The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills passed by the US Congress in September 1850 to diffuse a sectional crisis brewing between the 'free states' of the North and the 'slave states' of the South. The crisis was sparked by a disagreement over whether slavery should be allowed to expand into the so-called 'Mexican Cession', the 529,000 square miles of territory seized from Mexico after the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Under the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted into the Union as a free state, while slavery in the rest of the territory – such as in New Mexico and Utah – would be decided through 'popular sovereignty,' meaning that settlers would decide on whether to prohibit slavery or not. This compromise did not resolve the dispute but only postponed the conflict over slavery that would culminate in the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Background: Mr. Polk's War
In 1844, James K. Polk (1795-1849) won election to the US presidency on a platform of expansionism; promising to lead the United States toward its 'Manifest Destiny', Polk declared his intention to wrest the Oregon Territory from the British, seize all Mexican territory north of 31°, and annex the newly independent Republic of Texas. Initially, this ambitious policy fell quite short of its goals. Polk was forced to settle for a treaty that established the Oregon boundary at the 49th parallel – less than was hoped for – while Mexico declined to sell any territory at all. But when Texas joined the Union in December 1845 as the 28th state, Polk saw a new opportunity for conquest; Mexico had not recognized Texas' independence and viewed its annexation by the US as a hostile act. Polk and his partisans continued to provoke Mexico, ultimately leading to the Mexican-American War. At the end of that conflict, Mexico was forced to give up vast amounts of territory, including Utah, New Mexico, and California. Polk had achieved his goal – by the end of his single term, the United States had expanded by two-thirds, growing more than it had under any other president.
Mr. Polk's War, as the conflict had been derisively called, was quite polarizing – while Polk's own Democratic Party supported the expansion of the United States by any means necessary, members of the Whig Party viewed the conflict as an unjust war and believed that its main objective had been to expand the institution of slavery and increase the political power of the slave-holding South. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had fixed the boundary between 'slave states' and 'free states' by prohibiting slavery north of the 36°30' north latitude parallel. But since most of the land conquered from Mexico was beneath that boundary, several new 'slave states' could potentially be carved out from the territory. In 1846, anti-slavery representatives tried to prevent this with the Wilmot Proviso, which declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part" of the territory acquired from Mexico – the proviso passed in the House, but it was defeated in the Senate, where the South exerted greater power. Though the Wilmot Proviso failed, it rejuvenated the national debate over the question of slavery, an issue that had been festering beneath the country's surface for decades.
Opponents of slavery – often called Free Soilers – believed that the institution was not only a moral evil but also stood in the way of progress. As historian James M. McPherson writes, Free Soilers argued that "free labor was more efficient than slave labor because it was motivated by the inducement of wages and the ambition for upward mobility rather than by the coercion of the lash" (55). Slavery must therefore be kept out of the new territories to encourage free labor and progress there. But the slave-holding South interpreted these statements as an attack against its social system. As the global demand for cotton grew, Southern planters became more reliant on slave labor to cultivate the crop. Additionally, it was believed that slave labor was necessary to allow the slave-holding gentry time to cultivate the arts, literature, and to pursue public office. An attack on slavery was therefore viewed as an attack on the Southern way of life; to preserve this, Southerners sought to expand slavery wherever they could, to maintain a strong pro-slavery voting bloc in Congress.
The question of whether slavery would be allowed in the newly acquired territories threatened to dominate the US presidential election of 1848. Polk had declined to seek re-election; worn out by his time in office, he would be dead before the end of the decade. Instead, the Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, who championed the idea of 'popular sovereignty' – this meant that the settlers of the territories should decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery or not. The Whigs, needing to carry states where annexation had been popular, decided to avoid the question of slavery for the time being and nominated General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), hero of the Mexican War. Taylor was an odd choice – he had been mostly unpolitical prior to his run for office, leaving many Americans unsure as to what his political positions were. However, he was a slaveholder who owned over a hundred slaves himself, leaving many pro-slavery voters feeling comfortable that he would support their position. Taylor won the election, carrying 8 of the 15 slave states, and was inaugurated on 4 March 1849. But little did anyone realize that Taylor's election heralded a political storm that was just about to break.
