The Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850 Background David Wilmot James K. Polk Lewis Cass Wilmot Proviso Changing view of Congress’ right to regulate slavery Southern View Northern View Compromise Views offered Polk Lewis Cass Both fail

Election of 1848 Democrats Whigs Free Soilers Results: Whigs win Lewis Cass Democrats Zachary Taylor Whigs Van Buren Free Soilers

Gold in California South panics South expects CA & New Mexico=slave North: Minnesota & Oregon=free CA passes anti-slavery constitution (at Taylor’s urging) New Mexico also passes anti-slavery constitution South panics Why?

Taylor’s Stand No political experience “Jacksonize” the dissenters Compromise impossible

Old Guard Seeks Compromise (Comp. of 1850) CA admitted as a free state New Mexico admitted w/o mention of slavery Tougher fugitive slave law Assumption of Texas debt Abolition of slave trade in D.C. (slavery still ok)

Death of Taylor Taylor dies a slow, odd death… Milliard Fillmore takes office Importance of his death

Effects of the Compromise of 1850 Northern gains California becomes a free state Disputed territory does not become slave areas directly Abolition of slave trade in Washington D.C. (slavery still legal) Southern gains Popular sovereignty in New Mexico/Utah territories Assumed Texas debts Tougher fugitive slave law enacted North is the clear winner

Effect of Compromise on the Parties Northern Democrats: accept the compromise Whigs: Split on compromise, ends the party (ultimately) Free-soilers: denounce it as evil

The Death of Three Great Statesmen John C. Calhoun Daniel Webster Henry Clay Three nationally renowned leaders die New leadership emerges: Cass, Douglas, Seward Why does this make a difference?

The Blunder of the FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW All Northerners must get involved in slavery… Rally cry Enforcement impossible b/c of personal liberty laws & popular opinion.

Southerners threatened secession and war FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW SOUTHERNERS RESPOND Southerners threatened secession and war Believed it should be enforced because the Constitution protects property and Federal law is over State law. 5th Amendment Supremacy Clause

RESPONSE BY ABOLITIONISTS FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW Fugitive Slave Law RESPONSE BY ABOLITIONISTS “An immoral law makes it a man’s duty to break it, at every hazard. For virtue is the very self of every man. It is therefore a principle of law that an immoral contract is void, and that an immoral statute is void. The Fugitive Slave Law is a statute which enacts the crime of kidnapping, a crime on one footing with arson and murder. A man’s right to liberty is as inalienable as his right to life……” Ralph Waldo Emerson “3 millions of the American people are crushed under the American Union! The government gives them no protection– the government is their enemy, the government keeps them in chains! The Union which grinds them to the dust rests upon us, and with them we will struggle to overthrow it! The Constitution which subjects them to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support. Our motto is, ‘No Union with Slaveholders’….We separate from them, to clear our skirts of innocent blood….and to hasten the downfall of slavery in America, and throughout the world!” William Lloyd Garrison