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Yes, if there had been a compromise there wouldn't have been a war. No, the country probably wasn't going to be able to compromise over slavery forever.
Yes, the civil war generation -- or its politicians -- failed at something that earlier generations had been able to manage (compromise), but they failed because it was getting harder to compromise.
Whether we should have been compromising or not doesn't affect the practical side of the matter. I don't have a problem with what Kelly said.