Dbq Compromise Of 1850

1506 Words7 Pages

Michael Jones R. Raby HIS 131 11/18/16 Compromise of 1850: Essay The meaning of the Compromise of 1850 was as a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and Free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War (1846–48). Also I am going to talk about how it was important to the slaves. One of the legislative bills that was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 was a new version of the Fugitive Slave Act. At first, Henry Clay introduced an omnibus bill covering these measures. John C. Calhoun attacked the plan and demanded that the North cease its attempts to limit slavery. The "Great Compromiser," …show more content…

The act was modeled on the Compromise of 1850 but repealed both that compromise and the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Both of these things was very advantageous to the south. Both of the Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Acts the south gained information that would help them in their expansion of slavery. Some of the advantages that the south received was a stronger fugitive slave law, that gave the possibility for slavery to exist in the remaining part of the Mexican Cession. It was also the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the future plan to build the Southern Pacific Railroad. One of the very important items of the Compromise of 1850 was the provision for a stronger Fugitive Slave Law. With the Fugitive Slave Law, it made was federal crime to not return a runaway slave to the south. With this law any suspected runaway slave was to be tried by a single judge, but not by a jury. The judge was compensated by a system that would provide them with more money if they decide that the slave was guilty and not innocent. Obviously this law encouraged people not to harbor runaway slaves, but when the slaves were caught it provide the judge an incentive to have them returned to the south. One more advantage of the Compromise of 1850 was that the rest of the Mexican Cession was to be divided into the two territories of Utah and New …show more content…

The act was modeled on the Compromise of 1850 but repealed both that compromise and the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The greatest benefit to the south was when the Missouri Compromise was opposed. The Missouri Compromise created the sacred 36-30 line, which would have caused the expansion of slavery to stop. But, the Missouri Compromise did not pass. “The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 may have been the single most significant event leading to the Civil War. By the early 1850s settlers and entrepreneurs wanted to move into the area now known as Nebraska. However, until the area was organized as a territory, settlers would not move there because they could not legally hold a claim on the land. The southern states' representatives in Congress were in no hurry to permit a Nebraska territory because the land lay north of the 36°30' parallel — where slavery had been outlawed by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Just when things between the north and south were in an uneasy balance, Kansas and Nebraska opened fresh wounds. The person behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act was Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. He said he wanted to see Nebraska made into a territory and, to win southern support, proposed a southern state inclined to support slavery. It was Kansas. Underlying it all was his desire to build a transcontinental

Open Document