Background on the Compromise of 1850

• The gold rush of 1849 and the influx of about 100,000 settlers into California created the need for law and order in the West.• In 1849, California drafted a constitution for their new state – a constitution

that banned slavery. • Even though President Zachary Taylor was a Southern slaveholder, he

supported immediate admission of both California and New Mexico as free states. • Taylor’s plan sparked talk of secession among some radical Southerners (the

fire-eaters). Some Southern extremists even met in Nashville in 1850 to discuss secession. By this time, however, Henry Clay had proposed yet another compromise for solving the political crisis.

The Compromise of 1850• Admit California as a free state• Slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession would be decided by the

settlers in these territories by majority vote or popular sovereignty• Negotiate a new border between Texas and the New Mexico territory • Ban the slave trade in the District of Columbia but still allow slavery• A stricter Fugitive Slave Law

Debate over the Compromise of 1850

• Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed the compromise.• Daniel Webster of Massachusetts argued for compromise to save the

Union which alienated the Massachusetts abolitionists• John C. Calhoun of SC argued against the compromise and insisted

that the South be given equal rights in the acquired territory.• The Compromise was passed as 5 individual bills under President

Fillmore.

Impact of the Compromise of 1850• Because California was admitted as a free state, the compromise

added to the North’s political power and the political debate deepened the commitment of many Northerners to saving the Union from secession.• However, parts of the compromise became sources of controversy

especially the new Fugitive Slave law and the provision for popular sovereignty.

5.2 Notes• The North’s expanding manufacturing economy relied on free labor in

contrast to the Southern economy’s dependence on slave labor.• Some Northerners did not object to slavery on principle but claimed

that slavery would undermine the free labor market. As a result, a free-soil movement arose that portrayed the expansion of slavery as incompatible with free labor.• Many Northerners who opposed the westward expansion of slavery

did not oppose slavery in the South. They sought to keep the West a land of opportunity for whites only so that the white majority would not have to compete with the labor of slaves or free blacks. This led to the formation of the Free Soil Party in 1848 which adopted the slogan, “free soil, free labor, and free men.”

Slavery• African American and white abolitionists, although a minority in the

North, mounted a highly visible campaign against slavery, presenting moral arguments against the institution. They assisted slaves’ escapes and sometimes expressed a willingness to use violence to achieve their goals.• Abraham Lincoln considered slavery to be a moral evil which made

southerners fear that he would not only seek to prevent the spread of slavery in the western territories but would abolish it in the South.• Defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the

view that slavery was a positive social good, and the belief that slavery and states’ rights were protected by the Constitution.