Essay On Compromise Of 1850

Slave and Free states could not coexist in a union. Compromise after compromise was brought to the table to avoid an oncoming collapse. Despite the work of legislators and presidents to appease both sides, Northern and Southern states remained at odds. The divisions between the two sides transcended generations. Political crises in 1787, 1820, 1832, 1850 and 1860 not only brought failed compromises, but also strained the threads holding the nation together. Solutions to the crises were only effective for a short term. At its core, the issues between North and South funneled into slavery and its role in the identity of a young nation. Its only solution would come through bloodshed.
As the United States reformed the structure of its government,

the founders understood that unity was of great importance to the Constitution. A dilemma was growing among representatives from the north and the south. Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal,” rang with dissonance. For slaveholders in the south, these ideas did not appear to guarantee their economic and political sovereignty. Slavery quickly became an essential part of southern culture. Not only did it power the South’s economy, but slaves became a marker of power and status for individuals and governments. Slavery’s expansion into newer territories of the United States would also benefit the investors of a slave economy. The south was prepared to defend the pillar of its society from any attempts by the federal government to end it. This triggered debate over what the new federal government valued morally and politically. Compromise was necessary.
One of the important ideas the Constitutional Convention intended to preserve was a barrier between a federal government and state governments. Governments of inherent authority at the state level were, after all, the spirit of the revolution eleven year prior. Debate arose when matters of giving more power to the national government threatened sovereign states. Southern representatives wanted to ensure that their society would not be interrupted by the government’s meddling. The Great Compromise answered these initial concerns. To preserve a stronger federal representation while limiting the power of the central government, a bicameral legislature was crafted. A House of Representatives would give the people a legislative presence based on their local population. A Senate split legislative power equally among all states, giving each state two representatives nominated by the state governments. The Great Compromise also directly answered the concerns on slavery.
Most of the nation’s founders believed the slavery was incompatible with the spirit of the 1776 Revolution. There was, however, a large presence of slavery-enabling states that were critical for a strong union. To preserve unity in the young nation, the Constitutional Convention agreed to compromise with the South on slavery. States were allowed to decide whether they would permit or abolish slavery. Importation of new slaves was outlawed. With a head tax proportional to a state’s population and the possibility of increased representation in the House, populations were carefully considered. The Three-Fifths compromise created a formula for counting slaves in a census. Three-fifths of a state’s slave population would be counted along with the rest its people. This number would be used to determine the state’s representative count in the House and its appropriate head tax. Any new states admitted into the United States were required to have previously been territories and admitted as full and equal partners. Finally, Congress was required to create a fugitive slave provision every ten years.
This Great Compromise of 1787 gave southerners a temporary relief that the government would protect the will of its people to hold slaves. Northerners saw this as an opportunity to limit slavery from expanding and to let the practice fade away as the years passed. When Missouri’s admission into the union came to question, the issues would surface again. Slavery had an opportunity to expand into a new state. With it, a greater proportion of slavery-defending representatives could shift the balance in Congress. Opposition came quickly from the north. America’s identity would continue to be one of defending an atrocious institution. Permitting slavery in a new territory would define the nation to the world as one of slavery. Henry Clay finally pushed through a plan that would quell the angst between the two sides. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 permitted Missouri to be admitted into the union as a slave state. It also created a line at the 36.30” parallel that prohibited slavery north of that line. This compromise helped to calm rising tensions about where slavery could expand. There was precedent now for more slave states to be admitted should territories below the 36.30 parallel open for statehood. Slavery as a defining marker of America’s identity fueled this crisis. Its compromise allowed for slavery to become more clearly an American ideal.
Tensions between the federal government and sovereign states would not fade away. If anything, the compromises revealed that the issue was swelling. Underneath these tensions was slavery. Slavery pushed states in the South to hold firm against the federal government. If not defending states’ rights, the South would risk losing a pillar of its society. The tension grew to another peak in 1832. After President Jackson passed a tariff, South Carolina passed a law making this Tariff of Abominations null and void. The Nullification Crisis of 1832 brought resistance to the national government to the forefront. South Carolina wanted to demonstrate that it would not permit Jackson’s Administration from stepping over a line. President Jackson did not take kindly to South Carolina’s action. The Force Act was passed in Congress allowing Jackson to use military force against South Carolina. The bill was the law of the land, and the President would enforce it. South Carolina backed out, but it was clear that relations were no longer friendly. In order to defend slavery at all costs, southern governments knew to defend their power from the federal government. They wanted to show some force in dictating that Congress would not attack its society. The compromised tariff eventually passed by Congress would not ease any tensions. The Nullification Crisis confirmed that a period of conflict boiled over. Slavery became more than a base for Southern society. It became something worth fighting for.
The high tensions on slavery’s expansion and acceptance into American identity surfaced stronger than ever after the Mexican-American War.

