Compromise of 1850 © Mark Batik, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas

Territorial Battlegrounds  Constitutional structure: Congress makes the rules for the territories  2 Precedents:  Northwest Territories  Missouri Compromise  Link Link

The Spoils of War  Texas counterbalanced by Oregon  But what to do with the Mexican Cession?  2 Principles:  Missouri Compromise line  Congress makes rules  Three Theories: Wilmot, Calhoun, Squatter Sovereignty

Wilmot Proviso  “Free Soil” for the territory of the Mexican Cession  2 attempts 1846, 1847  Fails in Senate both times  Idea of Proviso is the basis for the Free Soil and Republican Parties

Calhoun Resolutions  Response to the Wilmot “Three Million Bill” 1847  A constitutional defense of slavery  A set of resolutions protecting slavery where it was and allowing states to be admitted with slavery

“Squatter Sovereignty”  AKA Popular sovereignty  Idea that the residents of an area ought to decide whether or not slavery should be allowed there  Seen as a compromise because  A. slavery can be accepted  B. these lands are not suited to it

Election of 1848 Lewis Cass DemocratZachary Taylor WhigMartin Van Buren Free Soil

Free Soil  Conscience Whigs, Van Buren Democrats, Liberty Party “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men”

Taylor Wins  Independent Nationalist  Preferred immediate admission of Mexican Cession territory as states rather than a territorial stage  Complicates the issue

Compromise of 1850  California WILL be a free state  In 1849, 55,000 go to California because of gold, the state requests admission as a free state  1850, New Mexico organizes itself under a free state constitution  Mexican Cession territory risks being free because of the Free Soil Principal

Compromise 1850: The Players  Henry Clay: in order to foster peace and harmony  John C. Calhoun: defending state interests, writes that the compromise will tear the union apart  Daniel Webster: Preservation of the Union  Z. Taylor: Not interested in the “political” side. Why can’t California just be admitted? He wants immediate California statehood

Compromise Provisions  California comes in Free  Organize the Southwest without regard to slavery  Redraw the Texas Boundary  Pay off Texas by assuming its debt  Allow slavery to exist in D.C.  Ban the slave trade in D.C  Create a stronger Fugitive Slave Act  Deny to Congress the authority to interfere with the slave trade

Compromise of 1850  Omnibus Bill won’t pass. Too much opposition from all sides, Taylor opposed  Committee of 13 established to work on it  Taylor attends a picnic, gets food poisoning (gastrointestinitis) and dies  Millard Fillmore becomes president willing to compromise  Stephen A. Douglas (Ill. D) break it up into separate provisions

Final Compromise  1. California becomes a Free State  2. Texas and New Mexico Act  3. Utah Act “all rightful subjects of legislation”  4. Fugitive Slave Act  5. Slave trade in DC banned, but not slavery itself

Map of the Compromise

Texas and New Mexico Act  Texas cedes 1/3 of its territory  Gets $10 million  Money split between Texas in compensation and holders of Texas bonds

A Moment of Silence  Yes,  It happens,  Finally, you thought it wouldn’t…  March 31, 1850  John C. Calhoun  dies

Gadsden Purchase  James Gadsden was appointed Minister to Mexico in 1853  Instructed to purchase a strip of approximately 30,000 square miles for a southern railroad  Gadsden negotiated the purchase for $10 million, and the Senate ratified it in 1854

Gadsden Purchase