10th May 2004, 2:34 PM
Post civil war had problems too, with the north in control and reconstructing the south fairly harshly... and as for before the 1850s... well, slavery had been an issue forever. It just got worst in the 1850s, but it'd been a problem for a long time... not as critically, but the compromises about slavery go all the way back to the Declaration of Independance!