Compromise Of 1850 Research Paper

As the nation descended further into a split entity, with the issue of slavery at the forefront of the debate. The North and South needed to find a way to deal with their differences before the Union fell in shambles. The Compromise of 1850 was passed after long extensive debate in congress, the compromise was intended to settle the debate over how slavery would be controlled throughout the expanding nation. The Fugitive Slave Act was included in the compromise to satisfy southern states, that wanted to preserve the institution of slavery. The act allowed for run away slaves to be hunted down and returned to their past owners, even after they made it to the free states in the North. The Southerners wished to preserve their right to property, which is among the “Unalienable Rights”. Some northern states refuse to recognize the law which infuriated the South because they saw this as an explicit violation of the slave holder’s rights, this intensified the South’s urge to become a separate State.

The compromises merely worked, and with the passing of time, tensions rose more between the sections, thus making these compromises less and less effective. The Compromise of 1850 enraged both the North and the South. When California was annexed, it was assigned to become a free state and the South did not appeal to that because the land boundaries that was made by the Missouri Compromise was large. Another part of this compromise that angered Southerners was that slave trade was banned in Washington D.C. The Fugitive Slave Law, which was a part of the Compromise of 1850 angered the North, because it allowed bounty hunters to hunt down slaves and the people who helped them to hide. Also, Northerners rejected this because they rejected Popular Sovereignty, which created possibilities of having slavery in any Northern states.

In 1850, the Compromise was formed as a way of preventing the southerners from withdrawing from the Union. Part of this law, was the Fugitive Slave act, which aroused many reactions from the public that it ultimately led to the civil war. This Fugitive Slave Act stated that the southerners were still owners of these slaves that had escaped to the north and that the Northerners had to abide to it, even though most of their states had illegalized slavery. This law also made it hard for the blacks to have a fair trial as they were not able to prove whether they were free or not. This led to the blacks in the northern states freeing to Canada in fear of being returned to slavery and because they did not feel as safe anymore. The Compromise, to keep the southerners in the Union, made these laws on slaves to favor them. However unexpectedly it made the Abolitionists

The political issue of slavery in the United States intensified with the Mexican-American War. The United States gained a large area of territory with their victory over Mexico in 1848. Arguments over free versus slave states in the United States had already been around. The Southern states believed the Northern states wanted to eliminate slavery from the United States, while the free Northern states believed that the slave Southern states wanted slavery to spread throughout the continent. The new states brought up the issue of free versus slave, which created even more conflict in the United States. In 1845, Texas became a slave state. California became a state under the Great Compromise of 1850. The North gained California, making it a free

One of the main topics of concern for many decades was when new territories want to enter the union, will they be free or slave states? Henry Clay, one of the great compromisers, was able to work all sorts of different compromises on several issues throughout the years. One of his most famous compromises was the Missouri compromise. This allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, and every new state following would be free North of the Mason-Dixon line. This would try to stop the expansion of slavery, and for a short while, it did. During this time period, most Americans believed in manifest destiny, so they expanded westward. As many Southern’s moved west, they brought with them their slaves. Furthermore, they moved to places where slavery made economic sense, for example

“I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance, The Union, sir, is my country” - Henry Clay (United States History). The Compromise of 1850 was once considered despising, loathing, and abhorring. This would become altered, as it would turn out to be one of the greatest compromises in the United States and would make its mark in history. The Compromise of 1850 adopted the Fugitive Slave Act and the reason for California statehood. The compromise attempted to avoid a crisis between the North and the South, with the assistance of Henry Clay and his colleagues. The document came to be with three main ideas: significance, conflict, and compromise. The Compromise of 1850, proposed by Henry Clay, dealt with disputes

As a result of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state, the territory disputed between Texas and New Mexico was surrendered to New Mexico, the slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, the Mexican Cession was open to popular sovereignty, and a stronger Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. In a speech to the Senate on March 7, 1850, Senator Daniel Webster stated his opinion that the North is wrong for not obeying the Fugitive Slave Law and that succession is amiss [Document D].The tone of Webster’s speech is objective as he attempts to see both sides- the North and the South. Webster is unbiased because as a Northern man, he agrees with the South. The peace was only temporary. The Fugitive Slave Law upset Northerners and the Underground Railroad became more active, peaking between 1850 and 1860. Massachusetts went so far as to making it a penal offense for a state official to enforce the act. The act also brought the issue of slavery into the limelight before the entire nation. In fact, by 1858, there was no avoiding the subject of slavery. During the Lincoln-Douglass Debates in a speech at Alton, Illinois on October 15, 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated that slavery was no longer just a political issue [Document G]. Slavery was splitting the nation and during the Second Great Awakening, even churches split over the issue. Lincoln’s speech is

