Aftermath of the Mexican American War and the The Compromise of 1850

1. Aftermath of the Mexican American War and the The Compromise of 1850

2. The United States will conquer Mexico, but it will be as the man swallows the arsenic, which brings him down in turn. Mexico will poison us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. Problems After Mexican War • Main Problem: What to do with the new land in regard to free or slave states? • Mexican War Territory not yet organized • California Admission as a Free State • Texas-New Mexico Border Dispute • Options • Missouri Compromise • Popular Sovereignty • Free Soil

4. Other Specific Problems • Slavery in Washington D.C. • Wilmot Proviso • Slave trade within U.S. • Fugitive Slave Law(s) • Abolition (Gradual or Full) • Tariffs • Future Railroad Expansion (Routes)

5. Arguments in the Senate • North wanted abolition in D.C. • South wanted North to enforce Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 • South threatened secession more frequently • Clay, wanting to preserve the Union, ultimately came up with a compromise

6. The Compromise of 1850

7. Clay’s Compromise • Appeased both North and South: • New and More effective Fugitive Slave Law • Popular Sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah Territories • Pay $10 million to Texas to give disputed land to New Mexico territory • Slave trade banned in D.C., but not abolished unless residents and MD consented, then slave owners paid for loss • CA admitted as a Free State

8. The Passing of the Compromise • Webster spoke to • Northerners about passing stricter fugitive slave laws • Southerners about danger of secession • Senate rejects compromise • Stephen Douglas proposed introducing each resolution one at a time • Death of President Taylor, led to President Millard Filmore who supported compromise helped. • September 1850, Compromise passed • Crisis adverted for the time being