In the 19th century, the North and South regions in the U.S. had been divided. The Southern economy was driven by cotton plantations, which were worked on by enslaved African-Americans. Conversely, the North depended more on manufacturing and paid workers. The North had a sentiment of abolishing slavery; however, this was not shared by the South. Several political events contributed to the advent of the civil war; however, the two main ones that will be discussed include the compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott Decision. In the first event, Henry Clay conceived a compromise that was enforced on September 9th in 1850, to help reduce the tension between the North and South.
It achieved so by communicating five propositions, with the first one being that California was to the union as a free state. The second compromise was that Texas would renounce land for money from the government. Third, all the new territories added to the union would choose to either exist as a free or slavery state by democracy.
The final compromise was the passing of the new Fugitive Slave Law, which stated that any individual assisting a slave to escape to the North would face severe repercussions. Slaves could also be returned to their masters. This compromise angered both the North and South as neither of the parties was fully appeased, leading to the civil war. In the Dred Scott case on May 26, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that having resided in a free state does not warrant an enslaved individual, which in this case was Dred Scott, to freedom. The decision stemmed from the viewpoint that slaves are properties of their masters and that African Americans are not citizens of the U.S.; therefore, they could not sue in federal court. Consequentially, the Missouri legislation was null and void. This move angered the North, contributing to the outbreak of the war.