US History

U.S. History Study Guide

in gridlock, Henry Clay stepped forward in May 1850 to present a compromise, much as he had thirty years earlier when Missouri sought statehood. Clay’s Compromise of1850 included five points: • California would be admitted as a free state. • The remainder of the Mexican cession would be divided into two separate territories, New Mexico and Utah, and these territories would decide by popular sovereignty whether to be slave-holding or free. • Texas would cede its claim to parts of the New Mexico territory, and, in exchange, the government would cover Texas’s $10 million war debt. • The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, but slavery itself would continue. • Congress would strengthen the Fugitive Slave Act by requiring citizens of any state, slave or free, to assist in the capture and return of runaway slaves. 12.5 The Great Debate Clay’s proposal threw Congress into an eight-month discussion known as the “Great Debate.” Proponents of each side the North and the South criticized Clay’s compromise for being too lenient on the other. Most prominent among the debaters were Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. Eventually, the bill passed. Two events in particular facilitated its passage: first, when President Taylor died in July 1850, Vice President Millard Fillmore took over and adopted a pro-compromise position: second, Stephen A. Douglas took over for Henry Clay as Speaker of the House and divided the Compromise bill up into separate components, each of which passed. Together, the separate bills became known as the Compromise of 1850. 12.6 The Fugitive Slave Acts During the Great Debate, one particular point of contention was the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. In the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the federal government gave local authorities in both slave and Free states the power to issue warrants to "remove" any black they thought to be an escaped slave. It also made it a federal crime to help a runaway slave and they must send the slave back to their master, but this was rarely enforced. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 denied alleged fugitives the right to a trial and did not allow them to testify in their own defense. It further granted court-appointed commissioners greater payment if they ruled in favor of the slaveholder. In addition, the law authorized federal marshals and southern possess to enter the North and target runaway slaves who had escaped decades earlier. The Fugitive Slave Act reminded Northerners of their complicity with the institution of slavery.

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