With several new territories available and a bid for admission into the union by California, the nation was once again divided. Southerners wished to protect slavery’s presence in new territories while northerners strongly opposed this. Henry Clay, the great compromiser of 1820, returned to the scene with a new compromise. The Compromise of 1850 was presented before Congress as an omnibus bill. California would be admitted as a free state, New Mexico and Utah determined their status by popular sovereignty, the Texas border would be moved back in exchanging for relief of its war debt, the slave trade would be prohibited in the District of Columbia, and a stricter fugitive slave law would be enforced. Divisions between the North and South were far too wide to pass this bill. Clay no longer had the ability to bring leaders from either side together onto the bill. Instead, Stephen Douglas proposed the Compromise of 1850 as five separate bills. The bills would be brought before Congress one by one. Douglas asked any representatives not supporting the bill to abstain from the vote. By doing so, the bills passed and relief temporarily fell on the nation again. While the compromise appeared stronger than previous relief, it only delayed an impending conflict. The attitudes of either side did not change. Northerners still saw slavery as abhorrent and did not want it spreading across the nation. Southerners felt strongly that they must defend their states’ rights to protect slavery at all costs. The compromises could only go as far as the nation’s territory

did.
The disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854. In order to clear a vote in Congress for the creation of a transcontinental railroad, Senator Stephen Douglas had to appeal to southern voters. Southern representatives refused to allow a railroad to pass in Congress without undoing the restriction of the 36.30” parallel from the Compromise of 1820. Douglas passed the bill quickly, opening up Kansas and Nebraska to slavery if decided upon by popular sovereignty. A flood of southerners to occupy Kansas and bring in slavery caused massive casualties. On the verge of a full-out war, the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860. The Republican candidate was a sign to southerners of the northern influence on ending slavery. Should Lincoln win, the nation would have come crashing down. Lincoln’s victory in 1860 snapped the last strings holding the nation together. In order to protect slavery and their societies, southern states began secession. Finally, the compromises of the past demonstrated that they could not hold the nation together.
While the compromises failed to solve the issues behind the Civil War, they are not at fault. Some may argue that the Civil War could have been averted had the compromises been stronger and the leadership bolder. The root of the problems that called for compromises was not from the lack of a strong leader. Slavery was at the center of every decision between North and South since 1787. Slavery had become such an important part of southern society that it essentially was its main pillar. Young men hoped to own large plantations with as many slaves as possible. Slaves were used as a measure of power and class. Slaves powered an agrarian, rural economy. Because of slavery, the South created its own identity, unique to that of the northern states. Even the representatives of the South were more aggressive: they nearly killed a senator on the senate floor and fired first at Fort Sumter. Slavery played a key role in the compromises. Issues on states’ rights and nullification only arose to protect that institution from federal control. Slavery was the South’s identity, and they did everything to protect their identity. The only way the Civil War could have been averted was if slavery never existed in the United States or if the Confederate States of America was allowed to stand on its own.