Document Analysis

POV-Reason-Effect-Result

Sectional disputes arose beginning under Jackson’s presidency over public lands. In 1820, to promote the establishment of farms, Congress encouraged the rapid sale of public land by reducing the minimum land purchase from 160 to just 80 acres at a price of $1.25 per acre. Some groups favored even easier terms for land sales. Squatters, for example, who violated federal laws that forbade settlement prior to the completion of public surveys, pressured Congress to adopt preemption acts that would permit them to buy the land they occupied at the minimum price of $1.25 when it came up for sale. Thus politicians seizing on the opportunity to gather votes, ran political campaigns to appeal to voters demanding cheap land, using slogans like-Vote Yourself a Homestead which only exasperated the effort to maintain a reasonable approach to western settlement.

Green-POV (Prompt and Opinion)

Yellow-Reason/Event (Made Meaning)

Red-Effect (Documents and Made Meaning)

Blue-Result (Made Meaning)

The moral and social conflict over slavery rose to new levels during the time period of 1840-1860 that threatened any type of compromise. Large reform movements in the United States during this time included an increase in the numbers of abolitionist.

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Similarly, the South began its own crusade against abolition.

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As a result, the moral and social divide over slavery led to a fall out on any compromise.

The moral and social conflict over slavery rose to new levels during the time period of 1820-1860 that threatened any type of compromise. The large reform movements in the United States during this time included an increase in the power of abolitionism. William Lloyd Garrison’s, “The Liberator,” called for an immediate emancipation, and many free African Americans such as Fredrick Douglass called for abolition. The publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” inflamed new passion for abolitionism in the North. Similarly, the South began its own crusade against abolition. The Herald of Georgia strongly censured the Northerners by claiming that they were “devoid of society fitted for well-bred southern gentlemen” (Document F). Thus political and social division over slavery created numerous complications to compromise. Daniel Webster recognized the severity of such a clash by calling it a “moral impossibility” to have “peaceful secession” (Document D). Lincoln’s speech in 1858 also recognized that the slavery issue also made “a disturbance outside of political circles” (Document G). As a result, the moral and social divide over slavery led to a fall out on compromise.

Between 1840 and 1860 there was a significant shift in the political view on slavery that ultimately led to the collapse of compromises. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 were landmark agreements that Henry Clay engineered to keep the nation together.

However after northern disgust for the Compromise of 1850 specifically over the Fugitive Slave Law and the issuing of the Wilmot Proviso, did slavery threaten political disintegration

This political division over the issue of slavery eventually led to Southern secession and thus a collapse of compromise.

Between 1820 and 1860 there was a significant shift in the political view on slavery that ultimately led to the collapse of compromises. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 were landmark agreements that Henry Clay engineered to keep the nation together. In that time, the southern states did not adamantly politicize their stance on slavery. In 1833 Henry Clay explicitly stated that “it is impossible that South Carolina ever desired for a moment to secure a separate or independent state (Document A). In addition the Anti-Slavery Convention in 1834, though opposed to slavery, did not believe Congress had the “right to interfere with any of the slave states (Document B). These documents show that early political stances did not significantly threaten compromise. However after northern disgust for the Compromise of 1850 specifically over the Fugitive Slave Law and the issuing of the Wilmot Proviso, did slavery threaten political disintegration. This tension comes forward in the election of 1860 where not a single southern state voted for Lincoln. Consequently, this political division over the issue of slavery eventually led to Southern secession and thus a collapse of compromise.

The rising tension on slavery led to a rise in suspicion between the North and South.

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