Americans sought to resolve their political disputes through compromise yet by 1860 this no longer seemed possible why?

Answer 1

he debate over slavery and states' rights had become so intense by 1860 that the South was ready to break away altogether, and they did not want to cooperate with the North. They felt they were being exploited and taken advantage of by the North. The economy, culture, and various ways of life had developed diffrently throughout the U.S., creating a feeling of disunity. They had no reason to compromise and work out their disputes because they wanted to form a confederacy of their own. Solutions to these issues had been pushed back for decades until, finally, the Civil War erupted.

Ok, so you need to talk about the whole popular sovereignty thing. Also, Compromise of 1850--Fugitive Slave Act, that's imperative. Um....three/fifths compromise, all that jazzy stuff they mentioned when they first wrote the Constitution. Then, you can say that it all began to deteriorate because of the dramatic economic, social, and political issues between the north and the south.

Economic--Southern dependence on stape crop (mostly cotton), northern industrialist society.

Social--obviously the slave issue (sambo vs Nat), John Brown's massacre

Political--wide breadth of subject matter