Slavery, the South and the Causes of Secession, 1850-61 » The Compromise of 1850

A new crisis over slavery

In 1848 the USA won a huge area of land from Mexico, including California. Once again the argument was whether slavery should spread into new lands. By 1850 there were 15 free states and 15 slave states. Each state sends two senators to the Senate, so the equal numbers meant neither side could outvote the other there. Southerners relied on this balance to protect slavery.

Then California, swollen by the Gold Rush, asked to join as a free state. If it did, free states would outnumber slave states for the first time. Many Southerners felt that they were losing power and that the North might one day attack slavery itself. At the same time Texas, a slave state, claimed much of New Mexico, and Southern leaders talked of leaving the Union if they were not protected.

Key terms:

• Popular sovereignty: letting the settlers of a territory vote on whether to allow slavery there.
• Fugitive: a person who has escaped. Here it means an enslaved person who escaped to freedom.
• Fugitive Slave Act: the 1850 law that forced officials and citizens to help catch escaped enslaved people, even in free states.
• Compromise of 1850: the set of laws passed by Congress in 1850 to settle the quarrel over slavery in the lands taken from Mexico.

Who made the deal?

Henry Clay, the senator who had helped with the Missouri Compromise, put forward a package of ideas in January 1850. His plan, bundled into one big bill, failed. Senator Stephen Douglas then split it into separate bills and steered each one through Congress, with enough votes from both North and South. President Taylor had been unhappy with the plan, but he died in July 1850. His successor, Millard Fillmore, supported it. The laws were passed in September 1850.

The five parts of the Compromise

Each side gave something up and each side won something. The North got a free California and the end of the slave trade in Washington DC. The South got popular sovereignty in the new territories and a harsher Fugitive Slave Act.

The Fugitive Slave Act

Earlier law already said escaped enslaved people could be returned, but Northern states often ignored it. The 1850 Act, signed on 18 September, was far tougher:

• Federal officials called commissioners decided each case. There was no jury trial.
• The accused person was not allowed to speak in their own defence.
• A commissioner was paid $10 if he decided the person was an escaped slave, but only $5 if he set them free.
• Ordinary citizens could be ordered to help catch escaped people. Anyone who helped an escaped person risked a fine and prison.

This put the national government in the North's own streets, enforcing slavery. Free Black people were also in danger, because anyone could be accused and could not defend themselves, and some were seized and sent south.

Northern anger

Many Northerners had not cared much about slavery until the law forced them to take part in it. Now it was on their doorstep.

• Refusal to obey. Some Northern states passed laws to protect free Black people, and crowds in places such as Boston helped people escape from custody.
• More escape routes. The Underground Railroad, a secret network of helpers, became busier. Many people now fled on to Canada, beyond the reach of the law. Harriet Tubman, who had escaped herself, led many others to freedom.
• Books and speeches. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel about slavery that shocked many readers. It sold in huge numbers and turned many Northerners against slavery.

This was a states' rights argument with a twist. Northern states said they could protect people within their own borders, and the South said this broke the law. Yet many Southerners who usually spoke up for states' rights now wanted the national government to enforce slavery everywhere. Both sides claimed the Constitution was on their side.

Southerners, in turn, were angry that the North would not obey the law. The Compromise had been meant to settle the quarrel. Instead the Fugitive Slave Act kept feeding it.

Change and continuity

What changed: slavery in national politics had moved from the argument over Missouri in 1820 to a bigger one over the whole western half of the country, and the federal government now enforced slavery in free states. What stayed the same: Congress was still trying to solve the problem by a deal, and the Senate balance still mattered. Like the Missouri Compromise, the deal did not end the argument.

Exam-style question

This is a Paper 2 Section B (b) question. You must explain TWO causes. One cause alone cannot score more than half marks. For each cause, give precise facts and show how it led to the outcome.

Explain TWO causes of the Compromise of 1850. [8 marks]

Recap

• By 1850 there were 15 free and 15 slave states, and California asked to join as a free state.
• The Compromise of 1850: California free, popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico, the slave trade ended in Washington DC, Texas paid $10 million for giving up land claims, and a tougher Fugitive Slave Act.
• The Fugitive Slave Act (18 September 1850) gave no jury trial and forced citizens to help, which made many Northerners angry.
• Clay and Douglas steered the deal through, but like the Missouri Compromise it only delayed the argument.