The 1850s were a turbulent time in American history. The North and South had completely different views on the issue of slavery. The North viewed slavery as immoral and unconstitutional. The South, on the other hand, viewed slavery as a right. The South viewed African Americans as inferior human beings, which justified slavery. “The 1850s were a time of attempted compromise, when compromise was no longer possible.” This quote best describes this period, as Americans were trying to compromise to avoid major conflict, but many events made compromise impossible. The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. This law required that authorities in the North had to help Southern slave catchers recover and return slaves to their owners. Southerners favored this act because they saw no slavery in the western territories; through the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, it would help preserve slavery in the South. This law allowed southern slave owners to reclaim their slaves when they escaped to the North. This is why this law was important and essential to the survival of the South. The view on this act from the North was the opposite, especially from those who were black, they feared this act. Northern blacks were terrified that this act might allow them to be sent back to the South, even if they were innocent. This led to the creation of resistance groups in the North. Dred Scott was a slave. His master was a military surgeon based in Missouri. In the early 1830s and 1840s he and his master traveled to Illinois and Wisconsin Territory. It was in 1846 that Scott sued his master's widow to obtain freedom. His argument was that the state of... middle of paper ......ry six other states decided to leave the Union; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. These seven states formed the Confederate States of America, and on February 18, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president. There have been numerous peace talks on how to resolve the dispute, but nothing has worked. The South did not want to lose slavery and wanted future territories to experience slavery. Compromise was impossible. Coming back to the quote: “The 1850s were a time of attempted compromise where compromise was no longer possible. » During the 1850s, attempts at compromise were made by both the North and the South and failed. It failed because both sides wanted different things, making compromise impossible. This quote is just another way of saying that civil war was going to break out no matter what either side, North or South, did to try to stop it...