Compromise of 1850

The Passing of the Compromise in Congress: From Henry Clay to Stephen A. Douglass

In 1849, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky decided to take on the challenge and drafted the first version of the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise was denied by Congress and Henry Clay soon fell ill, to which Stephen A. Douglas stepped in to assist. Douglas redrafted the Compromise and split it into five separate sections. This time, Congress passed them all.

Though the Compromise was meant to hold neutrality and appeal to both the North and the South, both sides became more deeply angered with one another due to the strict Fugitive Slave Act. The Compromise would only hold off the oncoming war for so long, as the idea of secession began to pick up rapidly in the South.

Compromise of 1850: Map of the Country

Pictured in the map below is the separation of slave and free states along with the Missouri Compromise Line of 1820. The red in the South were slave states, while the blue states in the North were free. The green line represents the Missouri Compromise or 36º30' line. Until the imbalance of power occurred between slave and free states when California entered as free in 1849, the agreement was that no territory North or West of the line would be entered as a pro-slave state.

In this section, we will examine the contributions of Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas before going on to learn about the five provisions of the Compromise of 1850.

Compromise of 1850: Henry Clay

Henry Clay was the current sitting Senator from the state of Kentucky when he decided to take on the challenge of creating a compromise that would settle tensions between the North and the South. In his original bill, Clay laid out aFig. 2 Senator Henry Clay. plan to combat the country's sectional tensions. This bill included:

• California's entry into the Union as a free state.
• Setting Texas' official borders in return for debt relief from Mexico.
• Organizing and establishing the territories of New Mexico and Utah.
• Banning the slave trade in Washington DC in return for a new Fugitive Slave Law.

Despite the attempt at appealing to both sides, pro-slavery Southerners hated that California was entered as a free state while Northerners thought it to be a fair compromise in return for a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. John C. Calhoun, a radical Southern Democrat, openly spoke out in opposition to this version of the Compromise, while Whig Party member William H. Seward criticized the strengthening of Fugitive Slave laws. After sending the bill through to Congress, it was denied.

Compromise of 1850: Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen A. Douglas was a Senator from the state of Illinois who decided to re-write the Compromise after it was denied by Congress and Henry Clay had fallen ill. In his version of the Compromise, Douglas made subtle but powerful changes and separated each of the five topics into their own bills.

Fig. 3 Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

The Five Sections of Douglas Compromise

• The new, stricter, Fugitive Slave Law in which federal officials from all states were required to capture and return runaway slaves to their masters.
• The ending of the slave trade within Washington DC, though outside of the grounds of the White House and Congress, slaveholding was still permitted.
• The confirmation of Congress to admit California into the Union as a free state.
• The New Mexico and Utah territories would be granted "popularsovereignty," in which they will decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.
• The borders of Texas were organized and the United States needed to take on the weight of its debts.

This time around, the bills were accepted and passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Americans celebrated the passing as the "Compromise that saved the Union," but the celebrations would be short-lived.

Significance & Effects of the Compromise

Along with the passing of the Compromise of 1850, violence against both free and fugitive African Americans began to rise. "Slave Hunters" could kidnap and arrest them as escaped slaves, even if they were free; this could be done without a warrant or a trial taking place. The North soon began to dive deeper into Abolitionism as the violence increased within their borders.

In this same decade, the Whig Party dissolved and the radical Abolitionists from the Party went on to create the Republican Party in 1854. With the Republican Party putting forth their candidate Abraham Lincoln in 1860 for the Presidency, the South broke the Union. Southern states began to secede, eventually causing the Civil War in April of 1861.