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¶ … Compromise of 1850 was. Was it a successful compromise? Why or why not? The Compromise of 1850 addressed the issue of slavery in the growing Union, and also contained the "Fugitive Slave Act," which stated that slaves who escaped from bondage in the South would be returned to their owners. The Compromise was contentious from the first, and many believe it ultimately helped create the atmosphere in both North and South that led to the South's secession from the Union and Civil War.
Basically, the Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by two sides who did not agree to reach a compromise by altering how states entered the Union, and whether they chose to become slave-holding states or free states. Many powerful politicians worked on the compromise, including Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, William Seward, Stephen Douglas, and many others. The Compromise centered on several issues that had been addressed in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, but were now coming into contention again. The Missouri Compromise basically laid a line across the middle of the United States. States entering the Union below that line entered as slave-holding states, while states entering above the line were free states. When California wanted to enter the Union in 1849, it wanted to enter as a free state, but the Missouri Compromise line literally cut the state in two. Also at issue was Texas joining the Union, along with much other territory gleaned from a war with Mexico, and the Utah territory joining the Union, which was comprised...
The debate was which of these territories would be free, and which would be slave-holding to maintain the delicate balance in the country between slave-holding and free states. One historian called it a "great debate." He writes, "And so the stage was set for the great debate of 1850. It was a debate in the grand style, dealing with fundamental questions concerning the nature of the Union and the Constitution" (Rozwenc vi). Also at issues was slave-holding and trade in the nation's capital. All of these issues were extremely important at the time, and they all added up to months of debate in Congress before the Compromise was actually reached.
The final bill or the actual Compromise of 1850 addressed all these issues. Texas would not retain all the territory it originally claimed (all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico), but it would receive a payment of $10 million to help pay off debt to Mexico. The Utah Territory would be created, and the territorial charter would not mention slavery. (Voters would choose their status when the states were admitted to the Union and residents voted on their individual state charters.) California would enter the Union as a free state, while Texas would be a slave state. Finally, the bill contained the "Fugitive Slave Act" which allowed Southern slave owners to find their slaves who had run away to the North, and return them to work in the South. The bill also outlawed the buying and selling of slaves in Washington D.C., but did not make it illegal…
References
"Chapter XVII: The Failure of Compromise."
Editors. "The Compromise of 1850." PBS.org. 1998. 12 May 2005.
< http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
Rozwenc, Edwin C., ed. The Compromise of 1850. Boston: Heath, 1957.
Seward provides evidence of this when he comments that the Constitution confers rights to the people of the states, not to the actual states. Finally, Calhoun was as decorated a statesman as there was in 1850: former Vice President, Secretary of War and a present-day Senator from South Carolina. His history also included fighting for the rights of southern states to maintain slaves and for fomenting the Nullification Crisis of
By then, each state had followed the rule imposed by the 1820 agreement. California's desire to be admitted in the Union as a free state met the opposition of the South which saw this as a threat of the equilibrium. However, the Compromise had balanced this decision by agreeing on the Fugitive Slave Law, which stipulated serious punishments for any person aiding a fugitive Southern slave in the North.
The main causes of the war relied in the issue of slavery as well as the right of the states to be part of a federal entity with equal rights and voices. The implications for this war were enormous as it provided a different future for the colonies and for the U.S. As a whole. The main cause of the war was, as stated, the issue of slavery. In this
The problem of fair treatment of the South was the major issue as Calhoun saw it as well. Though he died shortly after this speech was read (too ill to read it himself, Calhoun was escorted from the floor after someone read it in his place), Calhoun is still considered one of the primary instigators of the Civil War. In this speech, he cites not slavery but general under-representation of
Civil War While compromise over the system of slavery was possible in 1850 it was not effective in 1860's." The paper is an analysis of the compromise of 1850, which was the continuation of the system of slavery, and the description of the events, which led to freeing of the slaves in 1860's. The fundamental differences in agriculture and the adoption of slavery in the South of America gave rise to
The slave trade and the cotton economy grew during this time, but many Northerners wanted the practice to stop. This would ultimately lead to the Civil War, along with other events that boiled up during this time. Blacks were subjugated, had no rights, were often cruelly beaten, or whipped for any infraction, and it was a low point in their history as well. This was a time of great strides