. After America won the Mexican War, America gained a lot of land when Mexico ceded. Again, the North and South didn’t know what to do regarding the new land. Thanks once again to Henry Clay, America found a way to compromise. Texas became a slave state, California became a free state, and the Utah/New Mexico territories organized with popular sovereignty. Even though America compromised, compromise between the North and South was non-existent. The nullification crisis broke apart the compromise between the sections of the U.S. and popular sovereignty allowed, what little was left of peace, fade. Popular sovereignty had the biggest impact in the Kansas/Nebraska Act in 1854. The KA/NB act is considered as the true end of the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas/Nebraska Act is also referred to as “Bleeding Kansas”, because of the violence that occurred. The people in Kansas felt popular sovereignty should be granted as a state right, Kansas is a large farming area, so Kansas really wanted to become a slave state. When Kansas was granted popular sovereignty, it was the last straw for anti-slaves. People against slavery, moved from all over the country to fight the

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