For the majority of American History leading up to the Civil War, civilians had been divided over the issue of slavery and politics. The nation had a long history of compromise that seemed necessary to keep the nation unified. Most of these compromises avoided the issue of slavery, as politicians and “great compromisers” like Henry Clay aimed to prevent the inevitable split between the North and South. There was a turning point, however, in the North and South, when compromise was no longer an option. Although the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was the immediate and final trigger for southern secession, other attributes including the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 drove the South further towards…