Slavery: The Missouri Compromise Of 1850

A confluence of political, economic and social factors, starting with the founding of our great nation and persisting with Congressional battles over states’ rights, led to the Civil War. Yet the ultimate strike that broke the cohesiveness of the Union was the divisive issue of slavery. Despite some nuance between positions on the issue regarding popular sovereignty and government power, the facts remained that half of the country supported the institution of slavery and the other half of the country wanted it abolished from the land. When these political, social, and economic winds swirled around Fort Sumter in April of 1861, the only outcome and only measure to preserve the Union was the Civil War. In the fifty plus years after the end of the international slave trade in the United States in 1808, …show more content…
The Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and many more agreements that attempted to create balance in the country only furthered tensions because they merely papered over the issue instead of addressing the root cause. As Western expansion grew our national borders through the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican-American War, and the California gold rush, a large issue arose as to how these new territories would be divided into states with respect to slavery laws. Since the more populous North dominated the House of Representatives, Southern equality in the Senate was the only way to preserve slavery. Since each newly admitted State was automatically granted two Senate seats, it was critical to the South that new additions to the Union balance the introduction of free and slave States. The Wilmot Proviso was a major battle in Congress that would have banned slavery in territory gained from the Mexican-American War and altered the introduction of new states into the Union. With each step the United States took to acquire new land,