3/23/24 - Teachers and Parents - Use the code "SPRINGBREAK" for 10 percent off of your subscription to the ad-free, full-content, unlimited students, plus much more MrNussbaum.com when you subscribe. Click "Sign up" in the upper right corner to start. Join thousands of teachers and parents and countless students who now enjoy the site with no distractions, tons more content and way more options! Only $29 per year.

Advertisement

Remove ad

This page describes Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850

Slavery in the New Territories?

The Compromise of 1850 was primarily about the issue of slavery in America's new territories acquired after the Mexican War, though other, less important issues were included as well. California had already adopted an anti-slavery constitution and appliedfor statehood. The question, then, was whether slavery should be allowed in the new territories. Both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates argued over the issue, yet neither side was strong enough to administer a plan of action.

The Union is Threatened; Clay Brokers Another Compromise

The slavery issue quickly became a crisis that threatened the Union. In an attempt to maintain a balance between free and slave states, Henry Clay offered the famous compromise. Clay's Compromise called for the admission of California as a free state, the organization of the new territories of New Mexico and Utah, with the slavery issue left to those citizens, settlement of border disputes between Texas and New Mexico, a prohibition of slave trade in the District of Columbia, and a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law which outlined penalties for individuals who harbored runaway slaves. The compromise was accepted by moderates throughout the country, and may have postponed southern secession for a decade.

A Band-Aid on a Gaping Wound

Although the Compromise of 1850 was a good temporary solution, its precedent led to future violence in Kansas, and ultimately, could not prevent the onset of the Civil War eleven years later.

United States of America in 1850

America in 1850

 

Advertisement

Remove ad

Related activities

Advertisement

Remove ad