Although the Compromise would collapse ten years later, plunging the nation into civil war, Clays victory in 1850 ultimately saved the Union by giving the North an extra decade to industrialize and prepare. A masterful narrative by an eminent historian, At the Edge of the Precipice also offers a timely reminder of the importance of bipartisanship in a bellicose age.
Background Information
Abolitionism was the movement, centered in the North, that abolition of slavery even in those states that had practiced it since the founding of the country. The Compromise of 1850 was a desperate attempt to prevent the issue of slavery from tearing the country apart, the disparate leaders came together in Congress to enact it. Secessionis the reverse of union, and involves the separation of a part of a unified country into political independence. Henry Clay of Kentucky was known as the Great Compromiser for his efforts to preserve the Union during the national controversy over slavery.