Henry Clay wrote
the Compromise of 1850. The compromise dealt with the newly acquired territory
in the southwest after the Mexican-American War. Under the compromise,
California was admitted as a free state, popular sovereignty would determine
whether Utah and the New Mexican territories would allow slavery, the slave
trade was banned in Washington D.C., and a new Fugitive Slave Act was passed to
capture runaway slaves. The admitting of California as a free state upset that
balance of power in Congress in favor of the North. The North and South agreed
to the compromise, but both sides felt like the other got the best deal.
1) What event
made it necessary for the Compromise of 1850?
2) Who was the
“Great Compromiser” that worked out the deal between the Northern and Southern
States?
3) Using prior
knowledge, how was the Compromise of 1850 similar to the Missouri Compromise of
1820? How were they different?
