Slavery, The Compromise Of 1850

The three events I think lead to the civil war is the Dred Scott Case and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Compromise of 1850. These events leading to the civil war was not inevitable because If these events did not happen what would be like now or would there be something else that replaced it. If it was avoidable I think we would still have slaves and we would probably have at some of the things we have now.

The issue of slavery was becoming more and more prominent in the years between 1820 and 1865, and was creating a lot of sectional tension between the North, who tended to hold abolitionist beliefs, and the South, who were generally pro-slavery. Many arguments were used to defend slavery, but many of these arguments ignored some crucial details. For instance, moral arguments against slavery tended to ignore the horrible conditions slaves were forced to live in; economic arguments ignored many viable solutions to their problem; and political arguments ignored blatant bias.

The Secession of the South from the Union When the United States of America expanded westward, they achieved manifest destiny. This above all, raised tensions between the North and the South. Although they were a union, many problems arose, the main issue being slavery. These problems eventually led to the Civil War. The North thrived on factories, while the South thrived on agriculture, causing them to utilize slaves.

As a raging crisis was emerging, moderates and unionists were attempting to create a great compromise that would settle such issues. On January 29, 1850, Henry Clay has written a compromise and presented it to the Senate. The document consisted of admitting California as a free-state, the formation of territorial governments, and the abolition of slavery. Instead of a peaceful settlement, the resolutions launched a raging debate for seven months. As time went by, there has been numerous of events and court cases that led to the Civil War. The Compromise of 1850 was just the beginning of a series of debates in regards to slavery.

California provoked the next stage of Compromises in Congress. The Compromise of 1850 was a five-part bill put forth by Henry Clay, it was composed of five key components. First, California had to submit to the Union as a free state. Then the remaining lands had to divide into two new territories. Excluding New Mexico and Utah. They would remain proslavery until they became states. Next, it would basically pacify anti-slavery northerners, slave auctions would be banned in Washington, DC but not slavery itself. It stated that Texas would also be compensated and be prohibited from influencing New Mexico any further with hopes of extending slavery there. Lastly, the government would create and enforce new and tougher Fugitive Slave Laws, this would also punish Northerners from helping slaves to escape. This law hoped to ensure both North and South would work together to protect the slave

The Compromise of 1850 was the laws that tried to resolve the issue of slavery in the territorial from the Mexican-American War (1846–48). The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five laws passed to keep the balance of power between the slave states of the South and the Free states to the north regarding the status of territories. Henry Clay created a set of bills to fix these issue and bring that nation together, which failed to pass in Congress. After Clay's death, a young Democrat from Illinois, Stephen Douglas took over, he separated the bill into individual bills, all of which were approved by a majority in September 1850.

Ever since slavery started slaves were running away and plantation owners need to find a way to get the slave back. There were a couple ways the owners dealt with this. The first thing they tried were slave hunters then they went to the Supreme court to pass the Fugitive Slave Act. Slave hunting worked as an outside job. If a slave ran away the plantation owner would contact his slave hunter. Once this happens, what they usually do is get the dogs out to trace the scent. Another way they would get the slaves is put up a bounty of the slave and a reward for whoever turns the slave in. Slaves most of the time would run North because they were not so harsh as they were in the South. Some slave went to Canada because slavery was illegal there (Ron).

At that time, there were an even amount of free states as slave states. This made it difficult for Congress to decide whether California should be admitted as a free state or a slave state. Coincidentally, during this time, Washington DC housed the largest slave market in the United States. Henry Clay, who organized the Missouri Compromise of 1820, came up with a solution. California was to be allowed to join the union as a free state. “Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah would be organized without mentioning slavery” (ABC-CLIO). A system known as “popular sovereignty” would allow the residents of these territories to have the decision whether to allow slavery when they later applied to become a state. The slave market in Washington D.C. would be destroyed, but slavery would remain legal. Much of the Compromise of 1850 satisfied the American citizens, but the Fugitive Slave Act would be the cause of much

