Transcript Compromise of 1850

THE UNION IN PERIL:
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
CHAPTER 10
Section 1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
What was the controversy in the territories about?
Why was the Compromise of 1850 adopted?
Time line of Slavery
• 1787
3/5ths Compromise
• 1820
Missouri Compromise. Slavery in the
Territories, balance of power
Texas is admitted as a Slave state
• 1845
• 1848
• 1849
• 1850
End of the war with Mexico, new
territories gained, slave or free.
California applies for statehood, state
constitution prohibits slavery
Compromise of 1850
The South in the
mid-1800’s is
increasingly…
• Single Crop Plantation
Economy (Cotton)
• Rural
• Segregated
– black v. white
– rich planters v. poor
whites
• Fearful of Northern
interference & slave
revolts
The North in the
mid-1800’s is
increasingly…
• Industrial economy
• Urban
• Socially and
Culturally Diverse
– Immigration from
Europe
• More and more
abolitionists
• More opposition to
spread of slavery
Map: Population Distribution, 1790 and 1850
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Slavery in Territories
• Should territories and new
states have slavery
– Missouri Compromise
• Wilmot Proviso
– Closed to slavery
• California, Utah, and New
Mexico
– Against southern constitutional
rights
• Congress had no right to
control the territories
• Passed by the House, rejected
by the Senate
– Twice
Debate over Slavery in the territories leads
to… SECTIONALISM!!! (AGAIN!!!)
Wilmot Proviso = an amendment passed in 1846,
stating that “neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude shall ever exist” in the territory seized
from Mexico during the war.
WHY? More slave states would upset the balance of
power established in the Missouri Compromise.
PROBLEM: Gold Rush means that California is ready to
become a state, due to population boom. California
petitions to be a FREE state, despite being below the
36º30’ Missouri Compromise Line
The Senate Debates - 1849
• Pres. Zachary Taylor backs California’s admission as a free
state and he backs the idea of popular sovereignty = the
people of each territory should vote whether to be free or
slave.
• Some Southern states, fearing a shift in the balance between
N and S, threaten secession = formally withdrawing from
the Union.
• Senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun
work out the Compromise of 1850, and save the Union
from splitting into sections.
Map: Westward Expansion, 1800-1860
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Statehood for California
• Gold Rush
– Population explosion
• Skipped requirements to
become a territory
• State Constitution
– Outlawed slavery
– Outrage of Southerners
• Location of California
• How should California
enter the union?
– Free or slave
– Balance of power
Compromise of 1850
CONCESSIONS TO NORTH CONCESSIONS TO SOUTH
• California admitted as
free
• New Mexico to receive
disputed land with Texas
• Slave trade, but not
slavery, abolished in D.C.
• New Mexico and Utah
Territories to be
determined by popular
sovereignty
• Texas paid $10 million as
compensation for New
Mexico
• Stronger Fugitive Slave
Act
COMPROMISE OF 1850
Calhoun and Webster debate the Compromise. Calhoun rejects it,
Webster argues for it.
• Calhoun= advocate of state’s rights. Slaveholders have no need to
get permission to take their property into the new territories.
• Webster= the Union must be preserved, even if some Southerners
and some abolitionists remain unsatisfied.
Senate FAILS to adopt the compromise. Clay retires. Stephen A.
Douglas (Illinois) renews efforts to pass the Compromise in
sections, which works. Calhoun’s death helps the bill to pass, also.
Taylor dies, and Millard Fillmore becomes President. Fillmore
supports compromise and signs the bill into law.
Compromise of 1850: The Players
NAME:
• Calhoun
• Taylor
• Clay
• Douglas
• Webster
• Fillmore
ROLE:
= Opposed
= Opposed
= Architect, Supporter
= Advocate, Supporter
= Supporter
= Conciliator
Calhoun and Webster famously debate the Compromise.
Calhoun rejects it, Webster argues for it.
Map: The Compromise of 1850
16
FREE
VS.
16
SLAVE
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE & THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
Potential Essay Topics
• Compare and Contrast Compromise of 1820
and 1850
• Causes and Effects of Manifest Destiny
• Causes and Effects of Texas Revolution
• Causes and Effects of Mexican War
• Factors for increased Sectionalism and
declining nationalism