... territories, politicians in 1846 began floating a variety of plans for resolving the issue of whether those states would be slave or free. This territorial issue seriously divided the Whig and Democratic parties and spawned a third party, known as the Free-Soil party.
The Wilmot Proviso and the Expansion of Slavery
In August 1846, while the Mexican War was still in progress, antislavery Democrat David Wilmot proposed that Congress prohibit slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. ... A series of incidents provoked one side or the other, exacerbated tensions, and ultimately climaxed in the winter of 1860 - 1861 with Southern secession. ... By February 1861, six other Deep South states had withdrawn from the Union and sent representatives to Montgomery, Alabama, to form a new nation -- the Confederate States of America. ...
Conclusion: The Failure of Compromise
Though the North and the South had divided over issues since the colonial era, compromises and solutions had always been found to preserve the union. But the extended crisis from 1846 - 1861 over the expansion of slavery brought the nation to a critical juncture.
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