Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws passed in 1850 that dealt with the controversial issue of slavery in the United States.^[1] As a result of the Mexican–American War, the United States acquired a large amount of new territory.^[2] The laws admitted California as a free state, and created the new territories of New Mexico and Utah.^[1] A dispute over the boundary between Texas and New Mexico was settled with Texas losing territory to New Mexico.

The United States in 1850

The conpromise put an end to the slave trade in Washington, D.C. and made it easier for Southern slaveowners to recover runaway slaves. The compromise called for each new state to decide for itself whether it would be a slave or free states. The commerce and trade compromise ended the slave trade and eventually led to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Background

The Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, was an agreement between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress.^[3] It concerned the regulation of slavery in the western territories.^[3] It admitted Missouri as a slave state to please the South and Maine as a free state to please the North.^[4] It kept the balance of power in the Senate between the free states and the slave states.^[4] The plan also called for slavery to be banned from Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36 degrees 30' north (also known as the Missouri Compromise Line), except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri.^[4] It was a temporary measure that reduced the conflict over slavery.^[5]

However, there was continued resentment between North and South. The South resented Congress interfering with slavery.^[5] The North resented having to compromise on the moral issues of slavery.^[5] Both sides wanted the political power necessary for their issue to win.^[5] In his book Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power, the historian Garry Wills wrote that “the South was not demanding slave representation to achieve a near-parity at the moment, but as a way of achieving majority control in the immediately foreseeable future.”^[5][6]

In 1849, when Zachary Taylor became president, the new territories the U.S. gained after the Mexican-American war caused the issue of slavery to become critical again.^[7] The California Gold Rush had caused the population there to suddenly increase and Californians now wanted statehood as a free state.^[7] This upset the balance of 15 free states and 15 slave states established by the Missouri Compromise.^[7]

Debate

Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky presented resolutions on January 29, 1850 saying they represented the spirit of compromise that would keep the Union together.^[a] Former Vice President and Senator from South Carolina John C. Calhoun saw it differently.^[7] For a month he worked on a speech but was too ill to deliver it. Senator James A. Mason of Virginia read it on the floor of the Senate on March 4.^[7] In a speech on March 7, Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts spoke in favor of compromise.

Abolitionists in the North saw this as a betrayal and giving in to slavery interests.^[7] Senator William H. Seward from New York spoke next for the abolitionists. He claimed there was a "higher law than the Constitution," which prevented any compromise with slavery.^[7]

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives was also debating the question. No agreements had been reached by early April and so a committee was suggested by Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi. Called the "Committee of Thirteen," it was made up of seven Whigs^[b] and six Democrats.^[c] The committee drafted a bill based mainly on Clay's compromise resolutions made in January.^[7] Clay himself was the chairman and presented the bill on May 8.^[7]

The Compromise

Each side got some benefits from the compromise:

The North

• California was admitted to the Union as a free state.^[13]
• The slave trade was prohibited in Washington, DC.^[13]
• Texas lost the territory in New Mexico.^[13]

The South

• No restrictions on slavery were placed in the new territories.^[13]
• Those who owned slaves in Washington, DC, could keep them.^[13]
• Texas got $10 million in compensation from the federal government for the loss of the territory in New Mexico.^[13]
• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 passed.^[13]

The West

• New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory would choose whether to allow slavery or not in what was called popular sovereignty.

Notes

1. Secession was not a new threat. It had been discussed as early as 1776 when the Continental Congress wanted to tax all Thirteen Colonies based on a population count that included slaves.^[8] South Carolina threatened to separate themselves from the other 12 colonies over the issue.^[8] From then to the outbreak of the American Civil War, anytime a minority sectional dispute came up, often over slavery, the threat of secession would be used.^[8] It was a matter of concern when the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 in Philadelphia.^[8] Secession was closely tied to the thinking of members of the Whig Party.^[8] They thought was that rebellion (such as in 1776) was a right of a state against any form of despotic government.^[8]
2. The Whig Party was named after a faction in English politics that opposed royal tyranny.^[9] It were formed in 1834, split from the Democratic-Republican Party.^[9] It opposed the policies of Andrew Jackson, who was called by some “King Andrew."^[9] It believed in limited government, strictly following the Constitution, and avoiding treaties with foreign governments.^[10]
3. In 1850, the Democratic Party had evolved from the Jeffersonian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party, which had been organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and had opposed the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. The Democratic Party started as a split from the Democratic-Republican Party, and followers of Andrew Jackson began to call themselves Democrats.^[11] They were firmly behind states' rights—the right of each state to make and enforce their own laws.^[12]