The following are the resolutions made by Senator Henry Clay to deliver a trade off on the matter. As a major aspect of the bargain California entered the Union as a free express, the exchanging of slaves was annulled in Washington, DC, an alteration was made to the criminal slave act, a regional government was set up in Utah, and the limit amongst Texas and New Mexico was built up. That California, with reasonable limits, should, upon her application to be conceded as one of the States of this Union, without the inconvenience by Congress of any limitation in regard to the rejection or presentation of subjection inside those limits. That as subjugation does not exist by law, and is not prone to be brought into any of the region obtained by the United States from the republic of Mexico, it is inexpedient for Congress to give by law either to its presentation into, or avoidance from, any part of the said domain; and that fitting regional governments should be built up by Congress in the greater part of the said region , not allocated as the limits of the proposed State of California, without the selection of any limitation or condition on the subject of bondage. The issue of whether the regions would be slave or free reached boiling point taking after the race of Zachary Taylor as president in 1848. In his first yearly message to Congress, Taylor embraced statehood for California

The Compromise of 1850 was the result of many years of tension regarding the issue of slavery, and the plethora of problems that came with it, such as the admission of slave and free states into the Union, and fugitive slave laws. The Compromise was a package of 5 separate bills passed in the United States in September of 1850, which helped to diffuse a massive conflict that had been brewing for four-years between the pro-slave Southern states and anti-slave Northern states. The Compromise was drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas and helped to reduce sectional conflict for a short time. Naturally, controversy arose over the Fugitive Slave provision of the Compromise. At the time, the compromise was greeted with certain degree of relief from both sides, although the North and the South were both able to see that this draft was only a temporary solution to an ever-growing national problem.

The points of this compromise were should the new territory America gained in the south be a slave territory, can California enter the Union as a free state, and where should the borders of Texas be? Henry Clay was known as the great compromiser but at this point in time he was 70 years old so, he needed help coming up with this one. With Henry Clay, Steven Douglas, and the help of others a compromise was settled. California would be admitted as a free state, while Texas will be a slave state to balance the amount of free and slave states. Also the new land claims, Utah and New Mexico, would go without mention of slavery but when they apply for statehood they would be given popular sovereignty, which means they would be able to decide by voting to be a free or slave state. Besides being a slave state Texas was given $10 million from the United States government to pay off their debt to Mexico from the war. In the nations capital, district of Columbia the slave trade was banned. Also a strong fugitive slave act was passed forcing citizens to help in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Slaves who built a new life in the North were in trouble with this new law, so they fled to Canada. To postpone the Civil War this compromise helped in the sense that it evened out the amount of free and slave states. Also Southerns, especially the slave holders, were happy Northerners were to help in the

The Compromise had different factors that gave California the right to enter as a free state, the people would have the right to decide on the issue of slavery in New Mexico and Utah, and there would be an implementation of tougher laws on the North helping to keep the slave system intact. However, the North and South may have seen some opportunities with the Compromise of 1850, but the president at this time was not as enthused about moving forward with Clay’s plan. It was after Zachary Taylor’s death that Clay’s Compromise was finally passed in September as

September 8,1850, the Compromise of 1850 was drafted in order to keep the continuous peace throughout the union. HISTORY.COM writes, “The compromise was the last major involvement in national affairs of Senators Henry Clay of Kentucky, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, all of whom had had exceptional careers in the Senate. Calhoun died the same year, and Clay and Webster two years later.” The book American History by Brinkley goes into the details for the compromise, this document would admit California in as a free state, the formation of territorial governments in the rest of the lands acquired from Mexico, without restrictions on slavery; the abolition of the slave trade, but not slavery itself, in the

The controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories contributed to the coming of the Civil War in many ways. Previously, the Missouri comprise admitted Missouri to the union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving the fragile balance in Congress. However it did not apply to new territories that were not part of the Louisiana Purchase, and so the issue of slavery continued to fester as the nation expanded. During the election of 1848 slavery was a huge controversy. After two years of increasingly volatile debate over the issue, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay proposed another compromise to reduce tensions; Henry Clay had proposed ‘The Compromise of 1850’. The compromise was consisted into five parts; admit California

The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. Though the entire compromise had been controversial, the Fugitive Slave act was the most so. The first Fugitive Slave Act had been made in order to return runaway slaves to the South, but was fairly ineffective. The revision of the act was made in 1850 as a part of a compromise suggested by the South as a way of keeping them from seceding. This revision included a fine of $1,000, twice as much as it was previously, and up to 6 years in jail for anyone who interfered with the return of a runaway slave. It also disallowed the African Americans from using a jury case. Judges were payed $10 for returning the slave and $5 for releasing them. Some judges took advantage of this by sending