The Compromise of 1850: Reasons, Impact, and Key Players

1. Bellwork

2. Compromise of 1850 8.67 Explain the reasons for and the impact of the Compromise of 1850, including the roles played Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun and the Fugitive Slave Law.

3. Background Info of America in 1850 • California, thanks to the Gold Rush, experienced a rapid population growth and was set to become the 31st state (and thanks to Mexico having prohibited slavery, there were very few slaves in California—it would become a free state). With no other region ready for statehood, the Senate balance would be tipped in favor of free states. • Texas, a slave state, was trying to expand its borders into New Mexico territory, which would open that territory up to slavery, something the North did not like. • Wilmot Proviso had failed, which would have banned slavery in the West.

4. To add California or not… • California met all of the requirements for statehood. But it did not have a slave state ready to join, which the Missouri Compromise required. The South was concerned about future slave laws. • Henry Clay (Kentucky) set out a series of compromises, but John C Calhoun (South Carolina) wrote a speech explaining what the South would need before it agreed to any deal. He knew slavery was in danger of being eliminated.

5. Calhoun’s Demands • The North had to agree to protect slavery. • Clay’s compromises were not fair to the South because they would lead to financial ruin if slavery were abolished. • His language implied that the South would consider breaking away from the United States.

6. Daniel Webster’s Seventh of March Speech • Trying to bring the sides together, Webster, of Massachusetts, argued that slavery was not going to be eliminated in the South, and because of the desert climate, it would not succeed in the West, so why argue about it? • He encouraged the Senators to agree to Clay’s compromise. • The telegraph transmitted his speech around the nation, where it was well-liked. Except in New England. They felt betrayed by their own Senator, so much that he had to resign.

7. Compromise

8. Fugitive Slave Act • This new Fugitive Slave Act forced citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves. It also denied slaves the right to a jury trial and increased the penalty for interfering with the capture process to $1,000 and six months in jail. • In order to ensure the law was enforced, the 1850 law also placed control of individual cases in the hands of federal commissioners. These agents were paid more for returning a suspected slave than for freeing them, leading many to argue the law was biased in favor of Southern slaveholders.

10. Example of a poster that would be found in the North. Many states passed laws that made it a crime to send a slave back to the South. Others passed laws that allowed citizens to ignore the Fugitive Slave Act.