How the 1850 Compromise Delayed War

In this episode, we delve into the topic of How the 1850 Compromise Delayed War. {"transcription":"WEBVTT\n\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620\nImagine turning on the news right now and you\n\n00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.459\nfind out that members of Congress are settling\n\n00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:08.580\ntheir policy debates with actual fistfights.\n\n00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:10.960\nRight. Just brawling in the aisles. Exactly.\n\n00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:13.539\nAnd not just that. They are challenging each\n\n00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.519\nother to duels and they are literally drawing\n\n00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.519\nloaded revolvers pointing them at one another\n\n00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:21.359\nright there on the House floor. It sounds like\n\n00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.079\na scene from some dystopian political thriller\n\n00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:26.730\nor something. It really does. But that wasn't\n\n00:00:26.730 --> 00:00:30.109\nfiction. That was the absolute verified reality\n\n00:00:30.109 --> 00:00:32.789\nof the United States government in 1850. Yeah,\n\n00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:34.549\nthe government was just completely paralyzed\n\n00:00:34.549 --> 00:00:36.950\nby internal divisions. I mean, the hostility\n\n00:00:36.950 --> 00:05:40.220\nSoil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery\n\n00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:43.060\nto protect the economic interests of white laborers,\n\n00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:45.240\ngained 12 seats in the House of Representatives.\n\n00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:48.759\nCreating a total kingmaker scenario. Yes. The\n\n00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.040\nHouse was so closely divided between Whigs and\n\n00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.100\nDemocrats that neither side could form a majority\n\n00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:57.319\nwithout appeasing those free soilers. Just trying\n\n00:05:57.319 --> 00:05:59.540\nto elect a Speaker of the House turned into an\n\n00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:02.069\nexhausting marathon. The source mentions it took\n\n00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:04.509\n62 agonizing ballots just to choose somebody\n\n00:06:04.509 --> 00:06:07.269\nto hold the gavel. Three weeks of voting and\n\n00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:09.050\ntensions The source notes he wanted to\n\n00:13:45.049 --> 00:13:47.509\ncreate two giant free states out of the West\n\n00:13:47.509 --> 00:13:49.570\nand he was ready to veto the compromise. He was\n\n00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:51.509\neven willing to risk an armed clash with Texas\n\n00:13:51.509 --> 00:13:54.960\nover it. If he had lived and would the Civil\n\n00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.179\nWar have started in 1850 instead of 1861? And\n\n00:13:58.179 --> 00:14:01.519\nif it had, without that decade of Northern industrialization,\n\n00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.720\nhow different would the map of North America\n\n00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:05.879\nlook today? It completely changes everything.\n\n00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:08.179\nIt really does. Something for you to chew on\n\n00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:09.419\nuntil our next deep dive.\n","format":"vtt","status":"published"}