Compromise of 1850
As the country continued to move to the west, the issue of slavery became even more heated. At the end of the
Mexican-American War, in which Texas would be eventually admitted into the Union as a slave state, southern
planation owners continued to try and hold onto their power. The Compromise of 1850 featured five different
bills, all of them wildly controversial in both halves of the country. Texas, admitted as a slave state, was forced
to give up claims to the New Mexico Territory, but was given control of the Texas Panhandle and cash as compensation. Rather than say that states that might be formed out of the New Mexico and Utah Territories would
automatically be called slave states, it was decided that those new states would be able to vote on it themselves.
Southerners had to give up claims that southern California should become a slave state because it was south of
36ºN. Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia, further angering Southerners.
The Fugitive Act was signed, which was deeply hated in the North. It stated that any slave caught running away
to the north and caught had to be returned to their masters in the south because they were considered property.
Most northerners saw blacks as people deserving of freedom and individual rights. This law did not sit well
with them at all.
Northerners who were angry at compromises given to the Southern slave owners formed a new political party
called the Republican Party. Republicans were very opposed to slavery. Their party would gain strength and
power very quickly in the north, though it was almost non-existent in the south.
the kansas-nebraska act
Like the Missouri Compromise before it, it simply put off the problem instead of dealing with it. Things quieted down for awhile, but not for long. Four years after the Compromise of 1850, the Nebraska-Kansas Act was
passed.
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