ID: Compromise of 1850
When: September 9, 1850
Who:
- Henry Clay (proposed the compromise)
- Daniel Webster (spoke in favor of the compromise)
- John C. Calhoun (opposed the compromise)
- Stephen Douglas (helped pass the compromise)
- Zachary Taylor (President at the time)
What:
A series of five bills passed by Congress to ease tensions between the North and South over the issue of slavery. The Compromise included:
- Admission of California as a free state: This tipped the balance in the Senate in favor of free states.
- Strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act: This required Northern states to return escaped slaves to their owners.
- Abolition of the slave trade in Washington D.C.: However, slavery itself was not banned in the capital.
- Establishing a boundary between Texas and New Mexico: This resolved a territorial dispute and left New Mexico’s status open to Popular Sovereignty.
- Popular Sovereignty in the territories: This allowed residents of territories to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.
Impact: Why Significant?:
The Compromise of 1850 temporarily quelled the growing sectional tensions that threatened to tear the country apart. However, it also sowed the seeds for future conflict:
- Increased tensions between North and South: The Fugitive Slave Act, in particular, sparked outrage in the North and contributed to the rise of the abolitionist movement.
- Failure to address the core issue of slavery: The compromise merely postponed the inevitable confrontation over slavery.
- Rise of sectional parties: The compromise led to the formation of the Free Soil Party in the North and the Know-Nothing Party, which opposed the influx of immigrants from Catholic countries.
- Contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 ultimately failed to prevent the Civil War, as the issue of slavery remained unresolved.