Did the Compromise of 1850 Delay the Breakup of the Union, or Did it Actually Create More Problems?

This states how the compromises made between the northern and southern sections of the United States before the civil war actually did not prevent the break up of the Union but instead created more problems. I agree with this quote completely because it is evident that if the compromises were effective a civil war would not have broken out.

Slavery was a way of life in the south. The economy of the south relied heavily on agriculture and southern landowners found the help they needed with slaves. When the northern states tried to abolish slavery this caused controversy because if slavery was abolished the southern economy would be decimated.

The compromises between the north and south started when controversy arose about whether to admit Missouri as a free or slave state. The compromise that was made stated that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state but an imaginary line would be drawn and slavery would only be permitted under this line. This compromise showed that the federal government had the power to limit slavery and also that actions were being taken to start to reduce slavery in America.

The next controversy between the north and south arose when the topic of building a railroad from the east coast to the west was brought up in congress. Of course the northern states wanted the railroad to be built in a northern state in order to be near cities that are focused on manufacturing while southern states wanted the railroad to be built in the south in order to help connect the south with other parts of America. In order for this railroad to receive funding from the federal government the northern states had to convince southern senators to vote for the railroad to be built in northern states. The northern states accomplished this by the compromise of 1850. This compromise stated that Kansas and Nebraska would be allowed to use popular sovereignty in order to determine the status of slavery. This led to a lot of controversy. Northern states argued that this would violate the Missouri compromise and that the aspect of slavery should stay out of argument for the location of a railroad. Eventually Kansas and Nebraska were allowed to use popular sovereignty to determine the status of slavery and this led to blood shed. Kansas was nick named "Bloody Kansas" due to the amount of fighting that went on.

It is clear that these compromises led to conflict. The conflict was a preview of what was to come in the civil war. The compromises were not intended to work they were meant to put off the inevitable. The sectionalism that was present during the 1800s could not have been fixed with compromises because of the diverse ideas in the different sections of the countries and that is why the compromises caused more problems and led to the civil war.