Download Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was actually a series

Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to
slavery. The bills provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of
new states, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia, settled a Texas boundary
dispute, and established a stricter fugitive slave act.
By 1850 sectional disagreements centering on slavery were straining the bonds of union
between the North and South. These tensions became especially acute when Congress
began to consider whether western lands acquired after the Mexican War would permit
slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state.
Adding more free state senators to Congress would destroy the balance between slave
and free states that had existed since the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Because everyone looked to the Senate to defuse the growing crisis, Senator Henry
Clay of Kentucky proposed a series of resolutions designed to "Adjust amicably all
existing questions of controversy . . . arising out of the institution of slavery." Clay
attempted to frame his compromise so that nationally minded senators would vote for
legislation in the interest of the Union.
In one of the most famous congressional debates in American history, the Senate
discussed Clay’s solution for 7 months. It initially voted down his legislative package,
but Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois stepped forward with substitute bills, which
passed both Houses. With the Compromise of 1850, Congress had addressed the
immediate crisis created by territorial expansion. But one aspect of the compromise—a
strengthened fugitive slave act—soon began to tear at sectional peace.
The Compromise of 1850 is composed of five statues enacted in September of 1850.
The acts called for the admission of California as a “free state,” provided for a territorial
government for Utah and New Mexico, established a boundary between Texas and the
United States, called for the abolition of slave trade in Washington, DC, and amended
the Fugitive Slave Act.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people
in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow
slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which
prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri
Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly
supported.
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed in to
settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election held there after the law went into effect.
Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were charged with fraud by anti-slavery settlers, and
the results were not accepted by them.
The anti-slavery settlers held another election, however proslavery settlers refused to vote. This resulted in the
establishment of two opposing legislatures within the Kansas
territory.
Violence soon erupted, with the anti-slavery forces led by
John Brown. The territory earned the nickname "bleeding
Kansas" as the death toll rose.
President Franklin Pierce, in support of the pro-slavery
settlers, sent in Federal troops to stop the violence and
disperse the anti-slavery legislature. Another election was
called. Once again pro-slavery supporters won and once again
they were charged with election fraud.
As a result, Congress did not recognize the constitution
adopted by the pro-slavery settlers and Kansas was not allowed to become a state.
Eventually, however, anti-slavery settlers outnumbered pro-slavery settlers and a new
constitution was drawn up. On January 29, 1861, just before the start of the Civil War, Kansas
was admitted to the Union as a free state.
Fugitive Slave Act
In payment for Southern support for California's admission to the Union as a free state
and ending the slave trade in the District of Columbia, Congress created the Fugitive
Slave Act to assist the South with maintaining tight control on slaveholders’ property.
The new law created a force of federal commissioners empowered to pursue fugitive
slaves in any state and return them to their owners. No statute of limitations (specific
time) applied, so that even those slaves who had been free for many years could be
(and were) returned.
The commissioners enjoyed broad powers,
including the right to compel citizens to help in
the pursuit and capture of runaways; fines
and prison awaited those who refused to
cooperate. A captured runaway could not
testify on his own behalf and was not entitled
to a court trial. The commissioners received a
fee of 10 dollars for every slave returned; the
fee was reduced to five dollars if the accused
slave were released.
The passage and enforcement of this law
enraged many in the North. Some states
reacted by passing legislation designed to
cause trouble for the federal commissioners' activities, but such laws were declared
unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Riots occurred in some Northern
communities and soldiers were sent to restore order.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, excerpts from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin tells the story of a Christian slave, Uncle Tom, who is sold by a
Kentucky family burdened by debt. Finally, sold again, he dies under the lash of the henchman of a cruel
overseer, Simon Legree, who wants Uncle Tom to accept him instead of God as his master.
Stowe’s book quickly sold 300,000 copies and shocked many Northerners into a hatred for the slave
system. Though few Northerners were converted to the cause of immediate abolition, Stowe’s novel
influenced more and more Northerners to adopt a position against the expansion of slavery an
increasingly contentious sectional issue during the 1850s.
Susan and Emmeline were sent to the depot to await a general auction on the following morning; and as
they glimmer faintly upon us in the moonlight which steals through the grated window, we may listen to
their conversation. Both are weeping, but each quietly, that the other may not hear.
"Mother, just lay your head on my lap, and see if you canít sleep a little," says the girl, trying to appear
calm.
"I havenít any heart to sleep, Em; I canít; itís the last night we may be together!"
"Oh, mother, donít say so! Perhaps we shall get sold together who knows?"
"If it was anybodyís else case, I should say so, too, Em," said the woman; "But Iím so ëfeared of losiní
you that Ii donít see anything but the danger."
"Why, mother, the man said we were both likely, and would sell well."
Susan remembered the manís looks and words. With a deadly sickness at her heart, she remembered how
he had looked at Emmelineís hands, and lifted up her curly hair, and pronounced her a first-rate article.
Susan had been trained as a Christian, brought up in the daily reading of the Bible, and had the same
horror of her childís being sold to a life of shame that any other Christian mother might have; but she had
no hope no protection.
"Mother, I think we might do first-rate, if you could get a place as a cook, and I as chambermaid or
seamstress, in some family. I dare say we shall. Letís both look as bright and lively as we can, and tell all
we can do, and perhaps we shall," said Emmeline.
"I want you to brush your hair all back straight, to-morrow," said Susan.
"What for, mother? I donít look near so well that way."
"Yes, but youíll sell better so."
"I donít see why!" said the child.
"Respectable families would be more apt to buy you, if they say you looked plain and decent, as if you
wasnít trying to look handsome. I know their ways betterín you do," said Susan.
"Well, mother, then I will."