Chapter in Perspective

The Compromise of 1850 proved to be an armistice rather than a settlement of the sectional crisis. The issues raised by America's geographic expansion in the 1840s, particularly the status of slavery in the territories, burst forth again in the 1850s to shatter the Union. Several earlier developments contributed to the intensifying sectional conflict in this period. The revivals of the Second Great Awakening and the abolitionist movement which began in the 1830s had a continuing impact. So did the evolution of the democratic political system, with its tendency to appeal to popular emotions. The unique features of the culture of the Old South, which largely derived from the institution of slavery, fostered fears among southern whites for their security and the security of slavery in the Union. And finally, the expansion of the market and the national transportation system had an uneven impact on the sections and weakened the economic and political alliance between the West and the South.