Preview

The Civil War: The Compromise Of 1850

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
882 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Civil War: The Compromise Of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was an effort to pacify the rising tensions between the north and the south. The issue of slavery was becoming a problem that none could overlook. This bitter rivalry was heating up even more so after the Mexican-American war. America won substantial amount of land, which stretched all the way to Mexico City. This land would give the south a grand portion of political power, surpassing the North. Henry Clay, supported by President Fillmore, created a compromise with the purpose of peacefully defusing the arguments that arose because of the war. However, Congress refused to pass this initial attempt. Fredrick Douglas would not let this answer stand, so he discovered a way to pass is through. He divided Clay’s bill into …show more content…
It was a grand lot of land, much larger than today’s borders. It was very large, and therefore had many congressional representatives in The House of Representatives. Moreover, because it was a southern state, the representatives usually had southern morals, outbalancing the northerners and stirring up tensions even further. Texas also consisted of land north of the Missouri Compromise line of 1820, opening the possibility for other states with southern morals to creep up to the North. The Compromise of 1850 ordered that the New Mexico and Utah territories would no longer be a part of Texas, as would the land north of the 36, 30° line. The latter was one of the most important parts of the compromise, because the land to the north would be free soil. It also further solidified the boundaries between the north and south. In return for giving up the land, the federal government would release Texas from all of its …show more content…
In the favor of the south, it prevented the Wilmot Proviso, which would have outlawed the slave trade in all territories gained in the Mexican American War. It also introduces “popular sovereignty,” a vote from the populous, as a way for a new territory to decide whether or not they would be a slave or free soil territory. However, this was not a pure system. The territories faced the same issue as “bleeding Kansas.” The north sent their own people to the territories as did the south. It became a competition of who could send more people. The last two sections dealt with the slavery issue directly. The first of the two banned slave trade in Washington D.C. although, the compromise did not outlaw slavery itself. The last section is best known as The Fugitive Slave Act. Congress enacted the Fugitive Slave Act to assist the South with maintaining a tight rein on slaveholders’ property. It meant that slaves that escaped to the north would be returned to the south. Even though this sounded like it would be a benefit for the south, this law ended up backfiring in a big

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    At this time, the Mexican American War had just ended and the US had an equal number of free and slave states. The war ended in 1848. If you remember right, the Mexican American War left America with, through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Mexican Cession), the former Mexican provinces of California and Mexico. Mexico would also, in subsequence of the treaty, recognize the Rio Grande as the Southern Border of Mexico. In return, the US would pay Mexico 15 million and assume claims of Mexican citizens against Americans.…

    • 4459 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compromise Of 1850 Dbq

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    t the time when the United States was a new nation, there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed in order for the Union of states to become a working country. In a short period, the North had become more progressive and industrialized. There were larger urban populations and the issues that faced northern areas were different from those that faced the South. When new territories were added to the nation, it was politically relevant that they were added in such a way that the balance of power was maintained. The Compromise of 1850 addressed this balance. The Compromise was a group of five laws that addressed slavery and overturned the Missouri Compromise. The climate of the time quickly becomes one of the northern states against…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States doubled in size giving the United States control of vast lands west of the Mississippi. As Americans pushed west, the issue of slavery came to the forefront and they had to decide whether or not the new territories should be slave-states or free. They established a line at the 36/30 parallel which would divide the free territories from the slave territories. California was acquired in 1848 and became the 31st state in 1850. California however was divided by this line and half of the state occupies the free area while the other half was in the slave territory. In 1850, California applied for admission as a free state and the balance of power in the Senate was threatened. The South did not want to give the North a majority in the Senate. They also feared that more free states would be carved from the Mexican cession. The fate of California was settled that it would be determined by popular sovereignty in which a vote on whether or not the state was to be slave or free. This was greatly debated and the ultimately a compromise was made which became known as the Compromise of 1850. Offered by Daniel Webster of Maine, it was a four part solution to keep the Union together and preserve the balance of free/slave states. It stated; 1) California entered as a free state. 2) The rest of the Mexican cession was divided into New Mexico and Utah. In each state, voters would decide the issue of slavery. 3) Slave trade was ended in Washington D.C. 4) A strict new fugitive-slave law was passed to track down and bring back any slaves that ran away. It required that all citizens were obligated to return runaway slaves. People who helped…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Decade of Crisis 1850

