Why Did The American Civil War Ever Happened?

What if the American Civil War had never happened? Would slavery have ended? Would America be anything like what it is today? If several key leaders in the early 1860’s had their way, the war would never have happened. These efforts were led mainly by leaders from northern and border states and they sometimes involve making major concession to southern leaders. The chain of events immediately prior to the Civil War were known as the Secession Crisis of 1860. This crisis was the culmination of many events that had fed into the South’s distrust and resentment towards the North. The most recent of theses events that hung in the mind of southerners were John Brown’s Raid and Lincoln's election. The raid deeply upset the South and lead to a lot
The Crittenden compromise was proposed in December of 1860 and contained a series of Constitutional amendments proposed to try and prevent the Civil War. These amendments would limit the powers of the federal government in regard to issues like slavery and states rights. The compromise stated that “Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of States that permit the holding of slaves”(Crittenden). It also reinforced the legality of slavery in Washington D.C.. However, to appease northern sentiments it included several provisions that would limit the growth of slavery. These included forbidding slavery above the 36° 30 line and it would reinforce the ban on the importation of slaves and participation in the international slave trade. The compromise also attempted to improve the much maligned Fugitive Slave Act by making it so the federal judges, tasked with determining if an individual was an escaped slave, would receive the same amount for setting a slave free or sending them to plantation labor (Crittenden). Despite its attempt at compromise it did not receive much backing within Congress, with many factions opposing it. Many northerners viewed the Crittenden Compromise as far too pro-southern; they viewed it as appeasement. Although it did have the support of some Northern Democrats like Stephen Douglas and Republican William H. Seward. One of its biggest failures was that it did not succeed to gain the support of President Lincoln. Lincoln believed that it gave up on Republican principles, and his disapproval lead to its failure to gain much support in Congress. The compromise’s defeat was a major blow to the attempts at peace prior to the war and proved this effort to simply not be enough to