How did the nation try but fail to deal with growing sectional differences?

Failed compromises--Missouri Compromise, Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act
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After the gaining of land following the Mexican-American War, the Missouri Compromise was thrown out. After that was a series of compromises put into place which essentially was putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. Each pushed off the issues of slave v. free states until the election of 1860.