Question

How did great statesmen such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster help keep national harmony? Can there be true harmony when compromising on a moral issue such as slavery? Why or why not?

Answer 1

How did great statesmen such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster help keep national harmony?

Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster were three senators that dominated US politics in 1812. They were responsible for many compromises during a time of instability because of the issue of slavery. Clay was responsible for the Missouri Compromise and for the Compromise Tariff of 1833. Calhoun defended that the Federal Government should protect slavery so the southern states could feel comfortable staying in the Union. Daniel Webster accepted Calhoun’s proposal, he pleaded with northerners to accept the south state's demands for the sake of the Union.

Can there be true harmony when compromising on a moral issue such as slavery? Why or why not?

Today is not possible to comprehend true harmony with the moral issue as slavery. But morality was not an issue in that time and they opted to remain a Union than to deal with the slavery “problem”. The problem was that this issue became bigger and bigger until it became the main problem of the nation, leading to the Civil War. This way. Lincoln took the matter as the main problem and objective of the War.