Missouri Compromise Dbq Analysis

Before 1860 the American government had always settled its disagreements with compromise. The Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska act are all instances where there were disagreements settled with compromise. This worked until the tension over slavery started to result in violence. By the year 1860 it seemed that nobody was willing to compromise. This was because there was no more room for compromise with slavery, the growing hatred of it in the North meant it had to be dealt with, each side had compromised as much as they were willing to. For the South this meant if succeeding meant they could keep their slaves they wouldn’t hesitate. For the North this meant that the country would be getting hard and harder …show more content…
Any issue involving states rights now were about slavery. People in the North who opposed slavery were started to make their opinions and views seen by other people. These men and woman were known as abolitionists. Most abolitionists knew that Congress wouldn’t be able to rid slavery in the states that is already existed in but they could interfere with the exchange of slaves between masters and states, (Doc. B). Fredrick Douglass was as abolitionist who had broken out of slavery. He had been born into it and lived it for most of his life. He taught himself how to read and write. Despite not knowing his age he was a very smart man. He had published a book telling about his life and the truths of slavery in the South. This caused quite the stir in the North, in an attempt to resolve the pandemonium that Fredrick Douglass’s book had caused the House of Representatives came up with the Gag Rule which prevented all media from publishing any news stories or books that dealt with slavery, (Doc. C). Another bill that tried to relieve some of the tension was the Compromise of 1850. The United States had just defeated Mexico in the Mexican American War and with Mexico’s defeat we had taken more land, (to the victors go the spoils). California, a territory who now had enough people to join the Union thanks to the gold rush, hoped to join as a free state. This created a problem because California is both North and …show more content…
The Kansas Nebraska Act let the people of Kansas decide through popular sovereignty if Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. Lots of people with different opinions flooded into Kansas to get their voices heard. This political confrontation was a boiling pot, which eventually boiled over; this event was and is still known as Bleeding Kansas. Bleeding Kansas was basically a massacre between a pro and an anti- slavery group. It started when James Doyle and his brothers (pro slavery) sacked the city of Lawrence. John Brown didn’t like this too much and led his men in the dead of night to the Doyle’s cabin, they then proceeded to kill every single man in the cabin, this is also known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. Shortly after Bleeding Kansas Charles Sumner was giving his anti-slavery speech about the Kansas-Nebraska act to the Senate. Preston Brooks, who was a pro-slavery senator from the South beat Sumner down and nearly killed him with a cane on the floor of the Senate. He is congratulated when he returns to the South. He also receives a lot of canes as gifts from people. (Doc. E). This basically put the nail in the coffin for the hopes of compromises and predicted the violent war that is approaching. In his speech on October 15, 1858 Abraham Lincoln talks about his thoughts on slavery. “Is it on this same mighty,