Volta
Politics9 – 20 September 1850

Compromise of 1850

Also called: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

As North and South clashed over slavery in the lands won from Mexico, Congress compromised in five laws, admitting California as a free state but passing a harsher Fugitive Slave Act.

Henry Clay presenting the Compromise of 1850 to the Senate — drawn by Peter F. Rothermel, engraved by Robert Whitechurch, c. 1855, Library of Congress
Henry Clay presenting the Compromise of 1850 to the Senate — drawn by Peter F. Rothermel, engraved by Robert Whitechurch, c. 1855, Library of Congress

Drawn by Peter F. Rothermel / engraved by Robert Whitechurch (1814-ca. 1880) · Public domain · Source

The Mexican War (1846–1848) brought the United States California and the Southwest. When California, filled by the gold rush of 1849, sought admission as a free state, Southerners who feared losing the balance between free and slave states spoke openly of secession. Henry Clay proposed a compromise in January 1850; after the single omnibus bill failed, Stephen Douglas split it into five laws and carried them in September.

California entered as a free state, the territories of New Mexico and Utah were left to decide on slavery themselves (popular sovereignty), and the slave trade was banned in Washington. In return a strengthened Fugitive Slave Act required the capture and return of escaped slaves even in the North, bringing slavery home to Northerners and stirring resentment. The compromise delayed war by a decade but did not resolve the conflict.

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The map in 1850

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States and rulers at the time
United States — President Millard Fillmore
Places
Washington, D.C.

People

  • Henry Clay1777 – 1852

    key figure · Kentucky statesman, the “Great Compromiser”, who shaped the Missouri Compromise (1820) and the Compromise of 1850

  • Stephen A. Douglas1813 – 1861

    key figure · Democratic senator from Illinois who championed popular sovereignty, wrote the Kansas–Nebraska Act and lost the 1860 election to Lincoln

Before and after

Earlier
1823 Monroe Doctrine
Later
1852 Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Themes that include this event

  • The American Civil War1850 – 1865

    From the Compromise of 1850 to Lincoln’s assassination — a nation divided over slavery fought four years of civil war, preserving the Union and ending slavery