Drafted by Henry Clay, a Whig Party member, The Compromise of 1850 was brokered with the assistance of Stephen Douglas, a Democratic senator. It was intended to solve a chain of problems that were bothering the states’ unity. Primarily, institutional slavery was the major issue that yielded a lot of dissension between the South and the North. Other items to be addressed included territorial issues to bar secession by the South. The four yearlong confrontations resulted from a disagreement regarding territorial status earned during the Mexican-American war (1846-1848). The Compromise of 1850 admitted California to the Union as a free state, outlawed the slave trade in Washington DC, enforced Fugitive Slave Act compelling Free State citizens’ assistance in the capturing of the slaves and permitted the white residents of new territories to decide their stance of slavery. Whereas the Compromise of 1850 was a timely and monumental event, it never resolved the slavery expansion issue
Both the southerners and northerners were significantly impacted by the Compromise of 1850. The two regions welcomed it despite having varying reservations about the particular provisions that were contained therein. The North supported California’s admission as a free state, non-restriction of Utah and New Mexico as new territories, the denial of Texas claim for extension of boundaries to the Rio Grande and the Texas compensation of $ 10 million (Gronnerud, 2019). However, the South felt that the North had gained too much. Later in 1850, the select Senate committee got hold of the Omnibus Bill. Quickly, they worked on it so that the North and South would approve it, hoping to pass it over to President Taylor. Unfortunately, the president passed on before signing it into law. The successor Millard Fillmore threatened to veto the bill since he was not impressed by it compelling the younger Congress members to whittle the bill to lesser items. According to Fillmore, the bill mirrored a disaster in the making and not an effective political action.
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The lives of people in the North and the South were impacted by the Compromise of 1850. Notably, the anti-slavery opponents and northern abolitionists were the most affected by the final product. To them, the Compromise implied that the US federal government was endorsing the slave trade. Some states, such as Massachusetts, refused to enforce the law and called for its nullification, claiming that it was unfair. Fragrantly violation of the Fugitive Law laid the ground for a tempest that followed later on. However, their rejection of this point would have resulted in the loss of California and the status of Free State. As such, while ignoring the Fugitive slave Act was possible, ignoring Californian slavery’s admission would have been harder. On the other hand, the South was permitted to have the slave states. This was a determinant of popular sovereignty in the New Mexico and Utah territories. Slave owners were also allowed to follow fugitive states in the free slave states. Supported by the controversial Fugitive Slave Law, the federal judicial officials could assist in returning the escaped slaves in all states. The outrage of the Compromise of 1850 was reflected in the civil war outbreak, which undid all the efforts the proponents of the Compromise had hoped to avoid (Hamilton, 2014).
In sum, America experienced immense change with both the North and the South enjoying benefits that accompanied the Compromise of 1950. The Fugitive Law was the major victory for the southerners and as expected, the northerners eventually refused to enforce it. Still, Americans experienced a sigh of relief after the Compromise of 1850 was brokered, believing that it was a savior of the Union. Unfortunately, it was a temporary truce for the sectional conflict that proved the impossibility of sustenance of the short-lived and the fragile earned peace.
References
Gronnerud, K. (2019). Compromise of 1850. 50 Events That Shaped African American History:
An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic [2 volumes] , 57.
Hamilton, H. (2014). Prologue to Conflict: the Crisis and Compromise of 1850 . University Press
of Kentucky.
