The “Compromise”
of 1850
Louisiana Territory
Indian
Territory
1. Missouri would join the United
States as a slave state.
2. Maine would join the United
States as a free state.
3. An imaginary line at latitude 36°
30’ would be drawn across the
territory gained in the Louisiana
Purchase. North of the line
slavery was banned—except
for Missouri.
The North does not want
slavery in the new territories.
The South wants slavery in the
new territories.
What should the United States
do about new territories that
apply for statehood?
So what to do with
all of this land????
The Missouri Compromise
was only a temporary
solution. The Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo granted
the United States much
more land than before.
John C. Calhoun
Henry Clay
Daniel Webster
I WANT TO
SEEK THE
MIDDLE
GROUND!
THE
SOUTH, ER,
UNION IS
IN
DANGER!!!
I AM AN
AMERICAN!
There were 3 important senators who influenced
the outcome of the Compromise of 1850
I wish to speak today, not
as a Massachusetts man,
nor as a Northern man, but
as an American… HEAR ME
FOR MY CAUSE!”
1. Congress would admit California as a free state
2. The people of the territories of New Mexico and Utah
would decide for themselves whether slavery would be
legal
3. Congress would abolish the sale of enslaved people in
Washington, D.C.
4. Slavery itself would remain legal in Washington, D.C.
5. The Fugitive Slave Act would order all citizens of the
United States to assist in the return of enslaved people who
had escaped from their owners. It would also deny a jury
trial to escaped slaves.
1. Congress would admit California
as a free state
What was unique
about California?
Why did it pose such
a dilemma?
2. The people of the territories
of New Mexico and Utah would
decide for themselves whether
slavery would be legal
Popular sovereignty,
let the people decide
“I have, Senators, believed from the first that.. The
subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some
timely and effective measure, end in disunion [of the
United States]… It has reached a point when it can
no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in
danger. You have thus had forced upon you the
greatest and gravest question that can ever come
under your consideration: How can the Union be
preserved?”
-Calhoun
Then:
Now:
Many Americans believed that
stopping slavery was morally
wrong, because it interfered
with their liberty to own
enslaved people as property.
Government they believed,
should protect this basic liberty.
Now, Americans
oppose slavery
because they view
it as morally wrong
to own another
human being as
property.
20,000,000
18,000,000
16,000,000
14,000,000
12,000,000
Rural
10,000,000
Urban
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0
1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850