A. Companies compete with each other for business
All of the other answers can be safely eliminated since they are more characteristic of a socialist economy. Answer choice A also makes sense, considering that private companies in capitalist countries like the United States compete with each other for business all the time.
If you're referring to the Civil War era, in the years leading up to the war, once such compromise could have been that slavery could continue to exist where it was, but not spread to other states.
A nuclear war between the U.S. and the U.S.U almost became a reality because the Soviet Union stuck missiles in Cuba... I think thats right :)
