The Struggle Of Sectional Tensions Between Northern And Southern States

The collapse of the Union was a result of the schism separating northern and southern states, originating from differing opinions on slavery which ultimately incited the South’s secession.

As the election of 1860 drew near, hopeful democratic and republican candidates emerged despite the already turbulent condition of the nation over the issue of slavery. The Democratic ballot was split between the northern representative Stephen Douglas and southern representative John Breckinridge, while alone on the Republican ballot was Abraham Lincoln. Prior to the election, Lincoln and Douglas became engaged in a series of debates, most of which focused on slavery. Douglas expressed, in his opinion, that African Americans should not be allowed to gain
However the election of Abraham Lincoln was not the only reason for secession, but a rather a series of rooted problems. Sectional tensions between northern and southern states arose as early as the 1840s when America first began its westward expansion into new territories. Every new territory added raised the question of its position on slavery, as the balance between free and slave states was fragile. In an attempt to gain supporters and appeal to both citizens from the north and south, Douglas introduced the idea of popular sovereignty i n which the citizens of the territory would choose whether it entered the Union pro-slavery or anti-slavery. While this may have seemed like a good idea at the time, it did not prove to be so good in Kansas. In Kansas, people migrated from both the north and the south in an attempt to sway the vote on the issue of slavery in their favor. Unable to reach a peaceful decision, Kansas was soon known as “Bleeding Kansas” when a few small scale fights broke out between the two sides. The news of this violence proved that the sectional conflict would be much harder to mend than it originally
The earliest of these efforts can be traced back to the Compromise of 1850, when California was admitted as a free state and let the other territories decide for themselves. This lead to the next attempted temporary solution which was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Nebraska was split into two territories, one which turned into Kansas, with the thought that Nebraska would become a free state and Kansas a slave. Although this was ultimately achieved, the conflict over Kansas sparked more hostility between the divided United States. The last major attempt at compromise was the Crittenden Compromise which occurred right before the bombardment of Fort Sumter. This compromise proposed that slavery would be allowed to exist in slave states and other laws would be adjusted to make the south content; however these changes would upset the north. Like the other attempts, this compromise also was rejected, and there was now nothing preventing the impending