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The Compromise Of 1850: The Issue Of Slavery

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The 1850s: The Issue of Slavery and Its Effects The 1850s were a controversial decade. It was the decade that led up the American Civil War. The enforcement of slavery was the main issue at the time. The two Presidents in office during this time were Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, played a role in the outcome of the tensions that arose from it. These three Presidents had different ideologies regarding slavery that affected the decisions and laws created during the time. It seemed like they were all just trying to appease Southerners so that the situation would not get worse. These poor decisions, along with poor leadership may had certainly led to the Civil War and it could have possibly been prevented. Slavery had …show more content…

By this time, the Fugitive Slave Law was already in full effect, along with the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 arose after Southerners and Northerners argued whether California and the California Territory should have slaves of not. Southerners wanted slaves in California and that territory, while Northerners did not. Created by Henry Clay, the Compromise of 1850 said that California was to be free of slavery and the California Territory had popular sovereignty. That meant that the people occupying these territories could vote and decide if slavery should be there or …show more content…

He too had poor leadership for the United States when they needed it the most. Pierce was a Northern Democrat who Southerners elected to run in the 1853 election. He too was trying to pacify Southerners and was willing to create policies that would cement slavery in the South. There was a downside to Pierce, he was always trying to look for diversions. He attempted over and over again to get people off the major topics of the country and onto other things. During the time that Pierce was in office, the Nebraska and Kansas Bill occurred, along with “Bleeding

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Millard Fillmore Major Accomplishments

851 Words | 4 Pages

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills that were intended to delay territorial and slavery conflicts. It passed when fillmore was in presidency and the goal was to deal with slavery and to keep the north’s and south’s interests balanced. The five bills were, California entered as a free state, New Mexico and Utah were each allowed to use popular sovereignty to decide on the issue of slavery, the Republic of Texas gave up lands that it claimed in present day New Mexico and received $10 million to pay its debt to Mexico, the slave trade was abolished in D.C. but not slavery, and the fugitive slave act made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. The Fugitive Slave Act was the most Conflicting part of The Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionist to increase the beliefs against slavery. According to Watson “This law, which authorized Southerners to recover run-away

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Pros And Cons Of The Compromise Of 1850

328 Words | 2 Pages

The Compromise of 1850 was an effort by the United States Congress that was drafted by Henry Clay, who was both the U.S. Senator and the House Representative of Kentucky. This compromise was a series of acts passed in 1850, attempted to reconcile Northern and Southern interests to preserve the Civil War. After the start of the Mexican-American War, conflicts about whether to allow slavery in those new territories to polarized Northern and Southern of the United States raised up. Northerners were in favor the Compromise, since they thought it’s a good chance to stop slavery. On the other hand, Southerners were against it, they thought it threatened their political power because the join of territory--California would disturb the balance of 15 free states and 15 slave states.

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Why The Compromise Of 1850 Failed

175 Words | 1 Pages

The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

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James K. Polk Dbq Essay

1488 Words | 6 Pages

In contrast, other politicians were trying to create temporary solutions to the slavery issue. One of these provisional plans was the Compromise of 1850 which was a series of bills planned by Henry Clay and later overseen by Stephen Douglas that would try to resolve the concerns of slavery in new territories. Therefore, California was admitted to the Union as a free state and the territories in the west determined the issue of slavery based on popular sovereignty. Following this, slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. and the new Fugitive Slave Act was passed. The Fugitive Slave Act was a portion of the Compromise of 1850 and it gave a new protection to slavery.

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Missouri Compromise Of 1850 Essay

984 Words | 4 Pages

When in 1850 the California Territory asked to be admitted as a free state into the Union, many southerners opposed the request because they feared that that new admission would have upset the sectional balance in the Congress between free state representatives and slave state representatives. The Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of law later called under the common name of Compromise of 1850. According to these laws, California would be admitted into the Union as free slave; to balance it there would be created two new slave states, Utah and New Mexico, where slavery had to be determined by popular sovereignty; slavery in Washington D.C. would be ended; and finally the issuing of the Fugitive Slave Act that made easier for the southern to recover fugitive slaves. Even though the Compromise of 1850 acted as a temporary solution, later in time it resulted in further severe problems as the Bleeding Kansas in 1854, where pro-slavery citizens and anti-slavery citizens quarrelsome produced a sort of small civil

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The Impact Of The Missouri Compromise And The Fugitive Slave Act

715 Words | 3 Pages

One such compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) which also had its origins in westward expansion as well as the expansion of human bondage (slavery). With the passage of Henry Clay’s controversial Compromise of 1850, came the birth of a harsher fugitive slave Act in 1850. Much more specifically it came about due to the slaveholders’ outrage at the success of the underground railroad. Clay compromised that California, after its recent population increase due to the gold rush in 1849, would be brought into the union as a free state and the slave trade in Washington D.C. would be outlawed. However, in return, for the South, a new, stricter, fugitive slave law would be passed.

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How Did Clay Win The Civil War

307 Words | 2 Pages

Unable to watch his beautiful Union crumble, Clay began solving the problems between the North and the South with a compromise. Clay stated that California would become part of the Union as a free state and organize New Mexico and Utah as territories without any slavery restrictions.

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Reasons For The Downfall Of The Missouri Compromise Of 1850

797 Words | 4 Pages

As further compromises were needed to stabilize fragile relations, the expansion of territories revealed the gaping differences in American beliefs. To settle the complaints from southerners, Congress adopted the Compromise of 1850 to deal with both slavery and the expanding territories. Under this deal, California entered the United States as a free state and Washington D.C. abolished its slave trade. Also, other territories to the west could independently decide whether to ban or allow slavery. However, the law also caused controversy by allowing slave owners to capture fugitive slaves in the North.

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The Breakdown Of The Compromise Of 1850 After The Mexican War

568 Words | 3 Pages

However, if California was admitted as a free state, then the North would have control over all the bills and laws, while if California was admitted as a slave state, then the North would not be able to stop the expansion of slavery. After all, the South would control the Senate. Therefore, the compromise of 1850 was brought before the Senate.

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The Fugitive Slave Act: The Compromise Of 1850

491 Words | 2 Pages

The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the group of laws referred to as the "Compromise of 1850. " In this compromise, the anti slavery people gained the admission of California as a free state and the prohibition of slave-trading in the District of Columbia. This law allowed slave hunters to gather any runaway slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a federal territory. It also allowed them to seize alleged fugitive slaves without due process of law and it it was often presumed that a black person was a slave, so the law threatened the safety of all blacks even the free ones. Passage of this law was so hated by abolitionists, however, that its existence played a role in the end of slavery a little more than a dozen years later.

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To What Extent Was The Compromise Of 1850

1583 Words | 7 Pages

Most issues start before they even get addressed, usually because they keep on growing into bigger conflicts. For example the Civil War, but that is after 1850 (Pearson). Events before 1850 included the Louisiana Purchase, the Missouri Compromise, and the Mexican-American War (Pearson). In the present time of the 1850s, there was a "war" of tension between the Free and Slave states. The main issue was the fact that at any time both sides could start a war with each other, but the government wanted to keep everyone peaceful.

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321 Words | 2 Pages

Our country is on the verge of disaster today. Provincial parties are seeking blood from one another. By being the kings of these radicals, Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Fremont do absolutely nothing but intensify the problem, which threatens to burst out into civil war. During my last serving as President, this very same argument over slavery loomed over us.

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235 Words | 1 Pages

This issue of slavery has become so controversial that it divided America. During this time different events occurred, the rise of the abolition movement, rebellions, and the Civil War. Slavery

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Did Slavery Cause The Civil War Essay

604 Words | 3 Pages

To a greater extent, slavery was the greatest cause of the outbreak of the civil war in 1860. Disputes of slavery caused economic and political troubles between the northern and southern states leading up to the civil war. The fact the the northern and southern states were different in almost every way caused them to turn out like completely different territories, one of their greatest differences was the fact that most southern states economy relied on hard labour, agricultural jobs like tobacco in Maryland, and cotton in Virginia; this caused their economy to be more based on the labour of slaves than the more developed territories in the north (Harrold), who after this time was starting to not need the slave labour in their territories because after early 1800’s, the industrial revolution had been spreading to America, and the country developed very quickly. But in this expansion, only the north states were getting the effect of the industrial revolution, meaning the north would not need slave

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Compromise Of Slavery

312 Words | 2 Pages

Much of America was overtaken by slavery for nearly two hundred and fifty years, dating back to the 1600’s in Jamestown, Virginia. In the 1850’s, slavery was widespread across the Southern states viewing blacks as inferior, which made the action morally acceptable in their eyes. Within the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was established, allowing slave catchers to travel into free states to capture runaway slaves and stating that private citizens must assist in capturing the slaves or else they’d be fined or jailed. Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and abolitionist, found the idea of taking part in such a wrongful system as the one that was put into effect by the compromise, to be completely immoral and wanted nothing to

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