Politically, slavery became one of those hot topic issues that politicians usually like to avoid speaking about because the country was divided into two different view points, pro-slavery and anti-slavery, and politicians wanted to be in everyone’s good graces to win come election time. However, when the argument came about weather or not newly inducted states could ban slavery or not, tensions rose in the government. This led to the Compromise of 1850, which allowed for stricter fugitive laws, but allowed California to be free, and New Mexico and Utah to make their decision based on popular sovereignty (the idea that the people of that state should choose). Politically, slavery left a whole mess of confusion for the new states. For example, in the Kansas- Nebraska act a railroad was to be built crossing over two new territories (Kansas and Nebraska) that allowed

The Compromise of 1850 was to try and solve the issue caused by President Zachary Taylor in which he decided that all of the new states acquired into the United States would be free. This then made the Southern states extremely angry. Shortly after after, President Taylor passed away from food poisoning. This then made Vice President Fillmore, President and then a man by the name of Henry Clay proposed the Compromise of 1850 trying to resolve the problem. The compromise state six important bills; California would be a free state, New Mexico could decide for themselves if they wanted to be a slave state, The United States would pay the state of Texas for their loss of land due to the border dispute with New Mexico, slave trade in Washington D.C would then be abolished and tighter laws on fugitive slaves would be placed. This would then make everyone in the North be on the look out of fugitive slaves, which would then send them back to their rightful owners. This is significant to what we are learning because it opens back up the issue of slavery and which then leads to the Civil

In the compromise of 1850 the fugitive slave act revisited the law making it so the northerners had to comply with slave owners to help the acquire there lost property. If asked they would have to leave their home to help find runaway slaves in the area. Court appointed

In 1850 the Compromise of 1850 was passed and it gave Popular Sovereignty to the Utah and New Mexico Territories. (Doc. A) Alongside the Compromise of 1850 the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed as well, it was a harsher version of the previous Fugitive Slave Law. It had made it harder for escaped slaves who had fled to the North to remain free. It had even offered a higher payment for the magistrate who had found a Black person to be a fugitive salve instead of a free Black, ten dollars instead of five. There were even posters up in northern cities like Boston warning African Americans to stay away from watchmen and police officers, because they might be arrested for being an alleged fugitive slave. (Doc. C)

The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state and was the beginning of the Fugitive Slave Law. The Fugitive Slave Law allowed local law enforcement to aid in the capturing of runaway slaves as well as freed slaves. Following the admittance of California, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was created with “popular sovereignty” dictating the whether or not Kansas would enter the Union and allow or outlaw slavery. Pro-slavery forces said every settler had the right to bring his own property, including slaves, into the territory. Anti-slavery "free soil" forces said the rich slaveholders would buy up all the good farmland and work it with black slaves, leaving little or no opportunity for non-slaveholders. Thus, the violence began. Compromise

One of those compromises was the fugitive slave clause. It required states to return runaway slaves. (Oakes 220) This clause gave constitutional protection to the slaveholder; no matter what state or territory the slave could escape to, he was still a slave and could not be freed, and the emancipation laws of that territory were “null and void”. ( Bestor 14) The early fugitive slave clause was highly ignored and rarely enforced which irritated the Southerners. As part of the Compromise of 1850 a new fugitive slave law would be enacted. ( Dry) This law was created in attempt to settle disputes over the previous constitutional clause, instead it would cause much discord between the North and South. ( Oakes 420) Tense arguments were started in respect to what slaves should be considered, people or property. The south believed they should be treated as property and not given a trial or defense since they lacked the “natural liberties”, however, the abolitionist argued that a free black person could be picked up in the north by a southern plantation owner claiming to be his master and that free black person could be taken from free soil into slave territory without a fair trial or any evidence from the

Thus, slavery in the South was a necessity for the plantation owners in order to prevent bankruptcy. To assist South’s perpetuation of slavery in border states, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act as a part of the Compromise of 1850 on September 18, 1850. This act permitted the capture of runaway slaves in any part of the United States to be returned back to their slave owners, which Southerns have been demanding for years. However, many Northerners were not keen on this act and sometimes refused to abide by it and also began to argue moral obligations that slavery is wrong and should be stopped. Moreover, the South and North both did not understand one another economically and socially ultimately resulting in the Civil

The Compromise of 1850 did the following things: it would allow California to be admitted to the United Sates as a free state, it allowed New Mexico and Utah to remain open but once they requested statehood the state legislature would vote as to if the state would be free or slave, slave auctions would be banned in Washington, D.C., Texas would receive $10 million dollars in compensation but was prohibited from trying to influence New Mexico, and finally the federal government would create stricter laws pertaining to fugitive slaves.  The last agreement was to appease the