Taylor Turns on the South
In January 1848, gold was discovered in California. Over the course of the next year, over 80,000 Americans moved to California in the hopes of striking it rich, giving the territory a larger population than the states of Florida or Delaware. Naturally, these new Californians were eager to apply for statehood and, in 1849, held a state constitutional convention. Most of these settlers considered slavery to be "an unnecessary moral, social, and political curse," and so, when the delegates were drafting their state constitution, they unanimously voted to prohibit slavery within the boundaries of California. New Mexico, another territory carved out of the Mexican Cession, was also prepared to apply for statehood. Since slavery had been prohibited there under Mexican law, it was likely that New Mexico would join the Union as a 'free state' as well. Southerners, of course, were alarmed – the entry of two new 'free states' at once would tip the balance of power in the Senate against the 'slave states', maybe for good.
President Taylor, however, was eager to admit both states into the Union as quickly as possible. He saw no reason why they should not enter as 'free states' – after all, cotton could not be grown in these territories, making it impractical to expand slavery there. As if this was not enough to aggravate the South, Taylor made it clear that he would sign the Wilmot Proviso should Congress pass it and began seeking advice from Senator William H. Seward (1801-1872) of New York, a noted Free Soiler politician. Before long, Southerners realized that Taylor was not the pro-slavery candidate they had believed him to be. The president was soon castigated in pro-slavery newspapers as a class traitor who had "utterly abandoned the South" (quoted in McPherson, 67). These heightening tensions seeped into Congress when it met in December 1849. Neither party had a clear majority in the House of Representatives, leading to a fierce, three-week struggle to elect a House Speaker.
As ballot after ballot failed to produce any results, blood ran hot, and several fistfights broke out between Northern and Southern representatives. Tempers flared even in the Senate, as Senator Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) of Mississippi challenged an Illinois congressman to a duel. Eventually, moderate Democrat Howell Cobb of Georgia was elected House Speaker, but this did little to soothe tensions. By now, New Mexico's request to enter the Union had stalled; Texas had claimed much of its territory, a border dispute that would have to be resolved before New Mexico could be considered for statehood. But California was ready, and in January 1850, President Taylor sent a letter to Congress recommending its immediate admittance into the Union. In response, two Southern congressmen, Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs, visited the president to warn him that the South would never submit to losing the balance of power in Congress. Taylor exploded with rage, telling the congressmen that he would personally lead an army into the South to enforce the law and that he would hang any traitor in his path.
The Great Triumvirate Takes the Stage
On 29 January 1850, Senator Henry Clay (1777-1852) of Kentucky rose to offer a compromise, much as he had done in 1820 and 1833. His multi-part plan was comprised of eight resolutions, the first six of which were grouped in pairs. The first pair would admit California into the Union as a 'free state' in exchange for the rest of the Mexican Cession being organized without restrictions on slavery. The second pair would resolve the Texas–New Mexico border dispute in favor of New Mexico, in exchange for the federal assumption of Texas' debts. The third pair would abolish the slave trade in the District of Columbia but not emancipate the slaves already there. The two final resolutions were both pro-Southern: these included denying Congress authority over the interstate slave trade and calling for stronger laws to enable slaveholders to recapture their slaves who had fled to other states.
