Page 348 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Read the Document Henry Clay and John Calhoun, The Compromise of 1850 14.1

14.2

14.3

A FrAgiLe CoMproMise Henry Clay, shown here addressing the Senate, helped negotiate the Compromise
of 1850 to settle the dispute over the extension of slavery in territories acquired in the Mexican-American War.
Daniel Webster, seated at left resting his head on his hand, supported Clay’s proposed compromise. Ardent states’
rightist john C. Calhoun, standing third from right, led the opposition.

was abandoned in favor of a series of measures that could be voted on separately. After
the breakup of the omnibus bill, some of Clay’s proposals were modified to make them
more acceptable to the South and the Democrats. Senator Stephen A. Douglas maneu-
vered the separate provisions through Congress.
As the price of Democratic support, the bills organizing New Mexico and Utah
as territories included the popular sovereignty principle. Territorial legislatures in the
Mexican cession were explicitly granted power over “all rightful subjects of legislation,”
which might include slavery. Half of the compensation to Texas for giving up its claims
to New Mexico was paid directly to holders of Texas bonds. (See Map 14.1).
Abolition of the slave trade—but not slavery itself—in the District of Columbia
and a new Fugitive Slave Law were also enacted. The latter was an outrageous piece of Fugitive slave Law Passed in
legislation. As the result of southern pressures and amendments, suspected fugitives 1850, this federal law made it
were now denied a jury trial, the right to testify in their own behalf, and other basic con- easier for slaveowners to recapture
stitutional protections. This removed any effective safeguards against accusers making runaway slaves; it also made it
easier for kidnappers to take free
false claims that a black person was an escaped slave—or even kidnapping free blacks. blacks. The law became an object
The compromise passed because northern Democrats, southern Whigs, and repre- of hatred in the North.
sentatives of both parties from the border states supported its key measures. A majority
of congressmen from both sections did not support any single bill, and few senators
or representatives actually voted for the entire package. Many northern Whigs and
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