The Compromise of 1850

1. The Compromise of 1850 By: Hanna Gorman Torrie Mitchell & Trisha Patel

2. The Compromise of 1850 • The Compromise of 1850, a series of five statues shepherded to passage by Stephen A. Douglas, was approved in September. • This Compromise: • called for the admittance of California as a free state, • set the present boundaries for Texas, • allowed the territories of New Mexico and Utah to be organized on the basis of popular sovereignty, • strengthened the fugitive slave law, • abolished the slave trade in Washington D.C. • Such provisions directly contradicted certain tenets of the Missouri Compromise, resulting in discontent among many northerners.

3. The Compromise of 1850 Cont. • Put together by Henry Clay, finished by Stephen Douglas • Provisions of the Compromise of 1850: • California would be a free state. • Utah and New Mexico would choose whether to permit slaves or not through a “popular vote”. • The sale of slaves would not be allowed in the District of Columbia. • Congress would pass a law saying that it would not and could not regulate interstate commerce of slavery. • Texas lost land in the west to New Mexico but received $10 million to pay debts incurred during its days as a republic. • A runaway slave act would be enacted.

4. Results of the Compromise of 1850 • Slave states were now outnumbered so the North controlled the Senate and the House of Representatives. • The Compromise of 1850 sowed seeds for Civil War even though it delayed it for ten years. • The delay of the war turned out to be good for the North and bad for the South.

5. The United States in 1850 • This map shows how the United States had become a nation containing two, rival social and economic systems by 1850. • In 1850 the Congress, led by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, hammered out a convoluted compromise legislation that promised to ease the mounting political tensions between the two sections. • But Douglas' drive to organize the Kansas and Nebraska territories west of Iowa and Missouri for statehood only reopened the sections' competition for political primacy. • The question remained: Would the new states of Kansas and Nebraska allow slavery, or ban it? This issue brought Abraham Lincoln from political retirement and helped to organize the new Republican Party.

6. The United States in 1850

7. Zachary Taylor at the Helm • The slavery issue dominated Taylor's short term. Although he owned slaves on his plantation in Louisiana, he took a moderate stance on the territorial expansion of slavery, angering fellow Southerners. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered. Henry Clay then proposed a complex Compromise of 1850. Taylor died as it was being debated. (The Clay version failed but another version did pass under the new president, Millard Fillmore.)

8. Zachary Taylor at the Helm Cont. • Taylor rejected Calhoun’s idea that the protection of slavery relied upon the spread of it westward. • He taught that it would be best to leave the issue of slavery in the west alone. • He also believed that neither California or New Mexico were suited for slavery. • Taylor prompted that California should apply directly for admission as a free state. • Hinted that New Mexico should do the same.

9. Zachary Taylor at the Helm Cont. • His strategy appeared to guarantee a quick, practical solution to the problem of slavery extension. • The lead to the acknowledgement of a state having the authority to decided whether it would allow slavery or not. • This was the foundation of the South’s defense against to abolishment of slavery. • Nothing in the Constitution forbid a state to act one way or the other on the issue of slavery. • Taylor’s plan dismayed Southerners of both parties. • Whigs were skeptical that slavery wouldn’t take root in California or New Mexico.

10. Henry Clay Proposes a Compromise • The Compromise was composed of: • 1.      The admission of California as a free state. • 2.      The division of the remainder of the Mexican cession into the territories, New Mexico and Utah, without federal restrictions on slavery. • 3.      The settlement of the Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute on terms favorable to New Mexico. • 4.      An agreement that the federal government would settle all of Texas’ public debt. • 5.      In the District of Columbia the abolishment of the slave trade. • 6.      And lastly a more effective fugitive slave law.

11. Henry Clay Proposes a Compromise Cont. • All of these propositions were lumped into one bill then presented to Congress by Clay, Daniel Webster, and Calhoun. • During the time of the bill being debated in Congress, Clay would break all his ties to Taylor. • This occurred after Taylor attacked Clay, calling him a glory- hunter. • In the summer of 1850 a resolution would begin to become clear. • In June, the Nashville convention met to discuss southern right. • Only 9 of the current 15 sent delegates, most from the Deep South.

12. Henry Clay Proposes a Compromise Cont. • Taylor then died on July 9 after over eating and drinking on Independence Day. • Soon he was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. • Fillmore then proved himself to be more favorable than Taylor to the Compromise. • The compromise experienced a number of amendments. • Then Stephan A. Douglas replaced Clay. • To gain the Democrats support he included the principle of popular sovereignty in the bill organizing New Mexico and Utah.

13. Henry Clay Proposes a Compromise Cont. • By the end of the summer passed all parts of the Compromise of 1850: • Statehood for California. • Territorial states for New Mexico and Utah. • Resolution of the Tex-New Mexico boundary disagreement. • Federal assistance for the Texas debt. • Abolition of slave trade in the District of Columbia. • And a new fugitive slave law.

14. Assessing the Compromise • President Fillmore hailed the compromise as a “final settlement” of sectional decisions. • Although Congress backed the compromise, the majority of congressmen opposed all of the specific bills that made up the compromise. • These measures passed only because the minority of congressmen who genuinely desired compromise combined with the majority in either the North or the South who favored each specific bill.

15. Assessing the Compromise Cont. • The North won California as a free state, New Mexico and Utah as future free states, a favorable settlement of the Texas-New Mexico boundary, and the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. • The South gained the fact that the terms of the Wilmot Proviso had been covered up and they gained a more stringent fugitive slave law.

16. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act • Northern moderates accepted the Fugitive Slave Act as a price the North had to pay to save the Union, but disagreed with many parts of the law. • The Fugitive Slave Act: • Denied fugitives the right to a jury trial. • Did not allow fugitives to testify on their behalf. • Permitted a fugitive’s return to slavery merely on the testimony of the claimant. • Enabled court-appointed commissioners to collect $10 if they ruled for the slave holder but only $5 if they ruled for the fugitive.

17. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act Cont. • The law targeted not only recent runaways but also those who had fled the South decades earlier. • Efforts to catch and return fugitive slaves inflamed feelings in both the North and the South. (ex. Anthony Burns’ return to slavery by Pres. Franklin Pierce)

18. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act Cont. • In response to the Fugitive Slave Act: • Committees sprang up in the north to guide blacks to safety in Canada. • “Personal-liberty laws”- tried to keep state officials from enforcing the law. • Most southerners felt that they had gained little from the Compromise of 1850 or the Fugitive Slave Act.

19. Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe. • Aroused wide northern sympathy for fugitive slaves. • The book played on the emotions of readers by showing how slavery tore the family apart. • 300,000 copies were sold in 1852

20. Uncle Tom’s Cabin Cont. • The novel reflected many stereotypes of blacks. (ex. Dark-skinned blacks were submissive) • Some plays that were based on the book often softened the book’s antislavery message. • Southerners that feared the book’s impact created anti-Uncle Tom novels.

21. The Election of 1852 • The Fugitive Slave Act fragmented the Whig Party. • The Whig’s nomination of Winfield Scott further separated the party. • The Democrat’s nominated Franklin Pierce. • Democrat’s supported the Compromise and the idea of popular sovereignty to all territories. • Franklin Pierce wins in a landslide!