The 1850 Compromise, as a single event, caused more tension than any other in this time. The expansion of slavery into westwards territory had caused the North and South to be divided, the North wanting to prevent expansion into California, etc (California applied to the Union as a free state, a decision, which, if granted, would tip the power in the Senate in the North’s favour, leading to frequent threats of secession from Southern states). The 1850 Compromise attempted to solve this problem, but this proved more difficult as it did not address all of the issues dividing the sections until mid-1850 (8 months after the original Compromise had been submitted). The Compromise, although giving the illusion all was well, was just that: an illusion. Despite the fact the problems were ‘solved’, they were not – they were still not resolved. Two of the features of the Compromise were the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law, both building on the existing friction.
The Fugitive Slave Law was paradoxical for the South – they’d frequently opposed federal law, but completely backed this one, since it required the return of all runaway slaves to their owners. This law angered the North since it stripped the ‘slave’ of basic legal rights, prompting 8 Northern states to enact their own “personal liberty” laws to directly oppose the Fugitive Slave Law. This would undoubtedly contribute to increased sectional tension, since the North was hindering the Southern retrieval of slaves, and led to violence and attempted breakouts of suspected fugitives by Northerners.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act gave the two territories, created out of the 1850 Compromise, the chance to vote on the status of slavery. Kansas became a battleground for the two sections in a bid to win it for their region. By 1856, there were two legislatures, one antislavery and one proslavery. This caused such hostility in that The Sack of Lawrence saw 800 proslavery men arrest the leaders of the antislavery government, killing one man, sparking off a culture of revenge (From which the name ‘Bleeding Kansas’ is derived), i.e. attacks by both sides. The guerrilla warfare left 200 dead; the fact people were being killed suggests the tension between the two sections was being tipped over the edge.
The one theme behind all of the events of the 1850s is that of slavery. It was the main division between North and South, and was nonnegotiable. Neither side would back down on their stance, and there was no middle ground. Therefore, even if their other differences could be resolved, the issue of slavery would still be there, so much so that John Brown attempted a slave insurrection at Harper’s Ferry in 1859, his suicidal plan getting him executed in December the same year.
Thus, although there were numerous events that occurred that helped strengthen the tension between the sections, the issue of slavery links them all together, and so we can say that differences over slavery was the main reason why the hostility between North and South became so heated.