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages

    2. The Compromise of 1850 was a response to the issues with slavery and the proposed succession of many southern states. Henry Clay was the head of this compromise and believed it had to resolve all the issues or the compromise would not survive. So in an effort to do this, he combined all the proposals into one proposal and sent it to the legislature. It covered, California’s admission as a free state, territorial governments in lands from Mexico with no slavery restrictions, and slave trade was obliterated, but not slavery in the District of Columbia. There were…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The three-fifths compromise was system in between the states to determine a person who is enslaved as a three-fifths of a person. The south was overpopulated and continued to grow due to slavery James Wilson proposed this in 1787 and this showed how proslavery was forced during those times. Because the Virginia Plan was denied, the three-fifths compromise was suggested and made the cut for the south to be powerfully represented in the House of Representatives and have too much power when electing presidents. Compared to the northerner states they seemed to disregard slavery. The difference between he northerner states and southern was that the northerner states counted one free man as one vote and one slave not a vote to southern states counting the slaves as a vote as well as one free man as a vote.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wilmot Proviso Tension

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This benefitted the southerners because many of them depended on slaves economically, so the Fugitive Slave Act was like insurance, that way they could get their slaves back if and when they ran away.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compromise Of 1850 DBQ

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally viewed as a document for national unity, had become a source of regional disagreements and tension that eventually resulted in the failure of the Union. The Constitution never outright mentions slavery, and created an unsolved problem that later resulted in compromises and the failure of the Union it formed.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Compromise of 1850 was made to settle issues between North and South about territory and slavery that was caused by the Mexican-American War. There were five bills made. The first bill was that California was a free state. The second state was that Texas would be paid compensation by the government for giving California and New Mexico up. The third bill was that New Mexico was a new state without any specific prohibition of slavery. The fourth bill was that there would be no slave trade in Washington DC. The fifth bill was that if a slave ran away, people would have to chase after it no matter what. Even though this was a compromise, the North and South didn’t really like it that much. Texas especially didn’t like it because they lost a lot of territory.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He negotiated the Act that opened Kansas and Nebraska territories for settlement. It also advocated for territorial legislatures to have the power to decide on all slavery issues (Carnes & Garraty, 2012, p.354). The Act repealed the Missouri Compromise. Northern states vehemently opposed the Act as it led to an increase in the locality of slavery. In passing the law, the nation took the greatest single step in its march towards the abyss of civil war.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed as a part of the Compromise of 1850. This act forced any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This enraged abolitionist and caused their efforts against slavery to increase since it was one of the most controversial parts of the Compromise of 1850. This act increased the activity as fleeing slaves made their way to Canada.…

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The greatest challenge to the country's equilibrium during the Pierce administration, though, was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. It repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, sponsored by Senator Stephen A. Douglas, had its origins in the drive to facilitate the completion of a transcontinental railroad with a link from Chicago, Illinois to California through Nebraska.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many whites west of the Mississippi wanted to expand and settled into territory west of Texas. These expansionist pressures led the United States into war with Mexico, which led to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    While the southern states were in favor of slavery, the northern states vehemently opposed the idea. An expansion of slavery would have meant an increase in the territorial space and population. This in turn would give the Southern states increased power in the House. Although the Civil War had some time to initiate, the Compromise played a major role in the laying the groundwork for the war that was to come. It contributed to the division and disagreement between north and south, surrounding the topic of slavery. The issue built severe tension between the two sides of the…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kansas & Nebraska Act

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the bill he proposed popular sovereignty, which meant that each territory could choose between being a free state or a slave state. He also included repealing the Missouri Compromise which stated that: "Missouri could come into the union with Slavery, but that in all the remaining part of the territory purchased of France, which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, slavery should never be permitted". Democrats and Whigs fought for the chance of having a northern slave state. The North became enraged that the Missouri Compromise had been tampered with. This caused more tension between the North and South.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Fugitive Slave Act was one of the five acts contained in the Compromise of 1850. The highly controversial new law required the return of all runaway slaves to their masters. The recovery of runaway slaves was now under Federal Jurisdiction. Federal Marshalls were now bound by duty to return any runaway and also now had the authority to require assistance from any individual. If the assistance was not provided, the individual faced prosecution and fines. The law also stripped runaway slaves of such basic legal rights as the right to a jury trial and the right to testify in one's own defense. (Digital History, 2014)…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays