This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to
upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30´ latitude
line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.
With the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and the application of Missouri for statehood, the long-standing
balance between the number of slave states and the number of free states would be changed. Controversy arose
within Congress over the issue of slavery.
Congress adopted this legislation and admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the
same time, so that the balance between slave and free states in the nation would remain equal. The Missouri
compromise also proposed that slavery be prohibited above the 36º 30´ latitude line in the remainder of the
Louisiana Territory. This provision held for 34 years, until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
The Compromise was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to slavery. The bills
provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of new states, prohibited the slave
trade in the District of Columbia, settled a Texas boundary dispute, and established a stricter fugitive slave act.
This featured document is Henry Clay's handwritten draft.
By 1850 sectional disagreements centering on slavery were straining the bonds of union between the North and
South. These tensions became especially acute when Congress began to consider whether western lands
acquired after the Mexican War would permit slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the
Union as a free state. Adding more free state senators to Congress would destroy the balance between slave and
free states that had existed since the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Because everyone looked to the Senate to defuse the growing crisis, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed
a series of resolutions designed to "Adjust amicably all existing questions of controversy . . . arising out of the
institution of slavery." Clay attempted to frame his compromise so that nationally minded senators would vote
for legislation in the interest of the Union.
In one of the most famous congressional debates in American history, the Senate discussed Clay’s solution for 7
months. It initially voted down his legislative package, but Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois stepped
forward with substitute bills, which passed both Houses. With the Compromise of 1850, Congress had
addressed the immediate crisis created by territorial expansion. But one aspect of the compromise—a
strengthened fugitive slave act—soon began to tear at sectional peace.
The Compromise of 1850 is composed of five statues enacted in September of 1850. The acts called for the
admission of California as a “free state,” provided for a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico,
established a boundary between Texas and the United States, called for the abolition of slave trade in
Washington, DC, and amended the Fugitive Slave Act.
Officially titled "An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas," this act repealed the Missouri
Compromise, which had outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude in the Louisiana territories and reopened
the national struggle over slavery in the western territories.
In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two
territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new
territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the
terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both territories.
After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers
rushed to Kansas, each side hoping to determine the results of the first election held after the law went into
effect. The conflict turned violent, aggravating the split between North and South until reconciliation was
virtually impossible.
Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped found the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of
slavery into the territories. As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the United States moved closer to Civil
War.
The Gag Rule
The "Gag Rule"
Resolution
December
21,1837
Courtesy of
National
Archives, Center
for Legislative
Archives
Inundated with abolitionist petitions, a resolution was put before the U.S. House of Representatives to lay
aside all anti-slavery literature without considering it. The so-called "gag rule," supported largely by
representatives of pro-slavery regions, was first passed in May 1836 and re-enacted annually every year
following until 1844 when it was finally defeated.
Resolved, that all petitions, memorials and papers touching the abolition of slavery or the buying, selling,
or transferring of slaves in any state, district or territory of the United States be laid upon the table
without being debated, printed, read or refined and that no further action whatsoever shall be had
thereon-
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was introduced on August 8, 1846, in the United States House of Representatives as a
rider on a $2 million appropriations bill intended for the final negotiations to resolve the Mexican-American
War. The intent of the proviso, submitted by Democratic Congressman David Wilmot, was to prevent the
introduction of slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. The proviso did not pass in this session or in any
other session when it was reintroduced over the course of the next several years, but many consider it as the one
of first events on the long slide to secession and Civil War which would accelerate through the 1850s.
Background
….Both major political parties of the time had labored long to keep divisive slavery issues out of national
politics. However, the victory of James Polk (Democratic Party) over Henry Clay (Southern Whig) in the 1844
presidential election had caught the Whigs by surprise. The key element of this defeat was the Whig party’s
failure to take a strong stand favoring Texas annexation. Whigs realized that Democratic victory and their push
for territorial acquisition would bring out the issue of slavery and its status in newly acquired territories.
Introduction and debate on the proviso
On Saturday August 8, 1846 President Polk submitted to Congress a request for $2,000,000 in order to facilitate
negotiations with Mexico over the final settlement of the Mexican-American War. With Congress scheduled to
adjourn the following Monday, Democratic leadership arranged for the bill to be immediately considered in a
special night session. David Wilmot, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, with a group of other
Democrats, had already been strategizing. Though he did not actually compose the test, Wilmot was chosen to
present an amendment to the appropriations bill that would eventually carry his name. Wilmot offered the
following to the House in language modeled after the Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by
the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the
moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except
for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.
William W. Wick (D) of Indiana attempted to mitigate total restriction of slavery by proposing an amendment
that the Missouri Compromise line of latitude 36°30' simply be extended west to the Pacific. This was voted
down 89-54. The vote to add the proviso to the bill was then called, and it passed by 83-64. A last ditch effort
by southerners to table the entire bill was defeated by 94-78, and then the entire bill was approved by the House
85-80. The Senate took up the bill late in its Monday session. However, a vote on the appropriations bill was
never called and Congress was officially out of session.
Modern History Sourcebook:
The Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act mandated the return of runaway slaves, regardless of where in the Union they might be situated at the
time of their discovery or capture. ….
Section 1: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the
Circuit Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that
any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or
offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the thirty-third
section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled "An Act to establish the
judicial courts of the United States" shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the
powers and duties conferred by this act. ….
Section 4: And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges
of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in their respective circuits and districts within the several States, and
the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant
certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from
service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped
or fled. ….
Section 5: And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all
warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy
marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the
same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of such claimant, on the motion of
such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such
marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape,
whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond, to be
prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or
District whence he escaped: and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties
faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are
hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under their hands, any one or
more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the
lawful performance of their respective duties; with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them,
to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper county, when
necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of
this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law,
whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said
officers, any where in the State within which they are issued…..
Section 7: And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such
claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive
from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from
service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting
as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person
so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other
person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and
arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid,
shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six
months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may
have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized
Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such
illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any
of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed. ….