Unit 5: Topic 4 - The Compromise of 1850 Flashcards
What led to the Compromise of 1850?
By 1850, sectional disagreements related to slavery were straining the bonds of union between the North and South. These tensions became especially critical when Congress began considering whether western lands acquired after the Mexican-American War would permit slavery.
The creation of the Compromise of 1850 was a way to ease tensions and avert a crisis between North and South.
How did the product of the Mexican-American War lead to the Compromise of 1850?
The US took over the Mexican Cession land after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. One of the territories that gained was California, it quickly needed statehood because of the massive settler influx during the California Gold Rush. But, there was no slave state seeking admission to the Union to keep the balance of states in the Senate.
The imbalance led to tensions that Senator Henry Clay (also responsible for the Missouri Compromise and known as “the Great Compromiser”) would attempt to ease by passing a series of acts known as the Compromise of 1850.
What were the different positions on slavery?
Southern Position: Believed that slavery was a constitutional right and had already been decided in the Missouri Compromise (Compromise of 1820).
Free Soil Movement: Faction composed of Northern Democrats and Whigs who wanted new territories acquired to be free. Some of this faction wanted slavery banned because they envisioned the new territories as a land of opportunity for white people without competition with enslaved labor, not because they believed slavery was a moral evil. Abolitionists in this faction wanted slavery banned everywhere.
Popular Sovereignty: Wanted white residents in each territory to decide whether or not slavery should be banned in the new territories.
What was the Wilmot Proviso? Why was it significant?
The Wilmot Proviso was a legislative proposal intending to stop the expansion of slavery into the lands acquired after the Mexican-American War. The Wilmot Proviso failed to pass, ultimately leading to debate over the proposal and exacerbating North-South tensions.
What did the Compromise of 1850 do?
The Compromise of 1850 consisted of 5 separate acts.
1. The South got a stricter Fugitive Slave Act, which put the federal government in charge of recovering runaway slaves up North. It required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state.
2. The North got California admitted as a free state.
3. The North abolished the slave trade in Washington DC, although not the end of slavery itself.
4. The North had received a resolution to a boundary dispute between New Mexico and Texas. It was resolved in favor of non-slave New Mexico.
5. The rest of the Mexican Cession territory would be based on popular sovereignty (white residents in the territory would vote if it would be a free or slave state).