Clay was opposed by his old colleague and rival, Senator John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) of South Carolina. Calhoun had spent much of his career defending the interests of the American South, and though he was currently dying from tuberculosis, he ensured that his words were heard one last time. Too weak to speak for himself, Calhoun sat wrapped in a blanket, staring out at his colleagues as Senator James Mason of Virginia read his speech for him. In essence, Calhoun argued that the "equilibrium between the two sections had been destroyed" by California's entry into the Union, the "aggression" of the North was destroying Southern institutions, and unless things were reversed, the Southern states could not "remain in the Union consistently with their honor and safety" (quoted in McPherson, 72). In response, Senator Daniel Webster (1782-1852) of Massachusetts rose to speak in favor of Clay's compromise. "I wish to speak today," he began, "not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American…I speak today for the preservation of the Union." Webster urged his colleagues to put aside their sectional differences and vote for the compromise for the good of the country. This series of debates marked the last time that the so-called 'Great Triumvirate' of US congressmen – Clay, Calhoun, and Webster – took the stage, after having dominated national politics for the last several decades.
But there were those who were ready to see the influence of the 'Great Triumvirate' fade into the footnotes of history. On 11 March, Senator Seward rose to give a rebuttal against Calhoun, but also to condemn Clay's attempts to compromise. Slavery, Seward argued, was an unjust and dying institution – "shall we," he asked, "who are founding institutions, social and political, for countless millions; shall we, who know by experience the wise and the just, and are free to choose them and to reject the erroneous and unjust; shall we establish human bondage or permit it by our sufferance to be established?" Seward's 'Higher Law' speech caused a stir; Southerners condemned it as a "diabolical" attack, while others feared that it reduced the chance of a successful compromise. "This is a nice mess Governor Seward has gotten us into," President Taylor remarked, "the speech must be declaimed at once" (quoted in McPherson, 73). Yet Seward's speech, insisting that there can be no compromises on slavery, reflected much of the sentiment in the country that would only continue to rise over the course of the next decade.
The Compromise
On 17 April 1850, Clay's resolutions were put to the Senate floor, sparking another round of intense debate. At the height of the drama, Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi drew a loaded revolver and pointed it at Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. The debates continued into the early summer, with nine slave-holding states sending delegates to Nashville, Tennessee, to discuss their next course of action should the compromise succeed. Then, in late June, a convention in Santa Fe ratified a free soil constitution, and Taylor insisted that New Mexico be admitted as well as California; in response, the governor of Texas vowed to uphold his state's claim to New Mexican territory and sent militia to the border, leading many to fear that violence would break out between the Texas militia and US soldiers. The compromise, it seemed, was destined to fail.
Then, the situation changed again when President Taylor unexpectedly died of a stomach disease on 9 July. He was succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), a New York Whig who took less of a hardline stance against the South, and was eager to see the compromise through. He decided to shelve New Mexico's application for statehood, hoping that doing so would ease the resolutions' passage through Congress. It did not; despite Clay's best efforts, the bill was defeated on 31 July. Frustrated, disheartened, and fatigued from the tuberculosis that would soon kill him, Clay left Washington to recuperate in Newport, Rhode Island. In his place, the younger senator Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) of Illinois stepped up and took charge of guiding the resolutions through the Senate. Douglas rearranged Clay's original resolutions into five separate bills that he hoped would be more agreeable to all parties involved. Douglas' five bills included:
- A strengthened version of the Fugitive Slave Law, requiring federal officials in all states – even free ones – to return escaped slaves to their owners (this became known as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850).
- The prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia (although slavery itself would be allowed to continue there).
- California's entry into the Union as a 'free state'.
- The Texas–New Mexico border dispute would be settled in New Mexico's favor in exchange for the federal assumption of Texas' debts.
- Territorial governments would be established in New Mexico and Utah; whether or not slavery would be permitted here would be decided by popular sovereignty.
Douglas ensured that the bills were voted on separately. As a result, they all passed in September 1850. Throughout the country, people believed that a crisis had been averted, and cries of "the Union is saved!" reverberated throughout Washington. But the Compromise of 1850 did not settle the dispute but only postponed it; the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 would reopen the question of slavery once again, and the crisis would only worsen until the great bloodletting of the American Civil War.
