[Do not dub me shapka broham]

I think the sticking point here is the financing.

I'm not certain that they could have worked out a workable formula, either.

Not because there weren't sufficient funds, but because there were forces inimical to abolition, regardless of how much economic sense it made.

No one wanted to breach the subject-in a serious manner-because they felt that it would provoke armed conflict, which was an eventuality, no matter who was president or which party happened to be in control of Congress at the time.

My firm belief is that the conflict over the issue of slavery was made needlessly bloody by prolonging the resolution of this question.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Correction to earlier post.

"Broach..."

[justshutupandtakeit]

We can blame Eli Whitney.