Fillmore, eager to find a quick solution to the conflict in Texas across the border with New Mexico that threatened to become an armed conflict between Texas militias and federal soldiers, reversed the administration`s stance in late July and supported compromise measures. [39] At the same time, Fillmore denied Texas` claims to New Mexico, claiming that the United States had promised Hidalgo in the Treaty of Guadalupe to protect New Mexico`s territorial integrity. [40] Fillmore`s vigorous response helped convince Texas U.S. Senators Sam Houston and Thomas Jefferson Rusk to support Stephen Douglas` compromise. With their support, a Senate bill that called for a final settlement of Texas` borders won days after Fillmore delivered his message. Under the terms of the bill, the United States would take over Texas` debt, while Texas` northern border was set at 36° 30` north latitude (the Missouri Compromise Line) and much of its western border followed the 103rd meridian. The bill received support from a bipartisan coalition of Whigs and Democrats from both sections, although most of the opposition to the bill came from the South. [41] The Senate moved quickly to other important issues, passing laws that provided for the admission of California, the organization of the Territory of New Mexico, and the introduction of a new fugitive slave law. [42] From the Mexican cession, the New Mexico Territory received most of what is now the State of Arizona, most of the western part of what is now the State of New Mexico, and the southern tip of present-day Nevada (south of the 37th parallel). The territory also received most of present-day eastern New Mexico, part of present-day Colorado (east of the Rocky Mountain ridge, west of the 103rd meridian and south of the 38th parallel); All of this land had been claimed by Texas. The compromise of 1850 consisted of five laws passed in September 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion. In 1849, California requested permission to join the Union as a free state, which may have upset the balance between free states and slave states in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, to find a compromise and avoid a crisis between North and South. As part of the compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. In addition, California joined the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. In addition, legislation was passed that settled a border dispute between Texas and New Mexico, which also established a territorial government in New Mexico. Taylor died in July 1850 and was replaced by Vice President Fillmore, who had come privately to support Clay`s proposal. [37] The different invoices were first combined into an “omnibus” invoice. Despite Clay`s best efforts, he failed in a crucial vote on July 31, which was rejected by Southern Democrats and Northern Whigs. He announced the next day in the Senate that he intended to pass all parts of the bill. However, Clay, 73, was physically exhausted when the effects of tuberculosis, which would eventually kill him, wreaked havoc.
Clay left the Senate to recover in Newport, Rhode Island, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas took the initiative to try to get Clay`s proposals passed in the Senate. [38] The adoption of the 1850 compromise, as it was called, provoked celebrations in Washington and elsewhere, with the crowd shouting, “The Union is saved!” Fillmore himself described the compromise of 1850 as a “final settlement” of sectional matters, although the future of slavery in New Mexico and Utah remained uncertain. [52] The admission of new states or the organization of territories into the remaining disorganized part of the Louisiana Purchase could also reopen the polarizing debate about slavery. [53] [54] Not everyone accepted the compromise of 1850; A South Carolina newspaper wrote, “The Rubicon is over. and the southern states are now vassals in this confederation. [55] Many Northerners, on the other hand, were unhappy with the Fugitive Slave Act. [56] The debate over slavery in the territories was revived in 1854 by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. White House chief of staff John Kelly sparked controversy Monday night when he said on Fox News “The Ingraham Angle”: “The lack of compromise ability led to civil war.” As many historians have already noted, historically this is difficult. Texas has been allowed to retain the following parts of the disputed lands: south of the 32nd parallel and south of latitude 36°30` north and east of the 103rd meridian west. The rest of the disputed lands passed to the federal government.
The U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 3) does not allow Congress to unilaterally reduce the territory of a state, so the first part of the compromise of 1850 had to take the form of an offer to the Texas legislature rather than a unilateral executive order. This confirmed the agreement and, in due course, the transfer of a large area of land from the state of Texas to the federal government was carried out. In exchange for the abandonment of this country, the United States took over Texas` debt. The Missouri Compromise, as it was called, remained in effect for just over 30 years before being repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In 1857, the Supreme Court declared the compromise in the Dred Scott case unconstitutional, setting the stage for the nation`s final path to civil war. After Taylor`s death and his replacement by Fillmore, Douglas took the initiative to pass Clay`s compromise in Congress as five separate bills. As part of the compromise, Texas renounced its claims to present-day New Mexico and other states in exchange for the federal government taking over Texas` national debt. California was accepted as a free state, while the remaining parts of the Mexican cession were organized into New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory. According to the concept of popular sovereignty, the peoples of each territory would decide whether slavery would be allowed or not. The compromise also included a stricter fugitive slave law and banned the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
The issue of slavery in the territories would be re-examined by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but many historians argue that the compromise of 1850 played an important role in postponing the Civil War. . . .