A Slippery Slope

As with all great conflicts in history, it was not one factor but rather a multitude of issues that led to the breakdown of compromise during the 19th century and eventually to the Civil War. The government of the period was entirely content to sweep the issue of slavery under the rug, contrasting sharply with the strongly polar feelings of the nation, with the South wanting to expand the ‘peculiar institution’ and the North beginning to see it as a moral dilemma. The combination of these contradictory views set the stage for purely sectional political parties, the development of which precluded any further hope of peacefully settling the issue. As the federal government became increasingly complacent in its handling of slavery and the North became decreasingly tolerant of the institution, the nation split along party lines and eliminated any hope of reconciliation. A lack of government inclination to intervene on the issue dividing the nation was a major force that led to the breakdown of compromise during the time period. The blunt statement of the Pinckney Committee of 1836 was a gag rule prohibiting the discussion of abolitionist ideas in the House (Document C). Such an act was an outright rejection of legislators to even consider solving the problem of the giant elephant in the room. This concept of standing by passively was exemplified and later personified in the 1850s. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, promoting popular sovereignty in the two territories, directly spoke for Congress abdicating its authority over the expansion of slavery, instead placing the sole responsibility in the hands of the people. This action had physical and political impact: Bleeding Kansas, the violent precursor to the Civil War; and, perhaps even more importantly, a complete violation of the Missouri Compromise that had stitched the nation back together 3 decades prior. The passivity took human faces in 1856, when Charles Sumner was beaten near to death in the Senate