Compromises' Impact on the Slavery Issue

After the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the relationship between the Northern and Southern United States went awry with the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Compromise of 1850. The Compromise in 1820 that admitted Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and set the boundary of slavery at the 36 30 line, was uneasy, but satisfied each region because both agreed that they had gotten what they wanted. However, with the introduction of the Compromise of 1850, Southern dissatisfaction aroused opposition to the North, who seemed to be the overall benefactor of the bill despite the sacred balance that it sought to achieve. Finally, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, it let slavery in those states to be decided by popular sovereignty. The problem with this was that it violated both prior Compromises, and practically nullified the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Eventually, Northerners and Southerners were both deeply angered, the Democratic Party was shattered, and the beginning of the Civil war was imminent.